The English Major
The English major provides a foundation in reading, writing, research, critical theory, and critical thinking relevant to a vast variety of fields.
The English Department plays a central role in undergraduate education within the university by providing courses that can be used to fulfill distribution or elective requirements in six colleges in addition to the College of Arts and Sciences. The English major provides a foundation in reading, writing, research, critical theory, and critical thinking relevant to a vast variety of fields, including journalism, publishing, authoring fiction and non-fiction, the arts and sciences, law, business, and medicine. The Department welcomes students with double majors or minors outside of English, as well as students seeking dual degrees.
Students who major in English develop their own programs of study in consultation with their major advisors. Some choose to focus on a particular historical period or literary genre or to combine sustained work in creative writing with the study of literature. The effort of creating or discovering a coherent pattern in the courses selected is itself a valuable part of a literary education, and the Department expects students to choose courses with an eye to breadth and variety as well as focus and coherence.