Getting into an MA TESL program in the USA

by Seda Acıkara

Hi all!

I felt really excited when Yasemin Hoca kindly asked me if I wanted to write an entry about my process of getting into an MA TESL program in the USA because I would really want to help out those who want to get an MA degree abroad. It will be a very informal entry and I will basically talk about my own process hoping that it helps whoever want to apply for an MA degree in the USA. This entry became longer than I expected so I will bold the important parts for those who do not have much time to read it all. In case you want to ask further questions, I will provide my email address at the end, as well. Let me start off by introducing myself so that you have an idea of my qualifications. Feel free to skip that part if you do not care who I am.

1- Who am I?

I got into METU FLE program in 2010 and graduated in 2015. I did not go to Preparatory School; instead, I directly started from the department. The reason why I studied 5 years is (definitely not failing classes haha!) Comenius Program. I was one of those lucky ones who got admitted to Comenius Program and went to Italy as a Comenius Language Assistant in October 2013, right after my junior year. I came back in June 2014, studied my senior year and graduated in June 2015. After then, I started working at Bilkent University School of English Language in August 2015 and left there in June 2018 (I didn’t actually leave; I am on unpaid leave for my MA studies). In my first year at Bilkent, I completed my ICELT training and got my certificate in June 2016. Currently, I am doing my MA in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Applied Linguistics track at Northern Arizona University, USA. I am aware that this part looked like a resume, which was not my intention, but as I mentioned I wanted to give you an idea of what I did before I got into this program. Please be aware that this does NOT mean you cannot get into this program without any work experience; I have some friends who directly started doing MA right after their graduation, no worries about that.

2- How did I start searching?

While writing this section, I will talk about my experiences and give you tips. To make the tips more visible, I will bold them again so that they are eye-catching among my chit-chats.

Before I graduated from METU, I knew I wanted a Master’s Degree, but I thought having some years of teaching experience would help me put the theories I learnt into practice. That’s why I did not apply for any MA degrees right after I graduated and I highly recommend you to get some teaching experience before MA if you can, at least 1 year. I wanted to have at least 2 years though and started pondering how to find an MA program in the USA.

After my 2nd year at my job, in 2017, I started taking some actions to find the best program for me. But since I started REALLY considering about it in December, I was already TOO LATE. Most applications finish in January and if you want to get an assistantship, some even close them in December. Therefore, start your inquiries early, very early; for example start looking at schools and their requirements in August the latest for the next academic year.

When I started searching, I was lost about how to look for schools and programs, what kind of requirements there are, and I was worried if I can afford that. I even did not know which country I wanted to go to. All I knew was I wanted to go abroad for my MA. I think money was my biggest concern. Therefore, I had to go to a country where I can find a job or an assistantship because I cannot afford to cover my costs with the money I had saved up back then, neither can I ask it from my parents as I come from a family with a moderate income. I talked to many people who are abroad for their graduate studies and they helped me A LOT. So, do not hesitate to ask for help from people who have been in your shoes before. But, do not ask them questions that you can find on Google, which could be irritating since they are already busy. How do I know about it? I experienced it. But they are mostly very helpful to share their process.

I was really busy when I started searching. Just to give you an idea, a typical day for me was like 08:40-16:30 work, 17:00-19:00 gym, 19:00-21:00 dinner, shower and resting, 21:00-22:00 planning or grading, 22:00-23:30 MA applications. If I did it, you can do it! Do not find excuses for yourself.  

3- How did I search? (More hands-on information)

First things first, to narrow down your options, decide on your criteria. My criteria were;

• The program should be TESOL, TESL or Applied Linguistics related


• It should be in an English-speaking country


• The school should provide financial opportunities (scholarships or assistantship)


• The school should not require GRE (I did not have time to prepare for it, but if you have a GRE score, you have more options! So, take GRE if you can)


• It should be a reputable school which would worth all these efforts (not surprising I guess…)

As my criteria were somewhat specific, I could not find many opportunities in many countries except the United Kingdom and the United States. I will explain them more in detail. But let’s look at some common requirements that schools ask before that.

4- Common Requirements

You are expected to have the following requirements (most likely)

-a GPA of at least 3.00 (3.50 for assistantships)

-BA diploma

-Transcript

-Statement of Purpose

-Three Recommendation Letters

-Application Form

–TOEFL or IELTS score

-GRE score (mostly in the USA and not all schools ask it for MA degree)

5- Opportunities in The United Kingdom

In the UK, there are not many assistantships available for MA students (just like in Europe), but the best thing about it is that you do not pay for applications, except well-known schools like Oxford and Cambridge. As long as, you have a decent GPA and average qualifications, you will most likely be accepted to the program you apply for as you are expected to pay for the fees; it is like financial matter there. I applied for 3 schools; University of Brighton, University of Kent and Oxford University (yes I did it!). I got accepted to first two and had an interview with Oxford (better than direct rejection I guess, haha!).

The important thing is to find financial opportunities. Do not get pessimistic because they have a great opportunity which is called Chevening Scholarship. This scholarship is only for MA students and it is like Fulbright of the UK; it is very reputable and they provide you with everything! Money for your visa, plane tickets, tuition fees, and stipend for living expenses are all included in scholarship! Pretty amazing, right? BUT! It is very competitive as you can imagine and they are very STRICT! If you decide to apply for it, make sure you do not have any mistakes in your application. My experience with this one was a little bitter. They ask you to have at least two years of experience, which I had back then, but they ask you to enter it on an hour-basis. So, you need to calculate all the hours you worked. And guess what? I miscalculated my hours and entered an incorrect number although I checked it like 10 times before I submitted it. I realized my problem before they did, and sent them an email explaining the situation. I told them that I could prove that I met the experience requirement, but they said they could not change it and I got rejected. Therefore, make sure you calculate your experience hours accurately, check it 11 times since 10 times did not work for me.

