Department of English

English (MA/PhD)

Telephone: (302) 831-2363
https://www.english.udel.edu/graduate/about-us
Faculty Listing: https://www.english.udel.edu/graduate/about-us/graduate-faculty

Program Overview

The Graduate Program in English offers a fully funded six-year Doctor of Philosophy degree program. Students typically earn their Master of Arts degree at the end of their second year of the program.

The Ph.D. degree at the University of Delaware is designed to immerse students into specialized work in a significant area of British, American, and Anglophone literary and cultural studies and/or theory.  Students receive strong teacher preparation and will learn, among other things, the protocols of scholarly research and publishing. Graduate training in our program foregrounds the importance of preparing graduate students for a variety of career paths within and beyond the academy. To that end, we pursue the following educational goals:

1. To facilitate students’ specialized work in a significant area of British, American, and Anglophone literary and cultural studies and/or theory
2. To teach students the protocols of scholarly research and publishing in their respective fields
3. To prepare students to be effective teachers of writing and analysis in their respective fields and/or to facilitate their preparation for other forms of public engagement beyond the academy

Our program houses Research Clusters in the Environmental Humanities, Black Cultural Studies, Writing Studies, and Print and Material Culture Studies. Students are encouraged to pursue research in one of these fields as a complement either to their work in a particular national literature, period, or thematic concern; or leading to innovative approaches that engage with textual analysis, the digital humanities, and/or the public face of the humanities.

Requirements for Admission

An applicant for the PhD program is expected to have a earned a Bachelor’s degree with coursework in English. The average in this work should be at least A-/B+ (3.5 on a scale of 1 to 4). As of May 2020, the GRE test is still required, but applicants should check the department’s website to see if this requirement has been updated. Three letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and a writing sample (a critical paper) are required.

Transfer students with MA degrees from other institutions may also apply for the PhD program. They are expected to have an academic index of at least 3.75 in their MA courses and excellent recommendations from their graduate professors. Their writing samples should evidence strong analytical abilities.

Students are admitted into the graduate program for the fall semester only. For students applying for funding as well as admission to the graduate program, all application materials should be submitted by January 1. For those seeking admission without funding, all application materials must be submitted by January 31st. We will review applications until January 31st.

Admission is selective and competitive based on the number of well qualified applicants and the limits of available faculty and facilities. Those who meet stated minimum academic requirements are not guaranteed admission, nor are those who fail to meet those requirements necessarily precluded from admission if they offer other relevant strengths.

Financial Aid

The Department of English funds approximately 40 students each year, contingent upon satisfactory progress. Funded students are granted one of the following awards: a fellowship; a teaching, research, editorial, or administrative assistantship; or a teaching assistantship in the University Writing Center. All students on stipend receive tuition scholarships and must purchase, at low cost, coverage under the University’s Graduate Student Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan.

Starting in the second year of the program, teaching assistants in the classroom normally teach one section of freshman composition in one semester and two sections in the other semester. Experienced teaching assistants have opportunities to teach other composition and literature courses. Students who serve as research, editorial, or administrative assistants and those who teach in the Writing Center work 20 hours per week each semester.

Programs

• English (MA)

• English (PhD)