Admission 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 B.A. may apply to the M.A./Ph.D. program in English or to the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing. The Program does not accept applications for a terminal M.A. degree in English.
NEW: We are extending the Fall 2012 APPLICATION DEADLINE for the English M.A./Ph.D. program until December 15, 2011 due to technical considerations in coordinating the online document submission system with ApplyTexas. The Fall 2012 deadline for the English Creative Writing M.F.A. program remains December 15, 2011.
Applications are made through The Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC). 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 must further meet the graduate admission requirements established by the Graduate English Program.
All applicants to the M.A./Ph.D. in English must have taken at least 15 hours of upper-division English courses with a grade point average of at least 3.5.
Except for applicants to the Rhetoric and Digital Literacies and Literatures fields, all applicants to the M.A./Ph.D. program in English are also required to submit an official score on the GRE subject test in Literature in English. Rhetoric and DLL applicants are no longer required to submit a subject test score. The subject test is not required for applicants to the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing.
All students admitted to the M.A./Ph.D. program in English are also required to have two years of college credit, or its equivalent, in one foreign language by the time they reach the master's level. There is not a foreign language requirement for the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing.
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 or remove it from consideration. 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.
