Coursework and Grades

How Soon Can You Graduate?
If you qualify as a full-time student (9 hours in spring or fall term, 6 hours in summer), you should be able to complete your M.A. or M.F.A. degree in approximately two years, depending on course availability. Many students take longer because of thesis or research projects or because they choose to teach.

For more information on required courses for degree programs, check here:

How to Choose Your Courses
When you are admitted to an English department graduate program, you will be assigned an advisor. You should meet with your advisor regularly to update your program of study and choose your courses.

If your undergraduate degree is in a subject other than English or if you lack one year of undergraduate study in a foreign language, you may be required to take additional courses that will not be part of your program of study.

You may not ordinarily register for thesis hours until all your coursework has been completed.

If you are a post-bac student, or a graduate student in a different department (e.g., Masters in Liberal Studies, Masters in English Language Arts Education), you need to contact the English department Graduate Studies Director early in your graduate career for advising. In general, you should plan to take 5000-level courses before 6000-level courses. Many courses will require instructor consent and/or submission of a portfolio.

How to Register
Registration for English graduate courses begins in the department. All of our graduate courses will be marked as "closed" on the Polaris web-based registration page: this does not necessarily mean that the courses are full. When you search the course schedule online, be sure to UNcheck the box marked “open courses only” to see the full list of courses and times.

You will need to contact the graduate program assistant, in person (Colbourn Hall Room 405), by phone (407-823-5254), or via e-mail (englgrad@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu) for a permission number which will enable you to register online. The graduate program assistant will let you know of any other requirements for that class, such as instructor consent.

What Your Grade Means
In general, a final grade of A in a graduate course indicates consistently strong and outstanding achievement. Students receiving an A have not only fulfilled all course requirements but have exceeded them by the skill and originality of their written and oral work.

A grade of B in a graduate course indicates adequate completion of course requirements. While this grade often indicates a potential greater than the finished work demonstrates, a student who receives B grades on a regular basis should seriously consider her or his commitment to graduate school.

A grade of C in a graduate course indicates weak, substandard performance. Only two such grades can be included among the courses on the program of study.

Grades of D or F are not permitted in your program of study.

Additional policies can be found in the Graduate Studies Catalog