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English

Master of Arts (M.A.)

On-Campus & Online

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Earn an M.A. at UW

If film, rhetoric, media, visual arts and popular culture don’t jump to mind when you think of English studies, come to UW and expand your perspective. Our community of writers are redefining an English master’s degree with a flexible, innovative graduate program that blends traditional study of literature, rhetoric and culture with training in teaching and public-facing research. Intensely creative since 1886, UW offers a fully funded, campus-based English master’s degree program and a low-residency master’s in English online.

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Program Details

Program Requirements

Curriculum & Courses

Department

English Department

Tuition and Fees

Please visit our cost of attendance page
Online Tuition = "Other Programs" | On-Campus Tuition = "Graduate"

About the English M.A. Program

Tailor the program curriculum not only to fit your academic interests and career goals but also to intrigue and challenge you. As a graduate student in UW’s English master’s program, you’ll gain a solid foundation in English studies and specialize in one or more of the tracks in the following areas:

  • The Literature track explores a variety of perspectives on literature and other culturally significant texts and materials such as film, social media, oral traditions and political discourse.
  • The Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies track explores the production of discourse, with focus areas in classical, contemporary or cultural rhetoric; post-secondary writing pedagogy and program administration; political rhetoric and activism; or other writing-related studies.
  • The Public Humanities track is one of only a few in the country offered in an English master’s degree program. This concentration will prepare you for a career in nonprofit, civic and community-based cultural organizations that engage the humanities, contribute to social reform and promote the public good.
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UW’s Master of Arts in English online is a three-year, cohort-based degree program combining a one-week campus residency each summer with online classes throughout the regular academic year. Designed for working professionals, our online master’s in English allows you to manage other obligations while earning your graduate degree. As our rankings show, we provide a high-value degree while building a strong community through discussion, interaction and personalized mentoring.

Providing a well-rounded background in English studies, UW’s master’s degree program in English also offers a wide selection of courses such as these:

  • Consumption, Markets and Culture
  • Rhetorics of Public Memory
  • Radical Women Rhetors
  • Writing in Public Genres
  • Texts and Textiles
  • Race in the Medieval World
  • Author’s Houses
  • Black American Rhetorics
  • Cultures of Reading

View the full Master of Arts in English degree program curriculum.

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What Can You Do With an English Master’s Degree?

Whether you enroll in the master’s in English online or on campus, this graduate degree primes you for Ph.D. study or immediate careers in teaching, advising, communications and nonprofits.

Our graduates, after gaining additional credentials in some cases, have gone on to attend law school or business school, work in public relations and marketing, serve nonprofit organizations, develop public policy, work in radio and publishing and much more.

English Careers

These are just some of the varied roles filled by our English master’s program graduates:

  • K-12 language arts teacher
  • Academic adviser or college recruiter
  • Grant and policy writer
  • Technical writer and editor
  • Global marketing manager
  • Non-profit and foundation fundraiser

With additional credentialing, some of our graduates have worked in roles such as these:

  • Professor
  • Lawyer
  • University president

Read English alumni stories.

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In recent years, the English master’s program at UW has experienced a 90% placement rate for all graduate students applying to Ph.D. programs.

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English Masters Degree Program Highlights

The world needs more inspired creativity. With beautiful Laramie, Wyoming, as our backdrop, we nurture ingenuity and innovation in our English graduate students.

Graduate Student Funding

All graduate students admitted to the campus-based master’s in English degree program receive a two-year, fully funded Graduate Assistantship that includes free tuition, teaching opportunities and a living stipend, so you can focus entirely on your graduate studies and teaching.

College-Level Teaching Experience

All campus-based English graduate students teach one writing course per semester as part of their master’s experience. This teaching experience allows you to work directly with undergraduate students while learning how to mentor them in their writing.

Job Skills

Strengthen your analytical and critical-thinking skills to read, interpret and write about a diverse range of areas in English. You’ll also discuss books, study rhetoric, conduct independent research, teach students and develop and present a thesis in dialogue with scholars on a specialized topic.

Award-Winning Faculty

English program faculty are approachable and available. We provide extensive, one-on-one mentoring based on years of experience as publishing scholars and specialists in numerous periods, genres, methods and approaches. We also teach a variety of courses in literature, film, popular culture, digital media, composition, professional writing and theory.

Community

Connect with students and faculty on campus through a series of competitive internships with Coe Library, English Language Center, UW Writing Center and Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research. As a graduate student in the English master’s degree program, you’ll also have access to Eighteenth-Century Life, a Duke University Press journal housed in the English Department, and the Digital Humanities Lab.

Nationally Recognized

Our online master’s in English continues to be nationally recognized for the graduate program’s value and affordability. Recent rankings include: 

2020 Best Online Colleges for Value (Guide to Online Schools)
2020 Most Affordable Online Colleges (Online U)
2019 Most Affordable Online Colleges (SR Education Group)
2019 Most Affordable Master's in English Online (SR Education Group)
2019 Best Online Colleges for a Master's in English (SR Education Group)

The MA program . . . helped me to prepare for a career in nonprofit management by sharpening my skills in critical thinking and communication . . . . The MA program in English is rigorous. It would benefit those who are preparing to perform marketing and communications, policy-making, fundraising, or management in the nonprofit sector.

- Laurie Milford, Class of 1999

Related Programs

You might also be interested in the following UW graduate programs:

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