M.A. in English
Tennessee's M.A. in English provides excellent training in literary and critical studies and a flexible curriculum that allows students to design their program of study with faculty mentors. Students at the M.A. level can choose to specialize in anything from Medieval literature to postmodern/contemporary studies, or to pursue a more general curriculum. We look for intelligent, thoughtful candidates who will enrich our intellectual community in a variety of ways and who will benefit from the breadth of our resources. We have a world-class research library with special collections in British and American literary and cultural history, excellent financial support, and a nationally and internationally recognized faculty. Our students have many opportunities for collaboration with faculty on scholarly journals, research assistantships, poetry and fiction readings, and reading groups. Travel funds for research and presentations at scholarly conferences help our students enter the profession and begin to establish themselves in their respective fields within the discipline. The GSE, area study groups, and other activities draw students together as an intellectual and social community, with shared passions and aspirations. Our M.A. graduates go on to excellent Ph.D. programs in English as well as careers in editing, publishing, technical writing, and the non-profit and private sectors. Click below for more information about the following
Entrance Profile of Candidates
We have a single admission deadline, January 15, for admission to all our degree programs. All admitted applicants begin their work together as a class in the fall. While candidates who have majored in English generally have an advantage in our competitive pool, we are also very interested in those who bring other disciplinary backgrounds to bear on their work with us. Generally, we do expect candidates to have 18 semester hours of upper-division coursework in English. The Graduate School requires a 2.7 average; most of our applicants have a 3.5 or better in their English courses.
We evaluate all of our degree candidates holistically, based on a portfolio of grades, recommendations, GRE scores (with an emphasis on the verbal and analytical scores), a statement of goals, and a writing sample. We are interested in the overall picture of strengths and interests that these materials provide. We have no specific cutoff numbers for the GRE scores, though our most competitive candidates have verbal scores of 600 or above and analytic scores of 5.5 or higher.
For the forms and a checklist of materials you will need to complete your application, click on How to Apply.
Teaching in the M.A. Program
We believe in the importance of excellent teaching in the graduate and the undergraduate classroom. Our professorial faculty and our graduate students share in the balance of teaching and research that makes up the academic life. Our teacher-training program, our primary assistantship program for graduate students, introduces students to that balance and to the rewarding work of classroom instruction. First-year M.A. students on Teaching Assistantships apprentice with a master teacher, assist in the Writing Center, and study the best practices in writing and critical reading instruction with our Rhetoric and Composition faculty as they prepare to take responsibility for their own classes independently in their second year as Teaching Associates. M.A. Teaching Associates can expect to teach two sections of First-Year Composition each semester of their second year. The Director of First-Year Composition and the Director of the Writing Center provide valuable guidance, insight, and support throughout the teaching experience. Our graduate student teachers as well as our professorial faculty regularly win departmental, college, and university teaching awards for their superb work in the classroom. Our assistantships and associateships include a tuition waiver, and current stipend amounts are $7226 for first-year assistants and $12,245 for second-year associates. For more Information about our teaching assistantships and associateships, see Financial Assistance.
Requirements for the M.A. Degree
Thesis Option
- A minimum of twenty-four semester hours in the Department of English beyond the B.A. degree. In this course work, students must maintain at least a B average.
- Six hours at the 600 level.
- Twelve additional hours at the 500-600 level. (A student may apply only three hours of 593--Independent Study-- toward the M.A. in English.)
- Six hours for graduate credit at any level, including the 400 level.
- A thesis, for which six semester hours credit is given. It will be written under the direction of a faculty member of the department and approved by him or her and two other members; it should normally be between sixty and one hundred pages in length.
Non-Thesis Option
Six hours of additional courses at the 500-600 level, making a total of thirty hours.
- Evidence of proficiency in one foreign language, to be fulfilled in one of the following ways:
- Completion of a second year of a language at college level with a grade of C or better. (Please note that this method does not fulfill part of the Ph.D. language requirement. Methods b and c do.)
- Completion of French 302 or German 332 at the University of Tennessee with a grade of B or better.
- Passing the regular Ph.D. foreign language examination as administered at the University of Tennessee.
- A final examination. A candidate presenting a thesis must pass a ninety-minute oral examination, focusing in part on the thesis, but consisting chiefly of questions covering the general history of English and American literature, not merely the courses he or she has taken; a reading list of primary works designed to help the student prepare for these questions is available in the Office of the Director of Graduate Studies in English. A non-thesis student must pass a written examination, followed by a one-hour oral examination, consisting chiefly of questions covering the general history of English and American literature. An M.A. student who fails the written examination twice must leave the program.
There is no residency requirement for the M.A. degree, but students should attempt to pursue a full-time program whenever possible.