Why major in English? Today’s professional must interpret and manipulate complex information. Every company in every industry around the worlds is attracted to job candidates who read carefully, think creatively, and write clearly and persuasively. English majors have the distinct advantage of being able to adapt their talents and skills to many different career paths. The English Department offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses in writing and literature, designed to meet the needs of a richly diverse student body. We emphasize writing as a creative and rhetorical act and the analysis of texts in historical, critical, and cultural contexts. Our degree programs feature coursework in cultural criticism, literary analysis, the essay, rhetoric, and professional writing, as well as creative writing. The rigorous study of literary and cultural texts — from the canon and from traditions historically excluded from academic study — is at the center of our work. The B.A. in English offers concentrations in Literature, Creative Writing, or Writing & Rhetoric. All English majors gain a breadth of knowledge of English literary traditions, including American and Anglophone literatures around the world. In the Creative Writing concentration, students develop their abilities to express themselves imaginatively in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Students concentrating in Writing & Rhetoric hone their skills in writing clearly and persuasively for any audience or purpose. In all three programs, students gain an extensive knowledge of literature, a sense of the scope of English studies, and familiarity with important issues in their fields of concentration.

A non-refundable application fee of 50 USD is required.