MA in English

The Department of English at CSULB has over 40 tenure-track, tenured, and emeritus faculty whose research and teaching interests cover the range of periods, authors, and genres in British and American literature; focus on a variety of critical and theoretical approaches; and explore diverse topics in the study of reading and writing in English.Our graduate seminars are small classes that encourage students to examine and explore the topic intensively, and they are designed to broaden and deepen students’ understanding of the intellectual, cultural, rhetorical, and aesthetic traditions of literature and writing in English.The MA program in English is designed to broaden students’ knowledge and understanding of the literary and rhetorical traditions of writing in English, as well as to provide the opportunity for intensive study in one or more specialized area(s) of literature or rhetoric and composition. The MA program in English emphasizes close reading and critical analysis by developing students’ abilities to situate texts within their larger aesthetic, historical, and professional contexts, conduct independent research, and formulate original arguments in oral presentations and writing.

The MA program in English welcomes applicants who were English majors as undergraduates, as well as applicants from other majors. Students can apply after they have earned their BA or in their last semester of their BA. If students apply successfully during the last semester of their undergraduate career, they receive contingent admission, i.e., admission contingent on their completing their BA and maintaining their GPA. Students with a GPA of 3.3 or better in their upper-division English classes need only fill out the application (see below) and receive full admission. Students with a GPA between 3.0 and 3.3 in their upper-division English classes have two options for applying: Applicants with a GPA between 3.0 and 3.3 in their upper-division English classes may be admitted to the MA program if they take the GRE General Test and achieve a minimum score of 158 in Verbal Reasoning and 5.0 in Analytical Writing. Admission for Other Majors Students with a baccalaureate degree in a major other than English from an accredited four-year institution may also apply to the MA program in English. These students must have an overall GPA of 3.0 or better. These students may receive conditional admission to the MA program in English, which means that they will need to complete prerequisite courses to bring their upper-division English courses to 21 units.