Admission Requirements

The standard for admission to the M.A. program is an Honors B.A. in English, with a minimum of twenty full-year undergraduate courses or their equivalent in semester courses, including at least six full-year Honors English courses or their equivalent in semester courses. Applicants with a Combined Honors or Double Major degree including English will also be considered, provided they have taken a range of courses comparable to those in a single Honors program.

The applicant's six courses at the Honors level must be distributed in such a way as to cover at least five of the following six areas of English Language or Literature:

  • Old English, Middle English, OR History of the Language
  • Renaissance dramatic OR Renaissance non-dramatic
  • 18th century OR 19th century
  • American OR Canadian
  • Twentieth-Century British OR Postcolonial
  • Theory (e.g., historical, contemporary, feminist, genre, etc.).

Admission is on a competitive basis. To be considered for admission, an applicant should have achieved a grade average of A- (80-84%) or higher in the Honors English courses. The minimum requirement for admission purposes is a grade average of 78% across all courses taken in the last two years of the BA, if the last two years of study were full-time. If they were not full-time or if the applicant has taken further coursework since completing the BA, the last 10 full- or 20 half-courses are counted in calculating the average. Attainment of this minimum requirement does not, in and of itself, constitute eligibility for admission. To be considered for admission, an applicant must have achieved at least a substantial B average in the Honors English courses, with some evidence of first-class work.  An average of 78 in the Honors English courses is the minimum requirement, and it does not guarantee admission.          

  1. English proficiency standards set by the Department of English must be met (see Supporting Documents here.)
  2. The deadline for applications is January 15. Applications can be considered after that date only if places are still open. Admission decisions are not subject to appeal. Students may enter the M.A. program only upon completion of all requirements for their previous degree.
  3. Applicants to the MA program must submit, as part of the online application, a statement of interest (300-500 words approx.). This statement is not binding on their subsequent research.