<p>Hey everyone. I've been searching the forums for some information but I haven't been able to find anything on the following questions. I know there aren't many interested in pursuing a Phd. in the English field but I thought it might be a worthwhile shot.
I've been informed that for a Phd. you need to speak two foreign languages fluently. However, I've also heard if you take 6 credit hours in the foreign languages it will suffice. Which is it, and how does it work?
My second question is does the college issuing your Phd matter in the employment environment? I plan on teaching college level upon completion(I'm only in my second year of college right now). Does it really matter? And what are a few good colleges that offer Phd. programs in English? (preferably obtainable colleges...)
I know it's a lot to ask for my first post here on CC, so thank you for taking time to read it and help me out.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, many schools accept applicants unable to speak foreign languages, but expect them to do it while in graduate school. I don't know that this is true, and would imagine the more you know the better, and that you probably should be proficient in one language other than English before applying, and I've heard that the language requirement is the top reason why people leave graduate school, so learn early and well.</p>
<p>If you're interested at tenure track positions at the top 200 or so US colleges or the best colleges abroad, where you go to get your PhD is a very, very important factor. The academic job market is tough, I've heard some say the toughest job market in the world, and English is one of the oldest, most established, and most saturated disciplines. If you want to work as a prominent professor in the field, going to a prominent PhD department is fairly important.</p>
<p>Good colleges that offer good PhD programs in English? US News is a good list to check out for some of the best schools (although the order of them might be easily debateable, if it's on the list, it's indicative of something). Also ask your professors. I'm sure you could search this site for NRC rankings and rankings of English programs in general. Keep in mind that the ranking for your subfield is probably more important for the general "English" program.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Language: You need to take a language at most undergrad schools in order to graduate. Many English PhD programs only require you to learn one language at a basic level (check with the programs). If you are doing comp. lit. you need to know english +2 at a reading level. My PhD English program is fairly rigorous in that it requires you to take 2 courses in a foreign language literature (though once i got in I've found that it's not so severe, I can just take a placement test).</p></li>
<li><p>Job: You should do as much junk as you can to stuff your resume (conference planning, teaching and most importantly publishing). If you get published somewhere interesting that will open doors regardless of your school. Also you should really focus on whatever it is you want to study and become and expert in that area, which leads to your last question about ranking:</p></li>
<li><p>Ranking: You want to go to a school that has at least 2 professors whose work in the field you are interested in is substantial. Harvard won't matter, let's say, if they don't have THE top researcher of things relating to Smollett, for example. The school that does have that will matter more.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you are groomed and prepped for the job world by someone who has reputation in your interest (let's say Smollett), then when a college needs a Smollett professor and you get a letter from this researcher then you stand a better chance of getting the job.</p>
<p>That said, there are no jobs in English academia and you should quit now.</p>
<p>(so I can get one later.....)...</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>The rules differ with regards to foreign languages. So, you need to make your realistic list of schools and check that out for sure. I mean some schools let you do the foreign language test with a dictionary. Some schools let you take undergrad language courses while you are a grad student, but that is tricky because it could mean you are a provisional grad student and that is not super cool with regards to future employment in academia.</p>
<p>Also, what is your emphasis, O/P? If you have a favorite poet or favorite genre of lit which you can see yourself studying up on for years to come, then join a lit. society now as a student member. You can make nice contacts that way. There is a lit. society for almost anything. </p>
<p>keenapperception, do you go to University in Oklahoma? My dream grad school is the University of Tulsa. They have great research opps for lit. Your home state rocks for lit, actually. I study Religious Studies and Lit btw. I would love to go to grad school in your home state, actually- that is a dream of mine.</p>
<p>WRT employment, it matters on what you are specialising in. If you are specialising in the British Romantics, for example, look up schools that have grand researchers in that era of lit. The same applies for Composition, go where the program is good and where there are good researchers. Getting letters of reccomendation from these kind of folks is really good. That is more important, sometimes than the name brand of the school, solely with regards to English. Like, I used to go to the University of Memphis (but I transferred to get in on Religous Studies as well as lit.). At the University of Memphis there is one of the top Milton scholars in the US, even though that is a very humble school. There is also a good Blake scholar from your home state over there as well. </p>
<p>Another thing you can do is join a list serv about what you want to study later on. I joined an 18th century list serv and I am an undergraduate student and no one has minded anything at all.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman right now at Hamilton College in New York. I'm considering pursuing a Ph. D. in english, probably focusing on 20th century American lit. Any suggestions for things I can do to position myself well for admissions?</p>