Here is the website for it https://www.chevening.org

6- Opportunities in the United States

Opportunities are more abundant in the USA. But remember that you have to pay for applications, which vary from 100$ to 150$. So, you need to make your decisions wisely.  As I mentioned, if you have a GRE score, you can find quite many assistantships at well-known universities. Let me explain the assistantships.

6.1 Graduate Assistantships & Fellowships

You will mostly find two types of assistantships: teaching assistantships and research assistantships. For the teaching assistantships, as the name suggests, you teach a class and be responsible for that class like an instructor. On the other hand, research assistantships require you to work with a professor and help them do their projects or grade students papers. I am not sure if they teach any class. There are also fellowships, some of which require you to complete a project or simply to study! I applied for one fellowship after I got into MA program, which does not require any project. For those who could be interested, it is American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship. Sorry guys, it is only for women since their mission is to empower women. I applied for international fellowship, which is again very competitive (wish me luck), but they also have international project grants for those interested.

Here is the link for their website: https://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/educational-funding-and-awards/international-fellowships/

6.2 Finding a Program & Assistantship in the USA

This part was the most challenging one for me. I will explain each step I took.

• First of all, I talked to my friends, who were doing their PhD and MA in the USA and asked them whether they were content with the program and if they had any assistantships. I took notes of those universities. They gave names of their friends who are also abroad doing graduate studies somewhere else. So, I talked to them, as well and took notes of those schools.


• I talked to some of my professors and they mentioned their students who were in my shoes and I talked to those people either via email or I found their social media accounts and sent messages. (Yes, I am a good stalker!)


• The step that took most of my time was this 3rd one; I printed out the list of all the TESOL related programs in the USA, which was around 17 pages and looked each and every of them, checked their websites and looked at the requirements. I eliminated the ones that require GRE or did not have assistantship opportunities. It may sound a lot of work, indeed it was; however, it was feasible. I mentioned how busy I was and still I was able to do that. If you are determined to do something, nothing can stop you!  I will provide you with the link at the end of this section.


• I found a blog-kind of entry on Google which provides the names of some schools who offer assistantships. I cross checked those schools with my 17 page-long TESOL list and prioritized those schools to be checked. I couldn’t find the link for that; if I can, I will add it to the comments section.

Link for MA TESOL related programs http://www.cal.org/content/download/3060/37723/file/survey-of-applied-linguistics-by-degree-june-2015.pdf

My recommendations at this step are;

-Explore the schools’ websites for requirements and opportunities carefully. Check some pictures and their locations because you would not want to study at a place where you will not be happy. Check if eksisozluk has any entries about that school or the city (Tbh, it helped me a lot!)

-If you cannot find the information you are looking for or have any questions, do not hesitate to send emails to the people in charge. They may have forgotten to update their websites. If you find any misinformation or non-existent page, they really appreciate being informed about it, give you the info you need and you earn a plus! It is also a good way to familiarize yourself with the faculty members. Remember to ask specific questions and use a formal and kind language. Your questions should not be like `Can you give me some details about the program?` Their websites are there for that. Explore it on your own.

–Check if your assistantship covers tuition and health insurance. As Turkish students we do not deal with those; however, in the US, the tuition fees and health insurance come separate, they are obligatory and very expensive for international students.

7- Which schools I applied for and got accepted

I emailed with many schools, some of which were University of California (various campuses), Minnesota State University, Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Southern Illinois University (SIU).

Minnesote State University staff was super positive and I met all the requirements, but the only problem was location. I did not want to freeze to death. I do not like cold, so I did not apply for that school.

I applied for only two universities since it was expensive to apply for a Turkish student and these were NAU and SIU and both schools were great in terms of the way they communicated with me and the reputation they held for their program. I got accepted to both and I chose NAU because SIU told me that they could cover only 15% of my tuition, which was not enough for me.

8- After I got accepted and What I am doing now

I got accepted to NAU MA program on the following day I applied, but it took them 3-4 months to give a response for the assistantship. If you are applying for an assistantship position, be prepared to be asked for an interview. Nearly all schools do that for international students. They will probably ask you to send your transcript and English score and most of them require you to send through the institution, which will be somewhat expensive. They will ask you to prove your MMR vaccinations (measles, mumps, rubella); some ask for more. You might be asked to pay for your visa documents. So, it is a good idea to save some money both for the pre-arrival and post-arrival expenses. I know this all sound a lot of effort and money, but if you are determined, it is worth it and it will pay off! Believe me:)

Now, I am doing my MA in TESL at Northern Arizona University and working as a GTA (graduate teaching assistantship) for 20 hours. I basically teach composition to freshmen 4 hours a week. My students are American, but I do not teach English, I teach writing. I work as a writing tutor for 6 hours. The rest 10 hours is for planning and grading, which takes up a lot of time! But still it is a great opportunity and I feel truly grateful to be granted this opportunity. Now that I mention the hours, remember that you can only work for 20 hours under your student visa. My GTAship covers my tuition (which is around 22.000$ for international students) and health insurance. I still pay fees every semester, which is around 600$.

To conclude, I am really grateful for this opportunity and I am very happy here. I know it is a very long entry, but I wanted to give you all the details. If you need more help, my email address is seda.acikara@gmail.com

Good luck to all of you!

Seda