Schools with good English departments

[vibragreen]

<p>What are some good schools for majoring in English?</p>

[Erin_s_Dad]

<p>English is one of those subjects that is pretty good at most schools, particularly LACs (in my opinion). I would look for a something else to differentiate (perhaps internships).</p>

[vociferous]

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in English](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area4.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area4.html)</p>

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Comp. Lit.](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area3.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/area3.html)</p>

[Ms.Ladybug]

<p>I had the same question! All I see is National U’s on the NRC rankings for English. Does anything similar exist for LAC’s? Barring the existence of a (probably flawed) “ranking” list, how does a student go about evaluating the strength of the English department at LACs? Do they look at prof ratings, prof CVs, course offerings, class sizes, honors experiences, what?</p>

[Iamsoconfused]

<p>Look into Kenyon. I love this school.</p>

[IBclass06]

<p>

@Ms. Ladybug

how does a student go about evaluating the strength of the English department at LACs? Do they look at prof ratings, prof CVs, course offerings, class sizes, honors experiences, what?

Carolyn posted a very helpful post on exactly that topic a while back.</p>

<p>

@carolyn

I think you really have to do your own research and due dilligence to evaluate most undergraduate programs, even those where rankings exist.</p>

<p>Some things I look for are:</p>

<p>[ul][<em>]department accreditation by a professional association related to the subject,
[</em>]faculty size compared to the number of graduating majors in the department
[<em>]where grads of the department go on to graduate school or employment
[</em>]any recent or pending changes in funding for the department (search the school’s press releases, and the student newspaper archives),
[<em>]special facilities or capabilities of the department (department library, research facilities, special equipment, etc.)
[</em>]how many prof’s in the department are tenured, how many are full-time, how many are just visiting or are not tenured.
[<em>]the philosophy or subject approach of the department. This can take some digging, and you may have to put some divergent pieces together to see if the department’s goals/philosophies are a fit with yours. Two equally sized departments at different schools can have very different approaches.
[</em>]I also like to get a hold of the actual course schedules (not the catalog which merely lists courses that may or may not be offered on a regular basis) for a few semesters and see how many classes the department typically offers, how large or small they are, and whether they fill up quickly or are over-subscribed. A department is only good if you can get into classes without too much trouble.[/ul]</p>

<p>Another piece of advice that I also find helpful came from the Philosophical Gourmet site, which ranks Philosophy graduate programs but also has a section discussing how to evaluate undergrad programs, is to (1) find the rankings for top graduate level programs (these are usually more readily available) and then (2) look at the faculty bio’s and see how many received their doctorates from the top grad programs. Of course, at large universities, you’ll also need to find out how many of those faculty actually teach undergraduates.

</p>