APPLICATION PROCEDURES

You must apply to the Graduate School, not directly to the Department of History. The Graduate School will forward your application to the department for consideration. You can find applications and procedures at http://www.memphis.edu/gradschool/applicant.php. What is said in this manual about applying and application fees may change, so you should check the Graduate School webpage for current regulations and complete university requirements. As of now, all applications for admission from US applicants must be accompanied by a $35.00 non-refundable application fee, unless previously paid; for foreign students the fee is $60.00.

In most cases, the Graduate Admissions Committee evaluates all applicants for a given semester at the same time. The deadline to submit all required application materials is January 15 for summer or fall semester admission, the same date that the separate assistantship application is due, and September 15 for spring semester admission.

We may agree to consider applications that arrive at other times, but we give preference to those submitted by the above deadlines. If you apply too late or do not yet meet all the requirements, you can still register for a time as a non-degree student (see below).

However, we will never consider an application that arrives after the Graduate School deadlines for fall, spring, and summer semester admission: July 1, December 1, May 1 (domestic applicants) and May 1, September 1, February 1 (foreign applicants).

New students must be admitted to the Graduate School. You should send or have sent all transcripts, test scores, and fees directly to Graduate Admissions, The University of Memphis, 100 Wilder Tower, Memphis, TN 38152, not to the Department of History.

You should send any other supporting materials, such as letters of recommendation, writing samples, or personal statements, directly to the Department of History. We prefer for all materials sent to the Department of History (as opposed to the Graduate School), whether for admission or for an assistantship, to be in electronic form (docx, doc, rtf, or pdf). Letters of recommendation are acceptable in electronic form only if they come from the college e-mail account of the professor. Please send these materials to our graduate secretary, Karen Jackett, at mkmiller@memphis.edu. You should send paper documents to her at 219 Mitchell Hall, Memphis, TN 38152-3450.

Three weeks after all the material has been sent to the department, whether for the application or the assistantship, please e-mail Karen Jackett to confirm that we have gotten everything.

Students may check on the status of their application by going to http://my.memphis.edu/. They will need to have their birth date and nine-digit student ID number (their social security number or a number that has been assigned by the university). Foreign students’ PINs have already been set to their birthdate (MMDDYY); all others must pick their own PINs. Note that when the Graduate School tells you that your application is complete, it is referring only to the materials that they require you to send to it, not what the department requires in addition.

For other requirements please see the Graduate School webpage on admission requirements and the separate master’s and Ph.D. sections of this manual.

Note that there is a separate application for an assistantship; see below, M.A. applicants for assistantship or Ph.D. applicants for assistantship, due January 15 for the following school year.

Students who do not meet all requirements of the program or applicants who apply too late for admission for a given semester are eligible to take courses as non-degree students. Up to twelve credits of this work may later be counted toward a graduate degree upon admission to a degree program. All that is required is completing a short application to the Graduate School and showing proof of having earned a baccalaureate degree. At the end of the first semester of course work, you may be required to furnish an official transcript showing your degree from an accredited college or university. Before registering for a second semester, you may also be required to sign a release agreeing that additional course work [above 12 credits] will not apply to degree programs. Non-degree students must maintain a 3.00 GPA in graduate courses in order to re-enroll and are not eligible for graduate assistantships or (usually) for financial aid. There may be some restriction on the courses you can take, and matriculated students will have preference in enrolling in crowded classes.

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