MAW Qualifying Exams

Important Reminders

In order to achieve their degrees, students in the M.A. in Writing must pass the program’s Qualifying Examination before the completion of six courses. For the 2007-2008 academic year, the Quals will be given on the following dates:

Saturday, March 29, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008

All exams will take place in a computer lab (TBA) on the Lincoln Park Campus and will consist of one two-hour morning session and one two-hour afternoon session.

As stated in the graduate Bulletin, this examination must be taken after the completion of at least two courses and before the completion of six courses. All first-year students who expect to have completed at least two courses by the end of the current fall term are strongly encouraged to take the Quals on January 12 or, at the latest, on the March test date. Students who do not take the Quals, or who receive a grade of “No Pass” on it, may not complete a sixth course in the program. The examination may be retaken once; a student who receives a second grade of “No Pass” may not continue in the program.

All Qualifying Examinations offered in 2007-2008 are based on the following two texts:

1. David Foster Wallace, ed. 2007 Best American Essays. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN: 0618709274. This text is available through Amazon.com or similar online sources and from most full-service book stores.

2. Walker Gibson. Two chapters from Persona: A Style Study for Readers and Writers. These pages are available in .pdf form by clicking on this link.
(Adobe Reader software required.)

In order to take the Quals, you must fill out and submit a Qualifying Examination Application Form, which you can retrieve by clicking on this link. Download the file into a MS Word document, fill in all requested information, and then e-mail the completed form to Mrs. Jan Flood, Assistant Director of Graduate Programs, at jflood@depaul.edu. You can also mail a hardcopy of the application form to: Mrs. Jan Flood, English Department, 802 W. Belden Ave., DePaul University, 60614-3214.

The deadline to apply for the March test date has already passed. A new application deadline for the June test will be announced soon. Remember that you must have completed at least two courses to write the exam in June, and you must be in good academic standing (cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher). Remember, too, that you may not complete a sixth course in the program until satisfactory completion of the exam. All students planning to write the Quals in March or June should register for the spring-term course(s) they wish to take. If you have questions about your eligibility to take the Quals in March or June, contact Mrs. Flood.

Best wishes in your classes this quarter and, from the entire graduate writing faculty, good luck on the Quals!