<p>I've heard comments about how one school has a better english dept. than the other? How do you know the dept is a strong one?</p>
<p>Which ever's professors publish more.</p>
<p>It is very different for college and graduate school. </p>
<p>But generally, what makes an English department "good" is that it has very well-respected senior scholars whose publications are innovative and influential, mid-career faculty on their way to becoming well-established senior scholars, and very talented young junior faculty with promising research (the top schools always have these three groups). They should also have a proven record of quality teaching.</p>
<p>For undergrad, the teaching is probably the most important factor, as the specific strengths as weaknesses of a department (e.g. fantastic Victorian Studies but OK Renaissance Studies) weighs less on what an undergraduate will actually be taught.</p>
<p>For graduate school, subspecialties become very important. If your interests lie in Modernism, you would want to attend a program that is strong in that field. Some of the great programs for different subspecialties are not found necessarily at the Ivies/Stanford/etc. Also, at the graduate level, what makes a "good" English department is its record of job placement, that is, what percentage of its Ph.D. graduates it places into tenure-track jobs. Some schools have fantastic records while others do not (FYI, one of the schools that has not been doing so well lately would surprise you).</p>