Fast Track 4+1
Fast Track 5 Year BA/MA in English with a Concentration in Literatures & Cultural Studies
The BA/MA degree option in English is designed to provide qualified students the means to complete the requirements for both the BA and MA in a period of five years. A key feature of the option allows students to get a head start on fulfilling the course requirements for the MA by taking up to 12 hours of graduate-level courses (that will count as dual undergraduate and graduate credit) during their senior year. These 12 hours of dual-credit courses will allow students to both finish the requirements for the BA and begin the requirements for the MA in English. Students who pursue this option can be registered in any of the five English concentrations at the BA level but would be taking graduate courses toward the English MA in the Literatures & Cultural Studies Concentration. The graduate hours taken while still enrolled as an undergraduate could be applied toward the specific Area requirements of the English BA degree plan (where applicable) or as general electives.
The Process:
Apply Spring 2024 semester Junior year (to Graduate Coordinator and Department Chair)
Requirements:
3.5 GPA in Upper-level ENGL courses
3.0 GPA overall
90 hrs. complete by beginning of senior year
Application Materials:
Statement of Interest/Purpose
Transcripts
Writing Sample (from ENGL course)
Apply junior year to MA Program (if accepted, grad hours carry over)
Schedule:
Fall senior year: two graduate courses (course should line up with BA & MA requirements to satisfy both degrees) & two UG courses
Spring senior year: two graduate courses (courses should line up with BA & MA requirements to satisfy both degrees)
Summer after BA: two graduate courses
Fall MA (year 5): three graduate courses
Spring MA (year 5): three graduate courses & complete Portfolio, or two graduate courses & Thesis
2024-2026 Rotation
FALL 2024
ENGL 6300: Intro to Literary Studies & 3 Under-grad courses
ENGL 6308: Mexican American Literature
SPRING 2025 ENGL 6302: Studies in Literary History
ENGL 6306: Studies in Comparative Literature
SUMMER 1 2025
ENGL 6315: Cultural Studies
SUMMER II 2025
ENGL 6304: Studies in British Literature
FALL 2025 – THESIS TRACK
Choose one Rhetoric/Composition Graduate Course
Choose one Linguistics Graduate Course
ENGL 7300: THESIS I
FALL 2025 – PORTFOLIO TRACK
One Rhetoric/Composition Graduate Course
Two ENGL Electives
SPRING 2026 – THESIS TRACK
ENGL 6301: Studies in Literary Theory
ENGL 6312: Studies in Single Author
ENGL 7301: THESIS II
SPRING 2026 – PORTFOLIO TRACK
ENGL 6301: Studies in Literary Theory
ENGL 6312: Studies in Single Author
One Linguistics Graduate Course
PORTFOLIO
Please click below for more information and to apply:
https://www.utrgv.edu/graduate/for-future-students/fast-track-programs/index.htm