Applications to the University of Pittsburgh's English graduate programs are open for the 2026-2027 academic year. The application deadlines for each program are as follows:
- PhD and MA in English: December 10, 2025
- MFA in English: January 7, 2026
If you have any questions about applying, please don't hesitate to reach out to the Graduate Administrator, LJ Woolcock-Srolovic, at engrad@pitt.edu.
General Information About Applying
Students can apply to the MA, MFA, and PhD programs in English online through the Dietrich School's online application system, GradCAS by Liaison.
- Make sure you follow the instructions provided on the Liaison GradCAS website. Save a copy of your submitted application for your records.
- All materials should be submitted online through GradCAS, including letters of recommendation. At this time we cannot accept letters of recommendation through Interfolio, or emailed directly to the department v. If applicants have technical issues uploading documents or requesting letters of recommendation, they should consult the GradCAS Help Center and reach out to GradCAS support through the chat function within their GradCAS application or via email (gradcasinfo@liaisoncas.com). Applicants who are still unable to resolve their issues may reach out to engrad@pitt.edu for assistance.
- Only students who apply for the PhD and the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program are eligible for departmental funding. The English Department is not able to fund students seeking the Master of Arts (MA) at this time. The Department will only consider applicants to the Master of Arts (MA) program who can provide a guarantee of external source of funding, such as the employee tuition benefit given to University of Pittsburgh staff, in addition to meeting the admissions committee’s academic criteria.
Finding & selecting a program
Applicants will be directed to select the term in which they intend to apply. This will start a common application in GradCAS where you will add the program(s) you wish to apply to.
To find and select the Department of English's programs, applicants go into the "Add Programs" tab. From there, they will locate and add the program they wish to apply to, either by browsing the list of all programs in GradCAS, or by searching.
Our programs are listed under the following names:
- PhD in English: Doctor of Philosophy in English
- English concentration of Film & Media Studies: Doctor of Film and Media Studies, English
- Creative Writing MFA: Master of Fine Arts in English
- English Master's program: Master of Arts in English
A search for "Pitt English" should bring up all of these programs.
Previous applicants should ensure that they are accessing the correct portal for this application cycle. The application for admission for AY2026-2027 will be found on https://gradcas2026.cas.myliaison.com/. Searching for these programs in the "gradcas2025" URL will bring up a list of no results.
Applicants who wish to be considered for graduate study in creative writing should select the Master of Fine Arts program, not the Master of Arts program. They are separate programs with different focuses. Students who mis-apply to the Master of Arts program intending to apply for the MFA program will be required to submit a new application for the MFA program.
Once applicants have located their desired program, they should click the plus (+) sign next to the program's name to add that program to their application. Clicking the name of the program will not start an application. It will open the program's description.
All applications to the Film & Media Studies Interdisciplinary PhD will be reviewed both by Film & Media Studies faculty and the English department. However, if applicants to Film & Media Studies also wish to be considered separately for the PhD in English, they may do so. Applicants should complete an application for both programs. The same application materials can be submitted to both. Please select Film & Media Studies only as your primary area of research interest on your application to the English PhD program.
Required Application Materials
The following materials must be submitted as part of the application:
- Online Application
- Unofficial Transcripts
- Detailed Statement of Purpose
- Three (3) letters of recommendation
- Writing Sample
- Application fee (for a fee waiver, see the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences website here: https://www.asgraduate.pitt.edu/admissions/application-fee-waivers)
Detailed application instructions
Please review these additional instructions, guidelines, and policies for the required application materials carefully while preparing your application.
Online Application: the online application is made up of four parts: Personal Information, Academic History, Supporting Documents, and Program Materials. Applicants will not be able to submit their application if any required portion of the application is incomplete, but please review the following detailed instructions. Any questions or uncertainties can be sent to engrad@pitt.edu.
- Academic History: applicants will be asked to provide a list of previous institutions attended and degrees awarded; their GPA; and, if applicable, relevant standardized test scores.
- Multiple degrees from one institution: if you have received multiple degrees from a single institution (undergraduate and graduate; graduate and certificate, etc), add the institution once in the Colleges Attended section. There will be an option to add additional degrees under a single institution.
- GPA: Applicants will be asked to submit a GPA (grade point average) entry for each degree in their academic history in the “GPA Entries” sub-section.
