Requirements

The Graduate Program of the Department of English at The University of Texas at Austin admits students for the fall semester only. Applicants who have a bachelor's degree may apply to the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing.  The Fall 2013 deadline for the English Creative Writing M.F.A. program is December 15, 2012.

Applications are made through the Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC), which handles graduate applications for the entire university. Please see How to Apply.

All applicants must meet the minimum requirements for admission established by the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin. For U.S. citizens, these include a bachelor's degree from an accredited United States institution or proof of equivalent training at an institution outside the United States, a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all upper-division and graduate course work, and an official score on the Graduate Record Examinations General Test (GRE).

International applicants may also be required to provide an official report of their score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). For full details of the Graduate School's requirements, see either the GIAC page for U.S. students or the GIAC page for international students.

Applicants who fail to meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School will not be admitted except in unusual cases.

The selection among qualified candidates is a competitive process and that meeting the minimum requirements specified above does not in any way assure acceptance into the program.

When reviewing an application, the admissions committee considers all elements in the application file, including the statement of purpose, the writing sample, and the letters of recommendation. No single factor will disqualify an application. Space in the program is limited and the applicant pool is highly competitive. In recent years we have been able to admit fewer than 10% of qualified applicants.