Admission Requirements for the M.A. Program:

1. A completed application form with a non-refundable $25.00 application fee [$50.00 for international students]. Since this may change, you should check with the Graduate School before applying.

2. An official transcript showing a bachelor’s degree awarded by an accredited college or university. In addition, transcripts from any other college or university may be requested. (Students who received bachelor’s degrees from The University of Memphis may disregard this step.)

All transcripts must be sent directly from each institution at which the credit was earned to Graduate Admissions, University of Memphis, 100 Wilder Tower, Memphis, TN 38152 .

3. A minimum of 18 semester hours in undergraduate history with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale in all undergraduate history courses. In special cases the Graduate Coordinator in History may make an exception, particularly in a case where a student with fewer than 18 credits in history courses has other non-history courses sufficiently similar in content or methodology to history courses, or when exemplary grades in the last undergraduate years follow poor earlier performance. While we primarily look at grades in history courses, we also may reject an applicant if grades in other humanities courses or overall GPA is unacceptable.

4. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Miller Analogies Test (MAT) scores.The Department will normally consider for admission only students with a GRE verbal score of at least 450, or a MAT score of at least 45. We urge candidates for admission to take the Graduate Record Examination, especially if they plan to work toward the Ph.D. degree. All test scores must be sent directly from the testing agency to Graduate Admissions, University of Memphis, 100 Wilder Tower, Memphis, TN 38152 .Test scores older than five years are not acceptable. Scores on MAT exams written in less than 2-month intervals are not acceptable.

In unusual circumstances we may admit a promising student who does not fully meet this requirement. If you wish to be considered for such an exception, please send at least two academic recommendations and a sample of writing done for a history course to the Graduate Coordinator of History.

Students who already have an earned master’s degree or equivalent degree from an accredited institution may, with the concurrence of the Graduate Coordinator, request a waiver of the entrance examination.

You may contact the Testing Center, 112 John W. Brister Building, 901.678.2428, to arrange to take the MAT or to obtain a registration packet for the GRE. To take the GRE on campus by computer, call the E.T.S. Computer-based Testing Center, 901.678.1457. The GRE is administered by the Educational Testing Service; the Institution Code for The University of Memphis is 1459.

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