- GPA requirement for admission: the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences requires that all applicants have an undergraduate GPA of 3.0, or a significant amount of subsequent graduate work at a GPA of 3.0 or higher, for full admission to any graduate program. Admits and students cannot be awarded a TA/TF/GSA or Dietrich School Arts and Sciences Fellowship with a GPA below 3.0. If an applicant has a GPA between 2.76 and 2.99, the applicant can only be admitted on provisional status. Because all students admitted on provisional status are ineligible for funding from the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences, these students would not be eligible for the departmental funding typically offered to 1st-year students. Provisional students must complete at least 12 credits (3 courses) of graduate course work with a grade of B or higher before their provisional status will be removed. There is no option for reimbursement of tuition expenses if a student must be admitted provisionally and is ineligible for Departmental funding.
- If your institution does not use a grade point average system, you can click the button reading “I have no GPA to enter” to auto-fill the remainder of the entry.
- Standardized Tests:
- GRE: The English Department does not require any applicant to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) or submit GRE scores. If GRE scores are submitted, they will not be reviewed or taken into account in admissions decisions.
- English Proficiency Exams: applicants whose first language is not English may be required to submit English proficiency exam scores as part of their application. More details on this requirement can be found below in the “International Students” section.
- Questions (Program Materials)
- Financial support: all applicants to the PhD and MFA programs are automatically considered for departmental funding. No additional application materials need to be submitted. If you do not need the funding package described on your program’s website, please indicate that within your application.
- University of Pittsburgh staff: if you are a University of Pittsburgh staff member and intend to use your staff tuition benefit to offset the cost of your degree while continuing in your position, please indicate that. Staff cannot hold a university appointment and maintain full-time employment at the same time. Please also indicate in your personal statement that you will not require the funding package offered to incoming full-time students.
- If applicable, addressing any other sources of external support in your Statement of Purpose can also be helpful. It may not be immediately obvious to the admissions committee when an applicant has a source of external funding and/or would not require the funding package offered to incoming students to the program.
- PhD Concentrations: All applicants to the PhD program will be asked to identify one of the program’s three concentrations that most closely matches their intended research interests: Composition and Rhetoric, Film and Media Studies, or Literature.
- Students in the Literature program should choose one focal area within the Literature program that best represents your interests. These focal areas include:
- Children's Literature & Childhood Studies
- Genealogies of Modernity
- Media & Material Practices
- Race, Poetics, and Empire
- You can learn more about the focal areas on the Literature program's website.
- If you have research interests or experience in the other concentrations listed, applicants are encouraged to identify and discuss those in their Statement of Purpose. The PhD program values interdisciplinary work, and we have a long tradition of supporting excellent graduate students whose work cuts across programs and focal areas. We expect most students will work beyond the areas of specialization they select in their application in coursework and research, but every incoming student does have a single "home" program.
- Students in the Literature program should choose one focal area within the Literature program that best represents your interests. These focal areas include:
- Faculty of interest: Applicants will be provided with a space to indicate the names of faculty members they are interested in working with. Faculty bios are available on the English Department’s website.
- Generally speaking, tenure-stream faculty provide formal mentorship and advisement to graduate students. Part-Time Instructors, Visiting Lecturers, and Visiting Instructors cannot work with graduate students in a formal capacity.
- The Statement of Purpose can address faculty mentors of interest at greater length as needed.
- MFA
- Genres: all applicants to the MFA program will be asked to identify which genre they are applying for as their primary concentration: Fiction, Nonfiction, or Poetry.
- The MFA program at the University of Pittsburgh is highly supportive cross-genre work. Selecting one genre does not "lock you in" to that genre, and many students take classes across genres throughout their degree.
- Applicants may be considered for more than one genre upon request. Those interested should email engrad@pitt.edu with the genres they would like to be considered for.
- Faculty of interest: Applicants will be provided with a space to indicate faculty members they are interested in working with. A list of the MFA faculty is available on the Writing Program’s Graduate website.
- Genres: all applicants to the MFA program will be asked to identify which genre they are applying for as their primary concentration: Fiction, Nonfiction, or Poetry.
