Although information about the graduate program in English is available online, you may request a printed copy of the graduate program as described in the department brochure.

New students may not begin enrollment in the Spring, and enrollment cannot be deferred from one year to the next. Applicants for the M.A. program must have completed at the time of enrollment a Bachelor's degree, preferably in English. Applicants to the doctoral program must have completed at the time of enrollment a Master's degree, ordinarily in English and/or American literature.

HOW TO APPLY

In order to apply for admission to the graduate program in English at UNC-CH, you need to:
(1) fill out an online application form,
(2) send some materials and your application fee to the Graduate School, and
(3) send other materials directly to the English Department. Specifically:

(1) Application for admission must be made on the form provided by the Graduate School's electronic application process. To be considered for fellowships and assistantships be sure to mark the appropriate statement on this electronic form (no other action is required).

(Further important details and links to the Graduate School web pages given under Quick Checklist and Summary below.)

(2) Send your application fee, one set of official transcripts, and official GRE scores directly to the Graduate School. With regard to GRE scores, please note that (a) both aptitude (verbal, quantitative and logical/writing) and the subject area tests (British and American literature) are required, and (b) the results must be reported directly by ETS to the Graduate School. For this reporting to occur you must specifically request ETS to send your scores to UNC. You may pay the application fee online or send it by mail. Have the transcripts (and, if you choose to pay by check, that check) sent to:

UNC Chapel Hill
The Graduate School
CB# 4010 200A Bynum Hall
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-4010

(Further important details given under Quick Checklist and Summary below.)

(3) Send your writing sample, statement of purpose, one set of official transcripts, and three letters of recommendation to:

Graduate Admissions, Department of English
CB# 3520 Greenlaw Hall
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3520

(Further important details given under Quick Checklist and Summary below.)

QUICK CHECKLIST AND SUMMARY

SUBMIT DIRECTLY TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL:

The online application
This is your official application and once you have completed it and paid your application fee you will be able to track the status of your application online. Be sure to provide accurate contact information (phone numbers, and especially email address) so we and the Graduate School can reach you. Update this information as necessary. (For information from the Graduate School, read the page for prospective students; for the application itself, click ELECTRONIC GRADUATE ADMISSION APPLICATION on that page. The first time you click the APPLICATION link you will be taken to a page which allows you to create an identity for the purposes of making and tracking your application.)

Application fee
You can pay this by credit card online or by mailing a check. When your online form is completed and you application fee has been processed, you may obtain a PID (Personal IDentification number). (Fee: Online or mail to Graduate School; you may obtain your Person IDentification number at https://www-s3.ais.unc.edu/SISMisc/pidwmp.)

GRE test scores
Both General Aptitude and Subject Area scores are required. Since these scores must come officially from ETS, and since there is some delay in their being reported, applicants should complete all GRE exams by the end of October to ensure timely receipt of test scores and completion of an application . Please use the institutional code number 5816. There is no separate departmental code. Sending photocopies of the report ETS sends you is not considered "official" by the Graduate School; scores must come directly from ETS to Graduate School.

SUBMIT TO BOTH GRADUATE SCHOOL AND ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:

Official Transcripts (to both Graduate School and English department).
Note that you must send transcripts for ALL courses, wherever taken (e.g., junior college, summer school, study abroad) which count towards the degree(s) you claim as the basis for admission to graduate work (your B.A. if you seek entry at the M.A. level, your B.A. and M.A. if you seek entry directly at the Ph.D. level). (From the institutions you attended to both Graduate School and English Department)

SUBMIT DIRECTLY TO ENGLISH DEPARTMENT:

Critical writing sample
This should be a representative paper of 10-20 pages, and it should be analytical rather than creative in content. Readers will be interested in the lucidity of your thought and expression, in your ability to incorporate and react to previous ideas, and/or in your demonstration of research skills.

Statement of Purpose
Every reviewer will scrutinize this carefully for evidence of intellectual maturity and preparedness to undertake "professional" study of literature (without favoring any particular approach or point of view). Specifics about your experience, interests, background, qualifications, and/or professional goals can be significant components of this statement. Applicants with an interest in technical media may want to include a brief description of computing or other technical skills and backgrounds.

Letters of recommendation
Three letters of recommendation from persons qualified to evaluate your academic and professional qualifications are required. Students entering at the Ph.D. level must include at least one letter that addresses teaching experience. Be aware that letters which address specifically your academic work, relative to graduate study in literature, and speak in some detail of this work, are much more persuasive than those which speak in generalities, however glowingly.

AN EXHORTATION ABOUT DEADLINES

PLEASE BE AWARE that even after the Graduate School has received all the materials you send it, IT MAY TAKE A MONTH for those materials to reach the English department; the Graduate School has a finite staff and as the December 1 deadline approaches they are inundated with applications. That is why it is crucial, if you want your application to receive due consideration, that ALL MATERIALS be RECEIVED by December 1. Otherwise your completed admissions portfolio will not be ready for review at the beginning of January. PLEASE REMEMBER also that the English Department requires both GRE aptitude and subject tests, and that the results of those from ETS take at least a month to reach UNC. Your application will not be reviewed until ALL required materials have been received and your portfolio is complete.

A decision on your application will be reached before April 15.

Please also consult our Frequently Asked Questions, the Guide to Graduate Studies, and the links for enrolled students on the Graduate Study page.
 

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