George Mason University

What you should bear in mind as you apply:

The English Department at George Mason University offers an MA in Linguistics and four separate MA concentrations in English: Literature (LIT); Cultural Studies (CULT); Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR); and the Teaching of Writing and Literature (TWL). All English and Linguistics MA programs admit new students twice a year, for fall and spring. Students are admitted on a rolling basis; nevertheless, the screening process is highly competitive. Since graduate study represents a voluntary commitment to rigorous advanced work, we advise applicants to be certain they have considered how to balance the demands of (e.g.) a career against the time and space needed to perform successful graduate work.

Our graduate faculty is research-oriented and interested in producing and sponsoring cutting-edge work, whether in professional writing, literary study, linguistics, the scholarship of teaching, or cultural studies. Regardless of our areas of specialization, the members of the English Department look forward to sharing our expertise, to challenging students with new modes of thinking, and to training the scholars, teachers, and language practitioners of the future.

 

What is required to apply to a graduate program in the English Department:

Requirements for the MA in English (LIT, CULT, TWL), MA in Linguistics (LING), or the Certificate Program in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL):

• Application (on-line) at admissions.gmu.edu
• One Goals Statement of approximately 750 words (can be submitted on-line with application)
• Two letters of recommendation, preferably academic
• Official transcripts from any degree granting institution you have attended
• One analytical writing sample of approximtely 1000 words

 

Requirements for the MA in English (PWR) or the Certificate Program in Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR):

• Application (on-line) at admissions.gmu.edu
• One Goals Statement of approximately 750 words (can be submitted on-line with application)
• Two letters of recommendation, preferably academic
• Official transcripts from any degree granting institution you have attended
• One analytical writing sample of approximtely 1000 words
• PWR portfolio of 2-3 pieces of professional writing samples

 

How should I prepare to become a graduate student in English at George Mason University?

If you are an English major who has recently graduated, your task is comparatively simple: review the papers you wrote in undergraduate classes to find an appropriate writing sample. (Choose work that best represents your ability as a writer as well as an interpreter of literature.) Start thinking about which instructors to approach to write you letters of recommendation. Begin to draft your statement of purpose.

If it has been some time since you have studied English, you might consider taking either an advanced undergraduate or graduate literature course through non-degree studies as a refresher.

And if you have never studied English, we strongly recommend that you complete at least two upper-division undergraduate English literature courses, through non-degree studies at George Mason University or another four-year college or university, in advance of applying. You can use one of the papers from those classes as your writing sample, and solicit letters of recommendation from your literature instructors. If you are applying to the MA concentration in Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) but have no experience in professional writing, we recommend that you take at least one undergraduate technical writing course before applying.

 

What is the best kind of writing sample for my application?

Since the writing sample is a very important part of the application, you need to choose it with certain considerations in mind. Ideally, you should select a 1500-2500 word essay that demonstrates your facility with undergraduate-level discourse about literature or a closely related field (e.g. film). When the Admissions Committee evaluates your writing sample, we are looking for more than mere competence in the conventions of writing. We also want to see a clear and contestable thesis statement; a close engagement with the text you're interpreting and with the intricacies of language; an ability to incorporate scholarly sources into your argument, if possible; and a clear sense of audience and purpose. The goal is not only to convince us that you write well, but that you are well-situated to take on the challenges of research-based writing and interpretation at the graduate level. If you have written a senior thesis, feel free to select a portion of it for submission, taking care that you provide as continuous an argument as possible and that you frame the selection so that we can see how it fits into a longer argument.

Applicants to all MA concentrations must supply an instance of the type of analysis described above. In addition, applicants to the PWR concentration should include a portfolio of professional writing samples. As with the literary analysis, the samples in the portfolio should be chosen to demonstrate your ability to write to a specific audience for a specific purpose. However, the instances you select should reflect your expertise and experience as a non-literary writer, as well as give us a sense of the genres of professional writing you have worked with prior to entering our program. Past applicants have submitted a range of materials, such as brochures, websites, newsletters, reports, and newspaper articles. Samples that demonstrate your research and argumentation skills are specially encouraged. Please note, however, that narratives and creative-nonfiction should not be included in the portfolio, since such writing is not a principal focus for the PWR concentration.

 

What should I write about in the professional goals statement (aka the statement of purpose)?

