M.A. / Ph.D. Programs

Overview
The Graduate Program offers both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English and American Literature. While we offer a broad range of graduate-level courses in these fields, we encourage interdisciplinary approaches informed by cultural studies and contemporary critical theory. On this page, you'll find Admissions Information, a list of M.A. / Ph.D. student Requirements, and a discussion of the Concentrations available to M.A. / Ph.D. students.

Nicholas Bromell
Director
Bartlett 452-B; 413.545.5495
nbromell@english.umass.edu

Admissions Information
Important Note: Applicants to the M.A.-Ph.D. program interested in receiving financial
support through a Teaching Associateship should download and complete an
Application to the Writing Program and send it to the Graduate Program of
the English Department by January 15. The completed application should be sent to:

Wanda Bak
Graduate Program
Department of English,170 Bartlett Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003

(Because we are not able to offer them Teaching Associateships, applicants to the terminal M.A. program - see below - need not apply to the Writing Program.)

What are the most important elements of my application?

We place great weight on your personal statement. This statement is your opportunity to get the committee interested in you, in your potential as a professional and as a human being. Excellent recommendations by your professors are essential. They should be extensive and detailed, not simply flat statements that you are a "good student." Nearly all of our applicants are "good students." Many of the successful letters of recommendation in our application files are about a single-spaced page long. You may want to provide your recommenders with copies of your college or university transcripts, of the papers you wrote for their course(s), and a brief resume of your accomplishments, both academic and professional. We look carefully at your course preparation and GPA. Nearly all of the students we accept have an undergraduate GPA of 3.3 or better. Students entering with a Masters degree are expected to have attained a high GPA (3.75 or better) for their graduate work. Though we do not require a writing sample, we strongly suggest that you send one which demonstrates your ability to do critical work in literature. It should be between five and no more than twenty pages long.

What about the GREs? And do I have to take the subject test?

All applicants to the M.A. -PhD. programs must take the GREs, including the GRE subject test. Applicants to the terminal M.A. program need not take the GREs. The English Department requires in addition that all students--except for those applying in the American Studies concentration--also take the subject test. Our department does not require a minimum score on the GRE. Most of the students we accept into our program have earned GRE scores above 600 (verbal) and 500 (English subject test). However we do not consider these numbers a "minimum" because many other wise excellent students fare poorly on standardized tests. Conversely, extremely high GRE scores do not guarantee admission.

If I am an international student, do I have to take the TOEFL?

Yes. For international applicants, a TOEFL score of 550 or better is required by the Graduate School for admission to any graduate program.

How selective is your program?

Admission to the UMASS English graduate program is highly competitive. We usually have somewhere between 200 and 400 applicants 15 available spots per year. We reach this figure through a preliminary winnowing process that gives us a group of several dozen students we would love to accept. From that group of superb students we are then forced to pick the small number we can afford to accept. Every April we find ourselves having to explain to 20 or 30 disappointed applicants that they were not turned down on the basis of any perceived weakness. One of the grounds on which we make our final choices is the need to balance areas of student interest with our own faculty resources.

What are the costs of your program?

The costs of the program as of 2007-2008 are:   Tuition:    $414 per credit for out-of-state students    $165 per credit for New England Regional student    $110 per credit for in-state students Fees: Resident    9 or more credits: $3,727.50 per semester    5-8 credits: $2,629.50 per semester    1-4 credits: $1,758.00 per semester Fees: Non Resident 9 Credits or more: $4,620.50 per semester 5 to 8 credits : $3,255.00 per semester 1 - 4 credits: $2,056.05 per semester

What are your program's strongest areas of literary study?

Our program has special strengths in Renaissance literature and culture, American literature and American Studies, multi-ethnic and postcolonial literatures, Rhetoric and Composition, and critical theory.

How do most of you students support themselves during graduate school?

Teaching Assistantships are the principal source of support for English graduate students. TAs are awarded by the Writing Program to teach composition, and by the English Department to teach introductory literature courses, advanced composition, and technical writing. Writing Program TAs are available to qualified entering students and are awarded jointly by the Writing Program Director and the Graduate Director. TAs in both writing and literature are limited and are awarded to students by application only. Please Note: A full TA carries a teaching load of one course each semester, pays $13,870.00, and comes with a tuition and fee waiver.

What's the deadline for my application and where should I send it?

January 15. Send it to: Graduate Admissions Office, 530 Goodell Building, UMass-Amherst, 140 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01003.

How do I get an application?