- Financial support: all applicants to the PhD and MFA programs are automatically considered for departmental funding. No additional application materials need to be submitted. If you do not need the funding package described on your program’s website, please indicate that within your application.
Unofficial Transcripts: applicants are required to submit unofficial transcripts for all institutions included in their Academic History. Official transcripts are not required at the time of application. The button to upload transcripts is located underneath the completed entry for the institution in the "Colleges Attended" section of your Academic History.
- Transfer coursework: if you took coursework at an outside institution during a degree program for transfer credits, and the transferred courses are represented on the transcript from your degree-awarding institution, you do not need to include the outside institution as a separate entry in your academic history. If you do, you will be required to submit an unofficial transcript from that institution in order to submit your application. Please do not re-upload a second copy of your transcript from your degree-awarding institution to represent transferred credits if an unoffical transcript from the institution is not available--either provide an unofficial transcript from both institutions or allow your degree-awarding institution's transcript to represent the coursework.
- Non-degree coursework: If you took non-degree coursework that is relevant to your application—including but not limited to post-baccalaurate studies, non-degree graduate coursework in your intended area of research, professional certificates, etc—you can include this in your academic history. Be aware that you will need to upload an unofficial transcript to submit your application.
Detailed Statement of Purpose:
- PhD and MA: 2-4 pages in length, double-spaced.
- Please provide a career/personal statement that describes the basis of your intellectual and professional interest, and the reasons for your application to our graduate program. What are the primary areas of your interest and competence within the field of English that is broadly represented in our department? Why does our program appeal to you, and how would it fit with your research interests and career goals? Who are the faculty members you would like to work with, and why? Please include information about your proficiency in languages relevant to your proposed research, as well as any previous research experience.
- As the graduate faculty review your statement, they will also seek to gain a holistic sense of how your past experiences shape and motivate your plans for the PhD. Whether those experiences are academic or non-academic, tells us how you see them preparing you for success in our program and in your future career. Tell us about your educational goals and challenges and obstacles that you have faced up to this point that inform your work. These can include, but are of course not limited to, economic, social, and cultural factors. The more specific your statement, and the closer the match between your intellectual interests and our areas of expertise, the higher the chances of being admitted into the program. In addition to these sorts of questions, MA and PhD applicants should also highlight your sense of direction and some of the field conversations that you might be entering. If you have specific faculty members who you wish to work with, you can mention them and how you see their work supporting your future research.
- MFA applicants: 2-3 pages, single-spaced.
- Your personal statement should tell us about yourself and what brought you to this program. Why did you choose the University of Pittsburgh's MFA program? What do you expect from your time in the program? What are your aspirations as a writer?
- University of Pittsburgh Staff: if you are a staff member of the University and you intend to use your university tuition benefit to offset the cost of your degree, it can be helpful to state this briefly in your personal statement. All applicants are automatically considered for departmental funding, so it is not always apparent to the admissions committees if an applicant is a staff member who would not need the funding package offered to full-time students in the program.
Letters of Recommendation: All applicants must submit three (3) letters of recommendation from academic or relevant professional references.
- The “Recommendations” tab of the Program Materials section will ask you to submit contact information for your recommenders, which will send them an automatic email request to complete the recommendation online. Recommenders will be asked to upload a PDF letter of recommendation and complete a short survey. Both the survey & the recommendation letter must be submitted for your application to be considered complete.
- Recommendations can be requested by applicants prior the submission of the application itself. Submitting is not required to request your letters of recommendation.
- Recommendations from University faculty members are the most common, as they are able to speak closely to an applicant’s abilities in the classroom, on the page in scholarship or as a writer, and working together with others in an academic setting. However, it is not required that letters of recommendation come from University faculty members. When selecting recommenders, applicants should keep in mind that recommendations from a wide variety of contexts are welcome, they are ultimately meant to support their application to an academic program where they will be primarily acting in the roles of students, emerging scholars and writers, and members of an academic community. Recommendations should provide meaningful evaluations of skills and experiences relevant to these areas, even if they are being transferred from non-academic areas.
- Interfolio: At this time we cannot accept any letters of recommendation through Interfolio, as it is incompatible with GradCAS. We apologize for the inconvenience this poses for recommenders, but no exceptions can be made.
