Procedures
Applicants seeking admission to the MA major in Rhetoric and Composition must meet standard Graduate College requirements and have earned a GPA of at least 3.0 in 12 hours or more of undergraduate English courses.  In addition, all applicants must demonstrate graduate-level writing ability by submitting the following materials for committee evaluation:

• At least two nonfiction documents totaling a minimum of 15 typed double-spaced pages. At least one of these documents should be an academic research paper written for an undergraduate or graduate course.
• A cover letter in which the applicant (1) explains the writing samples—when and for whom they were written, why the applicant has included them as representative work, etc., and (2) discusses reasons for applying to the MA major in Rhetoric and Composition program.  In discussing reasons for applying to the program, applicants are encouraged to discuss their future career and/or academic aspirations, research and teaching interests, relevant background, and other information they think will help the committee assess their potential success in and “fit” for the program. Length of the cover letter should be 1-2 typed single-spaced pages.
  

The writing samples and cover letter should be sent directly to the Director of the MA major in Rhetoric and Composition, Department of English, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, TX 78666. 

Deadlines
Application deadlines for the MA major in Rhetoric and Composition are flexible.  However, we strongly encourage applicants to submit materials by the application deadlines specified by the Graduate College: June 15 for the fall semester and October 15 for the spring semester. 

Students requesting assistantships must submit required materials by January 15 for the following academic year.  For more information about instructional and teaching assistantships in the Department of English, please visit
http://www.english.txstate.edu/admissions/apps.html.