The English Program does not offer a Master of Arts degree, but the Registrar sends a letter to each student who is admitted to candidacy with an invitation to apply for an M.Phil. degree from the GC. Students in the Program should seriously consider attaining this degree.

Because the English Program does not offer its own Master of Arts degree, students may apply for an en-route Master's degree from a participating senior college within CUNY - Hunter College, City College, Brooklyn College, and Queens College. (Although Lehman College and College of Staten Island offer an MA, we have no similar agreements with them.) Students interested in this degree must first have already completed at least 45 credits of course work at the CUNY Graduate Center, and passed the First ("Comprehensive") Examination. These 45 credits must be for courses in which you have earned grades in the range of A or B (not P). (Therefore, 2- credit courses do not count.) Students must then find a faculty member who teaches at the English MA Program at Hunter College, City College, Brooklyn College or Queens College (see the APO for this list) who would be willing to sign a form approving submission of an MA thesis equivalent. Ideally, this professor should be one the student has worked with in the past, and the thesis equivalent should be an "expanded paper," with a focus on research, of at least 30 pages. Please be aware that professors do have the right to refuse to take on this extra work. Once the student has reached an agreement with a professor, she or he should see the APO for the "Application for En-route Master's Degree" form. The student will then fill out this application, have the professor sign it, and return it to the APO, along with a copy of the thesis. After the EO has signed this application, both the form and the thesis will be submitted to the GC Registrar. The GC Registrar must then submit it to the Registrar of the degree-granting school, who then sends it to that school's director of graduate studies for approval. The student's MA degree is then mailed directly to the student from the degree-granting school.