Accelerated Master's Program
Master of Arts (Fordham BA-MA)
Description
This program allows exceptional students to complete a Master of Arts degree in English with one additional year of study beyond the B.A.
Designed to give our English majors the opportunity to earn an M.A. in less time than they otherwise could, this program allows students to move from belonging to the 30% of Americans who hold an undergraduate degree to the 8% who hold a Master’s degree.
In the B.A.-M.A. program, study toward the M.A. begins at the start of senior year: students take a total of three 5000-level graduate courses during their final two undergraduate semesters. These courses count at once toward a student’s undergraduate and graduate degrees, and are credited to both the English major B.A. and M.A. requirements (no additional fees are incurred in this process). Since students in this program earn 9 graduate credits while completing their B.A., they are able to complete the remaining 21 credits for the M.A. the following year, in time to participate in the May graduation ceremony of Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Students accepted into the accelerated M.A. program are not obligated to continue beyond the B.A. Should they decide not to continue, their credits earned in graduate courses will still count toward the B.A., and no additional costs will be incurred. In other words, if you are interested in seeing what graduate study is like, this is a good opportunity to test the waters without needing to commit right away to a full graduate program.
Application Requirements
- Resume/CV
- Two letters of recommendation from English or Comparative Literature faculty. Note that you will be asked to provide the names of two faculty members when you enter the online application system. Your professors will then receive automatic email requests to upload their letters.
- Writing sample of between 5-20 pages, ideally a paper from one of your English or Comparative Literature courses.
- All undergraduate transcripts, including your Fordham transcript.
- View Application Deadlines
Accelerated M.A. applicants are not required to take the GRE exam or pay an application fee. Should you choose to apply to the accelerated M.A. program in English, please let Prof. Andrew Albin ([email protected]) know as soon as possible, and submit your application anytime between now and May 15. Two recommendation letters from Fordham English faculty members are required with your application – if you are uncertain of how to go about this, or have any other questions, please feel free to get in touch with Prof. Albin directly.