For Current Students

All English majors are assigned a [full-time] faculty member for advising after their first year. First year students are assigned non-major advisors through the academic advising center. After the first year, majors may request a particular faculty member for advising, and we will honor such requests whenever possible. Although we understand the value of continuity in advising, majors may have a change in advisor when their previous advisor is on leave. Students who have English as their second major or a minor will not be assigned an advisor in the department, but are encouraged to use current professors as a resource.

In order to register, you must first meet with your advisor in the English department. Students who have not yet been assigned an advisor in the English department may see Marla Derosa in Stokes S493 for help with course selection or other questions about the English major.

Your advisor will have a copy of your course audit and will review it with you; you should bring a list of the courses (and alternates) that you are interested in signing up for, as well as a list of any questions that you might have. Advisors will post office hours or a schedule of appointment times for the registration period on their doors each semester. It is the student's responsibility to attend those office hours or to sign up for an appointment at least several days before an assigned registration time. The department cannot provide you with your registration code.

Before meeting with your advisor during the registration period, please review carefully the descriptions of the department's course offerings.

Normally, course descriptions list specific texts covered and provide a sense of the instructor's methods. By reading the listing attentively, you can often distinguish between discussion—and lecture—oriented courses, between survey courses and classes that will deal with a small number of texts in great detail, and between courses that require several exams and those that require journal writing, in-class presentations, and/or essays. Although the department's present course-numbering system does not always reflect the level of course difficulty: 1000-level courses indicate introductory courses that hold seats for sophomores, while 6000-level courses usually designate seminars (15-person courses designed for the more advanced major).

The Drop-Add period presents an opportunity to make some—but only some—changes in your schedule. Although some professors will occasionally provide course overrides for students in special circumstances, large class size dictates that this is not often possible. A student requesting an override must:

Transfer and summer school credits in English

The English department requires that virtually all courses in the major be taken in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences during the fall and spring semesters. Permission to take one English major course during the summer or through the Woods College of Advancing Studies is given only in very unusual circumstances. To request permission to count a summer or evening course toward the major, prior to enrollment, bring a catalog with a description of the course you wish to take, to Marla Derosa in Stokes S493. Summer courses taken abroad and taught by English department faculty will be accepted as major electives.

The English Department offers two options for writing an Honors Thesis: a critical project (roughly 50 pages) or a creative project (a novel, a sustained work of creative nonfiction, a series of short stories, or a collection of poetry). This project is mentored by a faculty member in weekly meetings over the course of the year.

If you have any questions about Honors, please contact Professor Lehman, the Honors Program Director. You can also download suggestions and a worksheet for generating a topic for an Honors Thesis.

There are many strong English programs offered through universities overseas. Majors are encouraged to discuss options with their faculty advisors. Some examples of particularly strong programs include: Oxford University; King's College, Cambridge University; University College London (UCL), Queen Mary & Westfield (QMW), University of London; Advanced Studies in England, Bath; Lancaster University; University of Glasgow; University College Dublin (UCD); Trinity College Dublin; NUI Galway and Cork, and University of Paris.

As part of your application checklist for study abroad, you need to procure permission from your major department. In the case of the English department, you have little reason for concern. Please plan to meet with Marla Derosa to discuss your plans. These meetings do not require an appointment unless you cannot meet during regular office hours. Meetings should require no more than 15 minutes.

The reason the Office of Global Education requires you to meet with your major department is, first and foremost, to make sure that you can study abroad and still complete your major requirements in time to graduate. We will pull up your degree audit, look at the classes you have completed (or plan to complete) before studying abroad, determine how many courses the English department will accept from your program, and figure out how many courses you will need to complete upon your return. Assuming you can complete the ten courses required for the major, you will receive departmental approval. This meeting time can also be used to discuss any questions you may have about course approvals, etc.