The Graduate Experience

At Marquette University, graduate studies in English offers both immediate and long-term rewards. Click here for the English Graduate Studies Viewbook.

While at Marquette, students will enjoy opportunities to:

Participate in lively classroom discussions
Travel to conferences to present their views to colleagues
Refine their own writing for publication in prestigious journals in their fields of interest.
Work with nationally and internationally renowned scholars.
Join graduate organizations, such as the Association of English Graduate Students (AEGS) and Preparing Future Faculty (PFF).

Careers

Here's a list of our recent M.A. and Ph.D. graduates.

After graduation, M.A. students pursue careers in the following:

Ph.D. studies studies at Marquette or other first-rate universities
Finance
Law
Publishing
Business writing
Public relations
Other professional fields

After graduation, the majority of our Ph.D. students find employment in tenure track positions at colleges and universities around the country and, in some instances, around the world.

Programs of Study

The Department offers two graduate degrees:

M.A. in American or British Literature
Ph.D. in American or British Literature

Our programs of study:

Merge traditional and contemporary approaches to literary studies
Concentrate on the history and criticism of American and English literature
Emphasize essential aspects of scholarship, historical research, and literary theory
Offer practical and theoretical instruction in rhetoric and composition to students who hold teaching assistantships and teach in the First-Year English Program
For MA students with assistantships, provide funding for two years
For PhD students with assistantships admitted 2010 or after, provide funding for four years, with a fifth year possible if two dissertation chapters are drafted by April of year four

Admissions Process

Inquiries from any interested prospective student are welcome.

A policy of rolling admissions is employed
Admission decisions are made by a committee of faculty who evaluate applicants' intellectual profiles as reflected by the following criteria:

GRE scores
GPA
Letters of recommendation
Writing samples

The committee's central concern is that every student admitted has the ability to achieve excellence within the program.
Students interested in securing financial assistance should contact the Graduate School to ascertain the dealines for applications for aid (cf. links at left).

Advising

Graduate students should assume full responsibility for their progress by keeping an up-to-date record of the courses they have taken and by checking regularly with the English Department and the Graduate School offices.

The Department of English provides advice via

The Director of Graduate Studies
Faculty members in a student's field of study
Information on the department web pages

The Graduate School provides advice via

The Graduate School Bulletin outlines regulations and course descriptions.
The Graduate School web pages (cf. links at left)

Contact

For further information about our graduate programs, contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Heather Hathaway via e-mail, or by writing to him at the following address:

Department of English

Marquette University

PO Box 1881

Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881

GRADUATE STUDIES

KEY RESOURCES

OTHER RESOURCES