M.A. Program Admissions

University Admissions



All students applying for the M.A. program in Humanities must first be admitted to the University. The current San Francisco State University Bulletin (available online at http://www.sfsu.edu) contains the information you will need to apply for admission.

Fall deadline for Admission: April 15

Spring deadline for Adminssion: October 15. However, the university will not be admitting graduate students at mid-year for the spring term in 2010.

Any questions regarding admission to the University should be directed to the Graduate Division Office and not the Humanities Department.



Application forms may be obtained from:

The Graduate Division Office
ADM 254, San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco
CA 94132

Website: http://www.sfsu.edu/~gradstdy


Telephone number: (415) 338-2234)

Applications forms are also available in any California State University campus admissions office.

Forms may also be downloaded directly from the World-Wide Web at http://www.calstate.edu.

Applicants should include with their application (or else mail directly to the Graduate Coordinator of the Department of Humanities) a Statement of Purpose, a writing sample, and two letters of recommendation. The department often recommends conditional admission, which means that applicants must successfully complete additional undergraduate course work in the department before being admitted to classified status.

Admission to the Humanities M.A. Program

The University does a preliminary evaluation to see if you meet minimum university standards. If you meet the minimum standards, the University sends Part B of the application along with one set of your official transcript to the Humanities Department to review and to make a recommendation on admission. The Graduate Division makes the final decision on admission. 

Depending on your level of preparation, successful applicants may be admitted either as classified or conditionally classified graduate students. 

Admission with classified status means that you have satisfied all the university and departmental conditions for admission, and may take any Humanities graduate seminar. 

Admission as a conditionally classified student means that you need an additional three to six units of preparatory coursework, which will be specified on your admissions documents. You may enroll in graduate seminars concurrently with this coursework and you may count it toward the degree, as a partial or complete substitution for your allotted three to six units of electives, but it must be successfully completed during your first year in the program with a grade of B+ or better. Once you have done this, you should complete and file the form for Advancement to Classified Status at the Graduate Division Offic

Good Standing:

Students must maintain a 3.0 (B) average in order to remain in good standing within the program. Any student whose cumulative GPA falls below 3.0 may be placed on probation, or removed from classified graduate status by the department