I am having a hard time finding the right school. I am planning on majoring in English with the intent of going to graduate school and eventually teaching. I prefer going to a southern school. Where should I look? For background purposes, I am in the top 5 percent of my class with a 1590 on SAT.
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Emory.
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Rice
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One of D’s friends from elementary school on was a year ahead of her at Vandy. They were sorority sisters. She majored in English and then moved on to a well respected university for graduate studies in English. Top grades at all levels and writing awards from elementary - high school. Probably some recognition at Vandy as well. She took the exit ramp at masters level, concluding that PhD with teaching aspirations was not economically feasible. It’s a rough market for those pursuing doctoral studies in the humanities these days.
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Duke
WUSTL
Wake Forest
Tulane
UT-Austin
North Carolina
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Vandy’s a pretty good choice – southern, Peabody is a top education school and the English department is strong.
For strong education and English and southern, UVA would probably be very high, maybe the highest. Plus all the other usual southern Ivy suspects – UNC, Duke, Emory, Texas, Tulane. Maybe Rice, even though it has a pretty strong STEM focus.
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For a smaller school check out Davidson.
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Thank you all!
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Duke
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What can you afford? What is your home state? Have you run net price calculators for any schools?
I would also suggest you get your hands on a Fiske and/or Princeton Review guide to colleges and read up on options.
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W&M
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If I expand my search beyond the south what are the top five schools you would recommend for someone hoping to pursue a teaching position in English literature? Thank you for your comments.
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Teaching at what level and with what budget?
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My goal is to one day teach at the college level.
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To teach college english, what will matter most is where you get your PhD from. There’s hundreds of colleges where you could study undergrad english and from which you could get into a good grad school program (if you do well). So your question is really isn’t a strong differentiator for selecting your undergrad school.
The more relevant questions are ones like: where can you get admitted; what school can you financially afford; do you want a big/medium/small school; do you want to be close to home or far away; city, suburban or rural campus; what region of the country?
FWIW, USNWR says these are the top english grad school programs: Cal, Chi, Columbia, Stanford, Penn, UCLA, UVA, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Mich, Yale, Brown, Duke. I’m sure the people in those grad school programs come from many dozens of different undergrad schools.
Good luck.
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Thank you for your encouraging words. My fear is that a top tier school will not consider my graduate school app unless I obtain an undergraduate degree from a like-kind school. I am preparing my applications now but I have yet to decide where I am applying early decision. This is hard! Thanks again.
Are you going to need financial aid? Are you eligible for it? This an important factor in your college search.
You are wide open in terms of possibilities. You have the stats to be a contender for admissions to any school. It’s what interests YOU that drives the list.
If prestige is important, HPY et al are right up there as the best schools in the country. There are no shortages of best colleges lists.
I suggest adding some less selective schools as well to the list as well.
It’s always great to get a school in the bag, Early Action so then you can apply to the reaches with wild abandon. The hardest part of all of this is finding that safety school that is affordable and has the curriculum and amenities you want.
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@tyuiopl : Your grad. school and how they train will matter far more than this (choosing an undergrad), but going somewhere with a strong and intellectually activated (as in a place that gets you to engage in writing/poetry related events on campus and to go beyond the classroom in showcasing your writing development) English program can help you before graduate . I went to Emory and know it is excellent at that and often, WUSTL, JHU, and some other liberal arts colleges are cited. in various lists. Maybe look for these lists as a starting point (please don’t take these as actual rankings. View them as lists of schools that the author felt strongly about. Do not split hairs when comparing programs between schools on the lists. Instead go on their English and Creative writing departmental websites and check out what they offer and what events they target to undergrads. Check out university and college webpages to see if faculty and students in these departments are being spotlighted. Many things you can do!)
*Generally do not be overly concerned about getting into a “name-brand” college/university. Find out how the school will help you achieve goals during your tenure at the school. The endpoint of graduate school does not happen in absence of that. They don’t just go “well, they completed a degree at a name brand school”. They’ll want to see evidence that you actively tried to develop (and maybe disseminate) your writing, and produced a major academic oriented project that show cases your writing. They wanna see if you’ve been already achieving/aiming to achieve goals that align with the graduate program (which is not course work). Wherever you do this is up to you, and name-brand schools do not monopolize those key development opportunities.
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“My fear is that a top tier school will not consider my graduate school app unless I obtain an undergraduate degree from a like-kind school.”
Check out this link.
You’d think Harvard Law School is into prestigiosity as much as any institution is. They enroll 560 students per year. Their last class came from 173 different colleges!!
I’m sure Princeton and Stanford have strong contingents in that HLS class. But Northwest Missouri State is in there too! HLS and other top tier grad programs knows that smart kids go to all kinds of colleges.
https://hls.harvard.edu/dept/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/undergraduate-colleges/
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VU (Peabody) is consistently ranked as one of the top U’s for education in the US. You also need to consider financial issues. As an English teacher, your income is limited so you CAN NOT afford much debt or student loans. Grad school must be budgeted for too. Limiting debt is more important than a brand name for students planning on careers in education. Explore all aid issues and follow the money. Do not become a teacher making $80,000/yr with $160,000 in student loans.