Have official undergraduate transcript(s) sent to the UMaine Graduate School.
Ask three people to write letters of recommendation. Referees are customarily faculty members who have directly supervised the candidate’s scholarship and creative activity during their undergraduate degree (although a letter from a previous or current employer can provide helpful additional context, especially for those applying for a TAship). General character-references are welcome, but effective letters of recommendation are specific to a candidate’s application, offering additional insights into their development as a scholar and their readiness for postgraduate work in English Studies that are not already evident from the rest of their application materials.
Revise and polish your writing sample(s)
Craft a ~750 word Statement of Purpose in response to the following prompt:
This Statement is an opportunity to let the Graduate Studies Committee learn more about your aspirations for graduate-level work in a program that emphasizes a broad-based approach to “English Studies.” Although you may need to refer to other parts of your application (prior coursework, for example), this essay ideally will supplement and expand on your materials rather than simply reiterate or underscore what the committee already can learn from the rest of your application.
In this essay try to give us a more three-dimensional picture of your candidacy, which might include addressing topics like: what interests you about our program specifically; what draws you to Northern New England; what subject areas you’re hoping to explore while studying here; specific graduate faculty you might wish to work with and why; what other campus initiatives, centers, institutes, programs, etc., you could envision getting involved with; and/or other aspects of your personality, history, and/or interests that would not be evident from your transcripts, letters, and writing sample(s).
This list of possible topics is neither exclusive nor exhaustive; feel free to take your essay in other directions as you see fit. And as explained further below, there is a separate application for those seeking funding through our teaching assistantship program, so you needn’t address teaching in this essay unless you wish to.