CUNY English MA

[sansloy]

First time using the forums, so apologies to the mods if I'm posting this in the wrong place.

I'm looking into getting a Masters degree in English from CUNY.  I'm interested in this program in particular because I live and work in NYC, and since, because I already have debt from undergraduate and professional degrees, I find the NYU and Columbia MA's prohibitively expensive.

Can anyone confirm which CUNY English program is the #20 ranked by USNews?  It looks like there's an MA in English at Queens College, an MA in Literature at CCNY, and an MA in Literature, Language and Theory at Hunter.  (Or if USNews is a bad indicator of quality, what else do people look at to decide on a graduate school?)

Also, is there anywhere I can browse the courses offered by each program, including hopefully the times at which the classes are offered?  I'll likely have to do evening classes (or weekend if available). 

Finally, can someone direct me to admissions requirements and acceptance rates for the CUNY English MA?

Thanks very much!

[Warelin]

3 hours ago, sansloy said:

Can anyone confirm which CUNY English program is the #20 ranked by USNews?  It looks like there's an MA in English at Queens College, an MA in Literature at CCNY, and an MA in Literature, Language and Theory at Hunter.  (Or if USNews is a bad indicator of quality, what else do people look at to decide on a graduate school?)

 

I think it's important to remember a few things here:

1) English MA programs are not ranked by USNews. USNews only ranks Ph.D. programs.
2) USNews rankings for English are determined by 14 percent of respondents who were department heads or directors of graduate studies. There is no possible way that such a low number of replies could accurately represent more than 100 programs. Furthermore, each department will have different strengths which may not accurately be represented in rankings.
3) The Graduate Center of the City University of New York is what is being ranked.

[sansloy]

21 minutes ago, Warelin said:

I think it's important to remember a few things here:

1) English MA programs are not ranked by USNews. USNews only ranks Ph.D. programs.
2) USNews rankings for English are determined by 14 percent of respondents who were department heads or directors of graduate studies. There is no possible way that such a low number of replies could accurately represent more than 100 programs. Furthermore, each department will have different strengths which may not accurately be represented in rankings.
3) The Graduate Center of the City University of New York is what is being ranked.

Cool, thanks.  I'm new to the idea of graduate school application and obviously don't know much about where to start looking.  Maybe it would help for me to lay out what I'm looking for.  I'm a published poet with a totally unrelated career.  I'm not looking to go into academia and therefore not interested in getting a Ph.D., but I want to study poetics/literary theory (not writing workshops) in a formal/academic setting.  I'm more or less stuck in NYC, and looking for a good program with low tuition, which rules out Columbia/NYU.  Would anyone be able to recommend a low-tuition MA program in NYC with good poetics/literary theory professors?  Unfortunately I just don't know where to start looking.

[jusrain]

To add to Warelin’s response, I would put more weight on the opinions of profs in your sub field and maybe NRC rankings from Chronicle of Higher Ed 

[havemybloodchild]

I’d also look more at finding a program that is an excellent match with your interests and has multiple faculty members you’d love to work with over anything else. Reading recently published scholarly articles in your subfield is a good start and also looking at what has been published by folks recently graduated by particular programs. Good luck! 

[Warelin]

6 hours ago, sansloy said:

Would anyone be able to recommend a low-tuition MA program in NYC with good poetics/literary theory professors?  Unfortunately I just don't know where to start looking.

You mention that staying in NYC is an important factor and you mentioned 3 colleges that have caught your attention. 

Hunter has a Graduate Student tuition rate of $10,770 per year for New York State residents. (Effective 2018)
CCNY has a Graduate Student tuition rate of $5,385 per semester/10,770 per year for New York State residents. (Effective 2018)
Hunter has a Graduate Student tuition rate of $5385 per year/10,770 per year for New York State residents. (Effective 2018)

All 3 colleges have the same cost of attendance. The final number may or may not change depending on if you are awarded an assistantship or a fellowship. However, it is likely that they may not offer any fellowships. As such, you'll have to ask yourself (if no funding is available), are you comfortable paying out of pocket for this degree? If you are, I'd take a look at courses offered recently, how accessible each university is to you, and how safe you feel at each location? 

It might be difficult for people to pinpoint good poetics professors because everyone will have a different idea what good means depending on their specific interests. It tends to get very specific at the Ph.D. level. However, at the Master's level, I wouldn't worry about this as much as long as the professors have an interest in Poetics. For individuals hoping to pursue a Ph.D., the MA tends to be a time to develop more specific interests.

If I recall correctly, I think the CUNY system had a nice selection of courses from in terms of night-classes. As such, I don't think you could go wrong at any of the 3 colleges you've selected but would urge you to take a look at previous offerings as well as making sure that you feel comfortable with where each campus is located in NYC.

[sansloy]

Thanks all--appreciate the feedback.