For more information about the application process and our funded MA, click here. For more information about our online offering (currently available for our concentrations in Children's Literature and Creative Writing), click here.
K-State’s Department of English provides students with a carefully structured but individualized program that encourages creativity, promotes innovative scholarship, and fosters close working relationships between students and faculty.
For more information about the department, including writing by alumni and current students, check out the department blog.
Our M.A. Program typically has 35-40 students, most of whom are on campus and funded through Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) positions.
The M.A. degree in English is awarded in one of five concentrations, each of which can be completed in 30 hours. The M.A. degree features a literature core, meaning that each student will take at least 9 hours of literature course work.
All concentrations include:
ENGL 801: Introduction to Graduate Studies (3 hrs)
Literature core (9 hrs)
Courses in chosen concentration (9 hrs)
Electives (6 hrs)
A seminar (3 hrs)
A writing project or thesis
Full-time students typically finish the degree in two years.
The degree is also available for the Children's Literature and Creative Writing Concentrations online.
Many students in full-time employment have also successfully completed the degree part-time.
Most on campus M.A. students qualify to be graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and are provided valuable teaching experience as well as financial support.
Literature This concentration allows students to emphasize literature in any time period, with individual guidance from specialized experts.
Children's Literature This concentration explores children's literature and adolescent literature.
Creative Writing and Literature This concentration focuses on the student's creative work in drama, fiction, nonfiction, or poetry; the student will work closely with graduate faculty well-published in the genre the student chooses to emphasize.
Cultural Studies and Literature This concentration covers the theoretical bases for examining cultural texts and contexts. Study may encompass both literary and nonliterary areas, such as politics, sociology, and political economy.
Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication This concentration focuses on language, composition, and rhetorical theory. In addition to preparing students for future Ph.D. work, the track provides professional training as preparation for teaching in community and junior colleges.
The Department of English is also home to a Graduate Certificate program that offers students an interdisciplinary focus on communication in non-academic professions, particularly business, government, high technology industries, and the non-profit sector.
Graduate Teaching Assistantships
Most M.A. students applying for the in-person M.A. program qualify to be GTAs and are provided valuable teaching experience as well as financial support.
GTAs usually teach three sections of Expository Writing per year and participate in a teacher advisory program. GTAs with seniority may teach fewer sections and gain supervised experience in the department's writing center.
The stipend for a nine-month contract is $12,393. All teaching assistantships come with a full tuition waiver and the opportunity to enroll in the University's health insurance program. GTAs are sometimes given opportunities to teach in summer school.
GTAs are responsible for fees. For a detailed breakdown of fees, please view the university's comprehensive fee schedule.
To apply for a GTA assistantship, simply select "YES" in response to the question "Would you like to be considered for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship?" on the application form.
Department Awards
New M.A. students may compete for additional scholarships, which are usually awarded as supplements or additions to a GTA award.
To apply for a scholarship, simply select "YES" in response to the question "Would you like to be considered for a scholarship or fellowship?" on the application form. For a description of the awards, please see the list of awards.
Financial Aid
Inquires for other kinds of financial assistance -- such as student loans -- should be sent to the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Fairchild Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506-1104.
The University
As the country's first land-grant university, founded in 1863, Kansas State offers a rich diversity of programs involving a distinguished graduate faculty who are renowned for their dedication to the education of students.
The campus is nestled in the heart ofManhattan, a city of 50,000, located two hours west of Kansas City in a tree-filled valley amid the unique geography of the dramatically rolling Flint Hills.
For information about the cost of living in Manhattan, click here.
The Department
Intellectual community makes Kansas State's English Department a remarkable place to do graduate work. Because approximately 50 M.A. students are supervised by about 30 graduate faculty, students can expect individual attention and small classes.
In the past five years, the graduate faculty have published nearly two dozenbooksas well as articles, reviews, poems, essays, and stories in more than 100 journals and anthologies.
I learned how to write with clarity and purpose. I learned how to be a better listener with my teaching experience as a GTA. I was prepared to do research and work in the publishing industry with my last job at the Nebraska State Historical Society.
-- Kylie Kinley (M.A. 2013)
The M.A. program is enriched by an active and diverse visiting writers program, lectures by visiting scholars, an annual symposium in cultural studies, a departmental colloquium, and other special events, such as recent residencies of Shakespearean actors from Britain.
Graduate students may participate in the production ofTouchstone, a student-edited journal of creative work by students from colleges and universities across the country.
Our graduates enter diverse professions:
Technical and professional writing
Community and social services
Arts administration
Public school teaching
Community college instruction
University instruction and administration
Librarianship
Publishing and editing
Journalism
Business
Law
Over the last decade, our graduates have entered M.F.A. and Ph.D. programs at institutions in the U.S. and overseas, including:
University of Alabama · University of California, Santa Barbara · University of Cambridge (UK) · University of Durham (UK) · University of Connecticut · University of Florida · University of Houston · University of Kansas · University of Kentucky · University of Missouri, KC · University of Nebraska, Lincoln · University of North Texas · Northeastern University · University of Pennsylvania · University of Texas, Austin · Texas A & M · Western Sydney University · University of Wisconsin, Madison · University of York (UK).
I was given tremendous freedom to craft a project around my own research interests; I was encouraged to follow my instincts and think expansively.
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The stipend for a nine-month contract is $12,393. All teaching assistantships come with a full tuition waiver and the opportunity to enroll in the University's health insurance program. GTAs are sometimes given opportunities to teach in summer school.