English MA (Honours) 2025 entry

Entry requirements

The University offers different entry requirements, depending on your background. Find out more about Standard, Minimum and Gateway entry requirements using academic entry explained and see which entry requirements you need to look at using the entry requirements indicator.

For degrees combining more than one subject, the subject with the higher entry requirements determines the grades you need. You will also need to meet any further subject-specific entry requirements as outlined on their pages.

• SQA Highers

  Standard entry grades:

  AAAAB, including A in English.

  Minimum entry grades:

  AABB, including A in English.

  Gateway entry grades:

  Applicants who have narrowly missed the minimum entry grades, but meet the University's contextual criteria, may be interested in one of the University’s Gateway programmes.

• GCE A-Levels

  Standard entry grades:

  AAA, Including A in English or English Literature.

  Minimum entry grades:

  ABB, Including A in English or English Literature.

• IB points

  Standard entry grades:

  38 (HL 6,6,6), Including HL6 in English.

  Minimum entry grades:

  36 (HL 6,5,5), Including HL6 in English.

General entry requirements

All applicants must have attained the following qualifications, or equivalent, in addition to the specific entry requirements for individual programmes.

• SQA qualifications

  SQA National 5 (B) in English and one SQA National 5 (B) from the following:

  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Computing science
  • Geography
  • Applications of Mathematics
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Psychology.

• GCSE qualifications

  GCSE (5) in English language or English literature, and one GCSE (5) from the following:

  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Computing Science
  • Geography
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Psychology.

Other qualifications

We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry on to our programmes. Please see our entry requirements for more information.

More information on how to apply via other entry routes or accreditation of prior learning and experience can be found on the University’s entry requirements web page.

Do I need to have studied this subject before?

Students must have studied English or English Literature at SQA Higher, GCE A-Level or equivalent.

Alternative study options

Gateway programmes

Applicants who have narrowly missed the minimum entry grades but meet the University's contextual criteria may be interested in the Gateway to Arts programme.

Study abroad

Students on the English programme can apply to participate in the University-wide St Andrews Abroad programme. You may also have the opportunity to participate in the School Abroad exchange programme. For information about study abroad options, please see the study abroad website. 

International applicants

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide an English language test score to evidence your English language ability. Find out more about approved English language tests and scores for this course.

Course details

The MA (Hons) in English is a four-year course run by the School of English. In the first two years, you will read and reflect on a broad range of topics across a variety of literary genres from the Middle Ages to the present day. This will equip you with the range of literary experience and critical skills necessary for more in-depth study of specialist subject areas at Honours level. 

Specialist subject areas include (but are not limited to):

• Old English literature
• literature and gender
• Literary theory
• Shakespeare and race
• Victorian culture
• creative writing
• Cold War writing
• world literature.

Alongside English, in the first year of your studies, you will be required to study an additional two subjects. In the second year you will usually carry on at least one of these subjects, sometimes two. Find out more about how academic years are organised.

Breadth of knowledge and perspective are highly encouraged, and all single Honours students are expected to take at least one module on medieval literature, one module on early modern literature, and one module on 18th or 19th-century literature. Final-year students must also complete a dissertation on a topic chosen in consultation with teaching staff at the School of English.

Graduates in English from St Andrews can expect to develop skills of independent critical thinking and judgement, an alertness to the possibilities of expressive language, and both a broad and – in some areas – a deep knowledge of literature in English.

The University of St Andrews operates on a flexible modular degree system by which degrees are obtained through the accumulation of credits. More information on the structure of the modules system can be found on the flexible degree structure web page.

Modules

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours) you will take the required modules in English alongside modules in at least one other subject.

Typically, you will take three modules per semester during your first two years, and two modules per semester during your third and fourth year (known as Honours).

Fees

Scotland
£1,820

England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man

Following the decision of the UK Government to raise undergraduate tuition fees and maintenance loans in line with inflation from April 2025, we are reviewing the consequences of that decision for fees payable by students from the rest of the UK who have chosen to study in Scotland. We will update the information on this page as soon as possible.

EU and overseas
£31,670

More information on tuition fees can be found on the undergraduate fees and funding page.

Accommodation fees

Find out about accommodation fees for University accommodation.

Funding and scholarships

The University of St Andrews offers a number of scholarships and support packages to undergraduate students each year.

Joint Honours degrees

You can also take English as part of a joint Honours degree in which you will take core modules of your chosen subjects.

Joint degrees taken with Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish are also available 'With Integrated Year Abroad'.

"With" degrees

You can take English as part of a "with" Honours degree in which the majority of the course deals with the first name subject. St Andrews offers the following "with" degrees in English:

• Master of Arts (Honours) English with Bible and Culture - UCAS code BA01

Joint degrees taken with Arabic, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish are also available 'With Integrated Year Abroad'.

Careers

A degree in English from St Andrews will open doors to a large and varied number of possible careers.

A degree in English from St Andrews demonstrates to employers that you are a good writer with the ability to craft and edit prose in English. It shows you are able to absorb and process information and are good at conducting research. It shows that you are good at verbal and written communication and that you have high-level analytic skills. These are skills that are invaluable in most jobs.

Career destinations for recent graduates include:

• art administration (the Barbican Centre and Sotheby's)
• charitable organisations
• internships with the United Nations
• public policy (Scottish Executive and the British Council)
• sales (Waterstones and WHSmith)
• the financial sector (KPMG and Santander)
• writing and editing (Oxford University Press, Penguin Books, Harper Collins and more).

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students to build their employability skills.

Contact us

Phone

+44 (0)1334 46 2666

Email

english@st-andrews.ac.uk

Address

School of English
Castle House
The Scores
St Andrews
KY16 9AL

School of English website