Accelerated MA in English (Concentration in Professional and Technical Writing)

Catalog Year: 2026-2027

Banner Code: LA-MA-ACEL-ENGL-PTW

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Bachelor's Degree (any)/English, Accelerated MA (Professional and Technical Writing Concentration)

Overview

Highly qualified undergraduates may be admitted to the combined bachelor's and accelerated master's degree pathway program and obtain a bachelor's degree in a chosen major and an MA in English with a concentration in professional and technical writing in an accelerated time-frame after satisfactory completion of a minimum of 138 credits.

See AP.6.7 Bachelor's/Accelerated Master's Degree for policies related to this program.

Students in an accelerated master's degree program must fulfill all university requirements for the master's degree. For policies governing all graduate degrees, see AP.6 Graduate Policies.

BAM Pathway Admission Requirements

Applicants to all graduate programs at George Mason University must meet the admission standards and application requirements for graduate study as specified in Graduate Admissions Polices and accelerated master's degree policies. For information specific to this accelerated master's program, see Application Requirements and Process on the departmental website.

Students will be considered for admission into the BAM Pathway after completion of a minimum of 60 credits, and an overall GPA of 3.50 or above. 

Students who are accepted into the BAM Pathway will be allowed to register for graduate level courses after successful completion of a minimum of 75 undergraduate credits.

Accelerated Master's Admission Requirements

Undergraduate students already admitted in the BAM Pathway will be admitted to the master's program, if they have met the following criteria, that will be verified:

  • Submission of BAM Transition Form by stated deadline.
  • Minimum overall GPA of 3.50 for conferred undergraduate degree (which does not include any earned reserve graduate credits).
  • Completion of approved advanced standing courses and any reserve graduate courses that have met the minimum grade requirement of B-.
  • Successful completion of required minimum of 120 credits needed for undergraduate degree conferral (after exclusion of any satisfactory reserve graduate credits earned).
  • Successfully meeting Mason's requirements for undergraduate degree conferral (graduation) and timely submission of the application for graduation.

Accelerated Pathway Requirements

To maintain the integrity and quality of both the undergraduate and graduate degree programs, undergraduate students interested in taking graduate courses must choose from the following:

Advanced Standing courses
Students must complete at least 3 credits from the following list of graduate-level courses, which in undergraduate status, up to a maximum of 12.

ENGH 501 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing (3 credits)
ENGH 502 Research Methods in Professional and Technical Writing (3 credits)
ENGH 503 Theory and Practice of Editing (3 credits)
ENGH 505 Document Design (3 credits)

Reserve Graduate Credit courses 
Students may complete up to 6 credits, while in undergraduate status, of graduate-level coursework from the list below that will only count towards the graduate degree program. 

ENGH 501 Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing (3 credits)
ENGH 502 Research Methods in Professional and Technical Writing (3 credits)
ENGH 503 Theory and Practice of Editing (3 credits)
ENGH 505 Document Design (3 credits)
ENGH 507 Web Authoring and Design (3 credits)
ENGH 508 Digital Rhetoric (3 credits)
ENGH 509 Proposal Writing and Development
ENGH 611 Studies in Rhetoric (3 credits)

For more detailed information on coursework and timeline requirements see AP.6.7 Bachelor's Accelerated Master's Degree and AP.1.4.4 Graduate Course Enrollment by Undergraduates.