The purpose of the goals statement is to introduce yourself to the department as a thinker, a scholar, a teacher, a writer. The Admissions Committee is looking to assess your preparedness for rigorous graduate study: to that end, you should strive to be specific as you can about your prior college-level experience studying English in its various manifestations. You might, for instance, talk about a particular course and approach that influenced your decision to pursue an advanced degree; an interpretive problem or theoretical model you encountered that you would like to explore further; a pedagogical issue about which you would like to reflect as a scholar-practitioner; a writing project, perhaps at work, that spurred your development as a critical rhetorician. In other words, insofar as the statement is autobiographical, it should offer a glimpse of your professional goals. Of course, those goals are also personal, but the information that is of most use to us concerns how you have learned to think and write, about what, and to what further end.

Equally important is the way the statement reflects your informed understanding of the character and demands of the MA concentration to which you’re applying. The Admissions Committee looks to see whether your goals are compatible with those of your chosen concentration, as evinced both by our descriptive materials and its particular course of study. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the specific requirements of your concentration and, as needed, the career possibilities associated with it. And please feel free to contact the English Department for further information.

 

From whom should I seek letters of recommendation? What kinds of questions should the letters address?

The most useful letters of recommendation come from persons familiar with your academic work, such as recent instructors or a thesis director. If your work experience includes the production of analytical writing and you are applying to the PWR concentration, then the supervisor of such projects may provide a supplementary recommendation. If you are a teacher, your principal or supervisor would also be a suitable reference for the MA concentration in the Teaching of Writing and Literature (TWL). Otherwise, however, non-academic supervisors or counselors are unlikely to provide the level of specificity about your academic potential that the Admissions Committee looks for, so we urge applicants to seek out academic letters whenever possible.

In turn, we ask applicants to urge their recommenders to write specific and detailed letters; they should not only check off boxes on the form, but offer a considered evaluation of an applicant's potential. Recommenders' letters should specify the context of their work with you, address the quality of your written and oral work in relevant course(s) or in work-related responsibilities that might reveal a capacity for academic performance, and candidly assess your readiness for and commitment to advanced study in English.

 

How relevant is job-related experience in an application?

In large part, the answer depends on the job and the concentration to which you are applying. If you are a teacher, then your job-related experience is certainly relevant for applying to the TWL concentration. If your job includes a great deal of writing, then you would certainly want to include information about that experience in your application to the PWR concentration. In many cases, though, job-related experience will not turn out to be pertinent.

 

Should I submit scores for the GRE? For the GRE English examination?

Both the GRE General Exam and the GRE Subject Exam in English are optional. If you choose to submit them, your scores will certainly be taken into account during the admissions process, but the absence of any GRE scores will not be held against any applicant.

 

How long can I expect to take to complete an MA?

The time needed to complete our MA can vary greatly. Three courses a semester is considered full-time: if you take two or three classes per semester and an occasional summer class, it is possible to graduate in about two years. But a number of our students, perhaps most, attend only part-time, taking only one course a semester; that means some take as long as four or five years to graduate.

The university itself sets a six-year time limit to finish your MA degree, beginning from your initial date of enrollment; course credits begin to expire after six years. If a student cannot finish the degree within this six-year limit, s/he will need to petition the Graduate Dean to grant an extension of candidacy. However, extensions are generally only for a semester or two at most and depend on a student's having been continuously enrolled; please be aware that students who interrupt their courses of study for any length of time might find themselves unable to return.

 

What are the minimum TOEFL scores needed to be considered for admission to the programs?

Testing of proficiency in English is required for all non-native English speakers who apply, regardless of where they currently reside. The minimum TOEFL score for applicants is 575 on the paper-based exam, 230 on the computer-based exam, or an 88 on the Internet-based exam, with a minimum score of 20 in each sub-section. Note that TOEFL scores are only valid for two years. Note, as well, that achievement of acceptable scores is not a guarantee of admission.

 

Is there financial aid for incoming students?

While George Mason facilitates federal loans for graduate students, the English Department has few resources of its own for MAs: only a very small amount of financial assistance is available in the form of scholarships, teaching fellowships, or research assistantships. The monies we do have are awarded competitively; the opportunity to apply is announced via the listserve we maintain for matriculated students. Unfortunately, no department monies are available for incoming MA students.

Is there a foreign language requirement for the completion of the program?

All MA students are required to demonstrate foreign language proficiency equivalent to the level represented by George Mason’s 210-level language classes: this is also the level of proficiency all GMU undergraduates must attain. New graduate students may demonstrate competence either through an undergraduate transcript that indicates the completion of intermediate-level study (or beyond) in a single language or via a translation examinations offered by the department. There are also other ways to meet the language requirement. For details see information on the English Department’s foreign language requirement.