Admission Requirements
Listed below are the required application materials and the associated scores (if necessary) for each.
- Application for admission
- Application Fee: $45 domestic or $55 international
- Official transcripts from all colleges attended
- Verification of lawful presence in the United States (i.e. submit a license or other approved document)
- Official acceptable GRE scores
- Two letters of recommendation
- Brief cover letter outlining your graduate career goals
- Scholarly writing sample (minimum 6 pages)
- Military documents (if applicable)
- Admission decision by department
To be admitted, an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree with a minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.9, and must have a GRE verbal of 150 or higher and a GRE Analytical Writing Score of at least 3.5.
The Graduate Coordinator will accept unofficial copies of GRE scores and transcripts.
Under “Non-Degree Seeking” status, an applicant may be granted conditional admission status if he or she submits unofficial documents for review and meets the criteria for regular admission. The Graduate Bulletin offers a full explanation of requirements for “Non-Degree Seeking” status.
Non-degree seeking students and students from other graduate programs who would like to enroll in graduate-level courses must request the permission of the department. The graduate program in English is not required to allow non-degree seeking students or graduate students pursuing degrees in other graduate programs at Austin Peay State University to enroll in graduate seminars.
Austin Peay State University’s Department of Languages and Literature reserves the right to deny admissions to prospective graduate students on the basis of their academic performance, professional qualifications, and personal conduct.
For more information about the application process, please visit apsu.edu/grad-studies.
Program Options
All students are required to pass a written Comprehensive Examination in English and American literature. This examination is based upon a published reading list and is typically taken in the student’s last semester of residence. We offer three options for the M.A. degree, each with the ability to be completed with or without a thesis. The English M.A. offers the most open program of study, while the English M.A. with concentrations in Creative Writing or in Linguistics require 12 credit hours of graduate course work in the sub-field.