Graduate

Applications are made to two separate offices: the UT Graduate and International Admissions Center (GIAC) AND the English Department's Graduate Office.

Decisions for admission will be based upon the materials directly submitted to the English Department's Graduate Office in the application packet. The contents of this packet after arrival in the English Graduate Office are transferred to a manila folder which becomes your file. This file is reviewed by the Admissions Committee in competition against the other received files for a limited number of admission offers. Please do not send application packet materials separately. Application packet materials sent to the wrong office (such as GIAC) will not be added to your file in the English Graduate Office. Materials sent to GIAC will not be printed out or filed in the English Grad Office (such as transcript copies, GRE score report copies, statement of purpose, letters of rec, etc.). It is your responsibility to send us these materials according to the procedure described below. Missing materials will not usually disqualify a file from consideration, but will place it at a distinct disadvantage in the competition for offers.

All applicants must meet the minimum requirements for admission established by the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin. See the English Department's admission requirements page for more information. The annual deadline is JANUARY 2, 2008.


By January 2 (postmarked), applicants must submit the following items to the Graduate and International Admissions Center:

  1. - Application for graduate study and application fee (may be filed online through GIAC's homepage). The major code for the MA/Phd program in English is 39300 and for the MA in Creative Writing, it is 39301.
  2. - One set of official transcripts
  3. - Official GRE general test scores. The GRE school code for UT is 6882. The department code for the English program is 2501. The department code for the Creative Writing program is 2503.
  4. - Official GRE Literature in English subject test scores (all English MA/PhD and PhD including Rhetoric applicants. Not required for Creative Writing applicants.).
  5. - Official TOEFL scores (international applicants only, if required)


Address:
GIAC
P.O. Box 7608
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78713


By January 2 (postmarked), applicants must submit the following items together in a SINGLE packet (envelope) to the Department of English's Graduate Coordinator, Admissions:

  1. - Application cover sheet (PDF, 23K)
  2. - This is required for expedient processing and review of the application. Our cover sheet (with the Graduate Program in English heading) is the only required cover sheet. Please send only one application cover sheet with your packet.
  3. - A statement of purpose (also called a personal statement) discussing your specific areas of interest and professional goals
  4. - A writing sample:

    For Creative Writing MA applicants only, a maximum of either 15 pages of poetry or 25 pages of prose.

    For English MA/PhD applicants, a sample critical essay of 10-15 pages demonstrating the ability to perform literary or rhetorical analysis. The Admissions committee will evaluate the essay's methodological rigor and the extent to which it demonstrates the candidate's self-consciousness of his or her chosen principles of explication, analysis, and argument.

    For applicants to the Rhetoric Concentration, the writing sample should be a sustained and persuasive argument that demonstrates skill at anticipating the needs of a specific audience regarding purpose, historical context, claims and evidence, genre and style. The paper may make use of any method of scholarly inquiry.

    For applicants to an area of literary studies, the writing sample should be an in-depth inquiry that demonstrates skill in using literary analysis to support a scholarly argument. When reviewing the critical essay, the Admissions Committee will assess the applicant's skill at explicating a text in a manner reflecting a sophisticated appreciation of its formal attributes, figurative language, and historical context. Papers written primarily to survey the existing criticism or to conduct bibliographic and source-study research will not serve the committee's purposes.

  5. - Three letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with your academic work (optional forms may be downloaded). We do not accept letters of recommendation submitted online. Please submit your letters directly to the English Department in hard copy. Each recommender should sign his or her letter across the back of the envelope and return it to you, for you to include with the rest of your departmental application materials. Please note: letters of recommendation submitted to GIAC or any other office except English will not be part of your file when it is reviewed for an admission decision.
  6. - A list of relevant courses you have taken or are currently taking in English, American, or Anglophone literature and theory (Students whose transcripts do not show two years of college credit in one foreign language should also add a brief explanation of how they have equivalent knowledge to meet the Program's foreign language requirement or how they will acquire the equivalent knowledge.)
  7. - Photocopies or an unofficial copy of a single set of transcripts, included with the rest of your departmental application. Do not send a second set of official transcripts-see below.
  8. - Photocopies of your GRE general test scores (all MA Creative Writing and MA/PhD English applicants), and Literature in English subject test scores (all MA/PhD English applicants, including Rhetoric applicants). Do not send a second official test score report- see below.


Address:
 Department of English Graduate Coordinator, Admissions
Graduate Office
1 University Station B5000
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1164

Please note that the official copies of the transcripts and GRE general test scores must be sent to the Graduate and International Admissions Center. Send PHOTOCOPIES of these documents or unofficial registrar reports ONLY with your application packet. Please do NOT send a second set of official transcripts and scores to the department- send official documents only to GIAC. This step is meant to save you the cost and trouble of sending an extra official transcript, and also cuts down on the processing time for your application in our office (fewer envelopes to open, fewer things to file). It works in your interest by eliminating the possibility of your transcripts and scores being misfiled/misrouted/lost. Please take control of the process and send a complete packet.

Optional forms for the statement of purpose and letters of recommendations may be downloaded from the GIAC website, but their use is optional.

All application materials must be postmarked by January 2, 2008. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all of these materials have arrived at the correct office by the deadline. Because of the volume of applications, the English Office cannot receive materials electronically or confirm the receipt of individual items. Applicants are normally notified of the Program's decision by early April.