For application forms and/or a Graduate School Bulletin, contact the Graduate Admissions Office at 530 Goodell Building, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Their telephone number is 413.545.0721. You may also apply online to the UMass Graduate School

What is the application fee?

The fee is $40 for U.S. citizens and permanent residents, $50 for international students.

How do I contact the English department graduate program?

For more information, contact: Graduate Studies in English, Bartlett Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Our telephone number is (413) 545-0979; fax (413) 545-3880. You may also contact Wanda Bak, our graduate administrator, at wbak@english.umass.edu.

Requirements
Terminal Masters Degree (30 credits):

1. 10 graduate courses or 8 courses (24 credits) and a Master's Thesis (6 credits). 2. Foreign Language requirement (see below). 3. Students may transfer credit for 2 graduate-level English courses taken at other schools or at UMASS before their formal admission to the Graduate English Program. 4. While in the MA program at UMASS, students may also take two courses in departments outside of English.

Pre-Doctoral Masters Degree (30 credits):

1. 10 graduate courses in 5 semesters:   (1 course) Theorizing the Discipline (Eng 791). 2 courses in English or American literature pre-1800. 2 courses in English or American literature pre-1900. 5 elective courses. 2. Foreign Language requirement (see below). 3. Students may transfer credit for 2 graduate-level English courses taken at other schools or at UMASS before their formal admission to the Graduate English Program. 4. While in the pre-doctoral MA program at UMASS, students may also take two courses in departments outside of English. 5. In order to proceed into the Doctoral Program, students will be expected to:   A. Achieve a GPA of 3.5 or higher during the course work for the MA degree. B. Participate in an Advisory Session with four faculty members. 6. The advisory session will review the candidate's preparation and projected course of study, timetable, and goals. This session will be conducted by a committee consisting of either the Director or one of the Associate Directors of Graduate Studies, and three other faculty to be chosen by the Graduate Program Director. The student will prepare a five-page statement that will constitute a narrative synthesis of what the student has accomplished thus far, and the kinds of issues and questions that arise at this point in her/his intellectual development. This statement, together of one or two papers, will be submitted to the committee two weeks in advance of the session. The committee will review these materials, including the student's transcripts and faculty comments on course work, which together will constitute a dossier roughly comparable to admissions applications for students proposing to enter the program with the MA. The committee's role is advisory: to help students refine their understanding of prior study and possible future research, and to provide suggestions about courses to take, books to read, people with whom to work.

Ph.D. (24 credits plus 18-credit dissertation)

1. 6 graduate courses in 3 semesters:   1 course in theory to be chosen by the student. 5 elective courses. 2. Second foreign language at intermediate level, or advanced proficiency in first language. 3. Doctoral Examination (6 credits) A two-hour oral examination, to be taken in the fourth semester of the Ph.D. program and to be administered by a committee of four faculty: one the student's chosen advisor for a First or Major Research Area, one the student's chosen advisor for a Second Area, and two appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies. In advance of the examination, the student will present work in writing for each area. The scope and substance of this work will vary somewhat, depending on the degree to which the student has already defined a major area for the dissertation, one that will therefore be more prominent than the second area, which might be (for example) a secondary field of research and/or teaching. As a rough guide, the student should submit a combined maximum of 30 written pages defining the two areas, and a pair of bibliographies for the areas consisting of a minimum of 60 works. The First Area should be seen as defining an area of research that the student hopes will lead to a dissertation. The work submitted for the exam will be a carefully written essay with an attached reading list. The essay will not be a formal dissertation proposal but will describe as searchingly as possible a field of interest, define the important issues, take stands, and consider possible methodologies. The student will be expected to defend and elaborate on the essay's argument and to speak knowledgeably about the reading list, especially as its items bear on the argument. The work submitted for the Second Area will be an essay--also with a reading list--defining this second area of interest and describing current issues in the field. It may also include, where appropriate, a syllabus for an advanced undergraduate course in this area, prefaced by a course description of no more than one page. In this case, the syllabus should be a secondary document during the examining process: it should seem to arise naturally from the interest described in the essay, and might be conceived as an answer to a hiring committee's question, "And how would you hope to make use of this research in teaching for us?" Accordingly, the syllabus should be "teachable"--a course that might be a legitimate undergraduate draw wither at UMASS Amherst or at some other institution the student has in mind. 4. Appointment of a Dissertation Committee by the Graduate Dean A committee of three faculty members is chosen by the student in consultation with faculty advisors and the Director of Graduate Studies. At least two members, one of whom must chair the committee, must be from the English department. The third member must be a UMASS Graduate Faculty member from another department. 5. Dissertation Prospectus A document which gives a preliminary description of the work to be undertaken in the dissertation. It must be approved and signed by all committee members and the Graduate Director at least 7 months before the dissertation defense. 6. Dissertation Defense During the defense students field questions about their work and its methodology. The Defense must be scheduled with the Graduate Program Administrator at least 3 weeks prior to the examination so it can be published in The Campus Chronicle.