- It is the applicant's responsibility to be sure that letters of recommendation are submitted by December 10, 2025 (MA and PhD applicants) or by January 7, 2026 (MFA applicants). Please contact your recommenders directly to be sure they have received the email prompts from Liaison GradCAS and to be sure they have submitted their letters. If applicants or recommenders have technical issues requesting or submitting recommendations, the GradCAS Help Center has an outline of troubleshooting techniques for letters of recommendation. If issues persist, applicants may contact engrad@pitt.edu.
Writing Sample:
- PhD and MA applicants: The writing sample should be a critical or interpretive essay of approximately 20-25 pages, double spaced.
- MFA applicants: The writing sample should consist of published or unpublished work in the primary genre for which you are applying (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry).
- Fiction & Nonfiction: approximately 25 pages, double-spaced
- Poetry: approximately 20 pages, single-spaced, with one poem per page as applicable. This is not a strict requirement: applicants are welcome to include poems whose spacing, line variation, or shape adds to the poetic and aesthetic meaning of the poem.
- Applicants applying for multiple genres should submit a writing sample for each genre. GradCAS provides an upload for only 1 writing sample, so applicants to multiple genres can submit their additional writing samples to engrad@pitt.edu.
Application Fee or Fee Waiver: the application fee is $75.00 and can be paid by credit card through Liaison GradCAS. The fee is the same for US citizens and international students.
- For those seeking an application fee waiver: In an effort to reduce financial barriers to attending graduate school, the Kenneth P. Dietrich Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers application fee waivers. Fee waivers are issued to applicants by the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Office of Graduate Studies rather than the English Department. To be considered for a fee waiver, please complete the following fee waiver application: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cD38CmmjcOT3Tvw. More information can be found on the Dietrich Graduate Office's website: https://www.asgraduate.pitt.edu/admissions/application-fee-waivers.
- Applications for fee waivers will be reviewed and responded to within 48 hours during normal business hours (Monday - Friday 8:30a.m. to 5:00p.m. EST) whenever possible. Please note that fee waivers are approved on a case-by-case basis and not all fee waiver requests will be granted.
- Applicants are responsible for ensuring they apply for a fee waiver far enough in advance of the application deadline to submit their application on time. Fee waivers are not granted by the English Department; therefore, the Department cannot assist applicants with receiving a fee waiver by the application deadline and are not responsible if an applicant is unable to submit their application for this reason.
International Students
In addition to the requirements listed on the Apply and Additional Materials pages, international students must also include English language proficiency scores from TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo.
The required minimum TOEFL score of 90 (with at least a score of 22 in all of the four sections of speaking, listening, reading and writing) will be required for 2024-2025 applicants - the program code for sending TOEFL exam scores is 2927. The required minimum IELTS score of 7.0 (with at least 6.5 in each of its four sections) will be required for 2024-2025 applicants. Applicants self-report the IELTS result and must upload a PDF of the official test result under the "Additional Information" section as part of the online application process.
The minimum Duolingo score acceptable for admission to DSAS graduate programs is 120. Similar as to those submitting IELTS scores, applicants must share their Duolingo test results by uploading them as a PDF under ‘Additional Information’ in their online application.
International applicants can be eligible for a waiver of the requirement to provide English proficiency scores. To be eligible, they meet one of following three conditions:
- The applicant is a citizen of a country whose official language is English.
- The applicant graduated from a regionally accredited institution in the United States.
- The applicant graduated from an institution where the language of instruction is English and where the official national language of the country in which the institution is located is English.
Applicants who have graduated from an institution where the language of instruction is English, but where the official national language of the country is not English, are not eligible for a waiver of the requirement (ex: the Netherlands, Turkey, India, etc).
Waivers of the requirement to submit language proficiency scores can only be issued in alignment with the Dietrich School's policy on Assessment of English Language Proficiency for Admission. The document Exhibit A of this policy provides a list of countries which are exempt from submitting language proficiency scores. For the Dietrich School's website on the language proficiency scores, please refer to the Office of Graduate Studies website: https://www.asgraduate.pitt.edu/admissions/international-students.
If you are uncertain whether you are eligible for a waiver, please reach out to the graduate administrator (engrad@pitt.edu).
Applicants who have questions that are not addressed here should feel free to reach out to the Graduate Administrator at engrad@pitt.edu.