Am I Eligible?
Prospective applicants often wonder if they are eligible for the MA programme in English: Language, Literatures and Cultures. Unfortunately, an applicant's eligibility is difficult to assess without having the outline and the transcript of their previous degree programmes. While the admission regulations are fairly open, a candidate's eligibility rests on the relation of subject-specific courses to course on use of English and to other, non-related courses. The mere title of a BA degree programme does not say very much on this. The following examples may illustrate this (click here to download a larger version of the file).
While the BA degrees awarded sound very similar, each applicant has their own unique transcript, with a similarly unique array of courses on different aspects. The members of the Selection Panel for the MA programme review each application individually and in detail. In the case of applicant 3, where a large number of courses pertained to Translation Studies (Translating Newspaper Clippings, Translating Legal Documents, Translating Political Texts) the panel members have to go by title alone. No further documents are added to the application that would show how theoretical the individual courses are. For that reason the panel members agree that the level of subject-specific training - of training on the theory, analysis and development in different areas of English Studies - is not high enough for the candidate to be admitted.
Unsure of Your Chances for Admittance?
The panel below helps you find out how good your chances are of being admitted without having to submit your documents first.
This is what you should do:
- Count all the courses on your BA transcript.
- Now mark all the courses that deal with aspects of English Studies: subject-specific courses (History of English, Elizabethan Drama, Reading Chinua Achebe, Syntactic Structures of English, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, ... ) as well as courses on practical English language skills (English Grammar, Reading Comprehension, Translation Practice, Writing in English for Beginners, ... ).
- Do some maths: How high is the percentage of courses on English Studies overall, viz. in relation to all the courses you took? Please note. Then, how high is the number of courses on practical English skills in relation to all the courses on English Studies? Please note, too.
- If you have a Translation Studies or TEFL degree, please repeat this and note the percentage of courses on Translation/TEFL areas.
Now you are good to go! Which of the statements below describes your degree curriculum best? Click to see how high the computer rates your chances. If none of this describes your curriculum, please send your transcript to Dr. Reitemeier and ask for a detailed assessment.