Foreign Language Requirement
A student must demonstrate intermediate proficiency in one language for either the MA, the MA/PhD, or the PhD program. Intermediate proficiency should enable a student to read a language with the aid of a dictionary and use it to conduct research. Students demonstrate intermediate proficiency in one of the following ways:

1. Substantial course work of at least two years duration in a language taken recently as an undergraduate may, at the discretion of the Graduate Director, be accepted as demonstrating intermediate proficiency, as may the satisfaction of a language requirement for an MA earned at another university. 2. A student who is a native speaker of a language automatically qualifies in his or her native tongue. 3. Students may engage in overseas language study or in another intensive language program to be approved by the Graduate Director. 4. Students may arrange to be examined by a professor in the English department or in one of the language departments. These exams typically consist of either: --a one-hour translation with the aid of a dictionaryOR --a longer project in which the student works under the direction of a professor to produce a relatively polished translation of a portion of a foreign text. The length would be determined by the level of difficulty of the text.

In choosing among possible languages at this stage in one's scholarly career, a student should consider several factors. One's intended area of specialization may make a specific language essential or highly desirable. For instance, Early Modern Literature specialists would be well advised to learn Latin, a psychoanalytic critic German, a poststructuralist French, an American Studies scholar Spanish or Yiddish. One will normally choose to study the language of a literature one wants to read in the original, or in which one hopes to spend time. Americanists in particular can expect to have opportunities to lecture abroad in their field.

Concentrations
We have strong faculty interests across a spectrum of interrelated fields, including African American literature, post-coloniality, Native American studies, and 20th-century popular culture. Graduate students also have the option of pursuing interdisciplinary work through the American Studies concentration. In addition, our Composition and Rhetoric Program provides cutting-edge opportunities in that area, while the University of Massachusetts Renaissance Center gives us a special strength in early modern studies. Underlying our activity in all these fields is a strong programmatic commitment to practical preparation for a profession in transition.

American Studies

American Studies is an interdisciplinary study of cultures in the United States. Required America Studies seminars in the concentration are regularly supplemented by interdisciplinary courses such as "Representations of Race," "Photography and American Culture," "The Ragtime Era" and "African American High Culture." In addition to the several American literature and culture faculty who work with American Studies graduate students, affiliate faculty frequently come from history, anthropology, communications, theater, journalism, legal studies, psychology, art history, and music. Also available to graduate students in American Studies is the Five College Center for Crossroads in the Study of the America, and, for those interested in arts and culture, Historic Deerfield and the Northampton Historical Society. For more information about the American Studies concentration, please consult the American Studies Home Page.

Composition and Rhetoric Program

At the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduate students in English wanting to specialize in Composition Studies have available to them a rich array of resources: a distinguished faculty, a nationally-known first-year writing program, a well-established writing across the curriculum program, and a computer equipped writing facility. Students can take courses in composition theory, rhetorical theory, writing and emerging technologies, voice in writing, research methods, and literary studies. These courses complement the Department's extensive graduate offerings in literary and cultural studies, creative writing, and American Studies. For more information about the concentration in Composition and Rhetoric, please visit the Composition and Rhetoric Home Page.

University of Massachusetts Renaissance Center

Each term the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies (Arthur Kinney, director), housed in the Daiken Estate at the University of Massachusetts, offers interdisciplinary courses involving the age of Shakespeare; recent offerings have included English/Theater, "Re-inventing Shakespeare", English/History, "Court and Culture in England, 1590-1625"; English/Art History, "Text and Voice in Renaissance Art"; English/Hispanic Studies, "The Golden Age." In addition, the Center invites graduate students to participate in local and regional colloquia and international conferences held on campus; edit and work on two book series, the journal English Literary Renaissance and the forthcoming Garland Encyclopedia of Tutor England; and use the Center's special collection of Renaissance materials (15,000 rare books and supplemental materials). All of these actives complement the course offerings in Renaissance English literature offered by the Renaissance faculty in the English department and elsewhere in the University. For information about the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, please consult the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies Home Page.

Nick Bromell
Graduate Program Director
English Department
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
413 545-5495