Major/Minor Detail

English (MA & MS)

Students seeking admission into the Master of Arts in English must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate School and the specific program requirements.

Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited four-year institution with the appropriate undergraduate background in the field of the proposed academic emphasis and a grade point average of 3.00 on the last 60 hours of undergraduate work, or a 2.75 average on all undergraduate work (A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1, F-0). The appropriate undergraduate background must include a minimum of 18 semester hours of coursework, exclusive of any

171basic education courses, in the proposed field of the graduate major. All courses attempted, including any repeated courses, are considered in the computation of the grade point average. Students who do not meet the requirements as stated above may be granted admission at the master's degree level provided they have a grade point average of 2.50 overall or a

2.75 average on the last 60 hours. 1. Applicants for admission to the master's degree program who have not completed

the appropriate undergraduate background will be assessed under graduate course deficiencies.

2. Applicants from an unaccredited college, who have satisfactory grades and a sat- isfactory undergraduate program, may be admitted with an entrance condition of 12 semester hours.

Newly admitted students must take a preliminary examination immediately after complet- ing six to nine hours of graduate course work. This preliminary examination is a proctored, impromptu written explication of a relatively brief poem or prose passage, the text of which will be presented to the student at the time of the examination. Students will have two hours in which to write this explication, which will be administered once each semester during the regular academic year and graded by a three-member committee. For information on the exam schedule, contact the graduate adviser.

Students failing the preliminary examination must retake it in the next consecutive full semester. Students who fail the explication a second time must complete a non-credit Inde- pendent Study in explication until they can pass an explication graded by three members of the English graduate faculty. Students may not take comprehensive exit exams for the degree until the explication requirement has been satisfied.