The American Studies Department offers two general approaches to the MA. You may choose the "general studies" track and select appropriate courses in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. Alternatively, you may choose to pursue professional/institutional applications of American Studies. Specializations are available in folklife, historic preservation, and material culture.

The department also offers a 5-year BA/MA program in American Studies in all of the above tracks, to which GW undergraduates may apply by mid-spring of their junior year. For application requirements and a full accounting of the combined undergraduate major and MA requirements, please consult the Undergraduate Program page on this website.

Whichever focus you pursue, the degree requires 36 credits of graduate course work (12 courses). With special permission, you may choose to write a thesis for 6 of the 36 credits. Whether or not you decide to write a thesis, you must take at least one approved research seminar, in which you will be required to produce an article-length (25-35 pp.), primary-source-based, original research essay of publishable quality.

Candidates for admission to the MA program in American Studies should have taken at least one yearlong course beyond the introductory level in American Studies or American social, cultural, or intellectual history in preparation for graduate study. Candidates planning a concentration in historic preservation should also have taken at least one course in American architectural history, while those planning a concentration in folklife should have also completed some coursework in the social sciences. Applicants lacking some of this background can be admitted to the program with the understanding that they will take the appropriate courses as prerequisites during the first academic year in which they are enrolled; however, such prerequisite courses do not count toward degree requirements.

Candidates are encouraged to apply by March 1, when the first admission decisions are made. Later applications will be considered, but admission is contingent upon the number of available spots remaining in the class.

For more information about our program, please consult the American Studies Graduate Program Handbook at George Washington University and our tutorial on applying to the masters program.