SILCS Blog

Syracuse University is the final program in our series of graduate program profiles. Syracuse offers an M.A. and Ph.D. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing.

The department, which is internationally known for its innovative undergraduate curriculum in English and Textual Studies (ETS), also has one of the most intellectually versatile graduate programs in the country. Recognizing the complex discipline that “English” has become in the contemporary university and in today’s society, our graduate program is organized around critical studies of history, aesthetics, and politics. We have particular strengths in early modern literature, Victorian culture, American studies, and film, but cover other areas as well, and our outstanding faculty all share a strong interest in literary history and forms, critical theory, and cultural studies. The particular specializations of our diverse faculty thus allow for both continuity and flexibility in the work that students can do while in the program.

In the Syracuse Ph.D. and M.A. programs, students work closely with their faculty mentors and attend small seminars. Ph.D. students take a workshop that helps them prepare for the qualifying exams and their dissertation. Syracuse maintains close ties with Cornell University and the University of Rochester, allowing students to attend courses and workshops on all three campuses. Students can enter the Ph.D. program directly from the B.A. or with the M.A. in hand. To complete the M.A., students submit and defend three papers.

The M.F.A. program, which takes three years, culminates in a book-length manuscript of poetry or fiction. Exceptional M.F.A. students are eligible for a university fellowship, which includes full tuition and a $16,720 stipend. There are also six creative writing scholarships awarded to new students.

All three programs include teaching assistantships and fellowships. Multi-year university fellowships are awarded to Ph.D. students, alternating with teaching assistantships, and include a stipend of $21,170 and a full-tuition scholarship for 30 credits for the academic year. African American Fellowships are also awarded to six African American graduate students.

The deadline for all programs is January 9.

The fourth in our series on graduate programs is Stanford University. The application deadline for Stanford (December 7, 2010) has passed, but we wanted to cover them for next year’s applicants.

The English Department seeks to teach and promote an understanding of both the significance and the history of British and American literature (broadly defined) and to foster an appreciation of the richness and variety of texts in the language. It offers rigorous training in interpretive thinking and precise expression. Our English graduate program features the study of what imaginative language, rhetoric, and narrative art has done, can do, and will do in life, and it focuses on the roles creative writing and representations play in almost every aspect of modern experience. Completing the Ph.D. program prepares a student for full participation as a scholar and literary critic in the profession.

Each year, Stanford accepts 7-9 students out of an applicant pool of 350. Those students who are accepted receive a five-year funding package, with more funding available for a sixth year. The funding covers tuition, health insurance, and living expenses and also includes four summers of research travel, language study, and conferences.

Students teach for one quarter in their first and fourth years and two quarters in their second year. The teaching in the first and fourth year includes leading two discussion sections for an undergraduate literature course. In the second year, students teach a self-designed course in writing and rhetoric.

Applicants must take both the General GRE and the Subject Test in Literature. Stanford does not offer a terminal M.A. or an M.F.A.

Recent graduates of Stanford have obtained tenure-track positions at such institutions as Yale University, Boston University, Columbia University, University of Maryland, University of Chicago, University of Georgia, UC Santa Barbara, University of Washington, and the University of Toronto.

In our third profile of graduate programs, we are discussing Cornell University. The graduate program in English Language and Literature enrolls twenty students per year in its Ph.D., M.F.A. and joint M.F.A./Ph.D. programs.

Courses for undergraduates range from Chaucer, Shakespeare, and James Joyce to critical theory, creative writing, cultural studies, and ethnic American literatures. The Honors Program challenges English majors to produce a major critical project as the culmination of their degree. The Ph.D. and M.F.A. programs enable advanced students to pursue intensive study with a distinguished faculty committed to creative and intellectual community. Courses and related programs link students at all levels with interdisciplinary opportunities on campus, while a lively series of speakers, colloquia, and conferences provide a context for sustained learning and debate within the humanities.

The Ph.D. program enrolls about twelve students per year. Students design their own courses of study. In the fourth semester, students must pass the Advancement to Candidacy Examination in order to proceed toward the Ph.D., prior to their dissertation.

The M.F.A. program enrolls eight students per year, four each in poetry and fiction. The two-year program culminates in the completion of a book length manuscript.

A small number of students enroll in the joint M.F.A./Ph.D. program, which takes five years and includes writing workshop courses and Ph.D. seminars for credit. At the end of the fourth semester, candidates submit the M.F.A. thesis and receive the M.F.A. degree, then go on to complete the Ph.D. and dissertation.

Students in the Ph.D. and joint M.F.A./Ph.D. programs are offered five years of funding, including a first-year non-teaching fellowship with a full tuition fellowship; two years of Teaching Assistantships with full tuition fellowships; a fourth-year non-teaching fellowship for the dissertation writing year, with a full tuition fellowship; a fifth-year Teaching Assistantship with full tuition fellowship; summer support for four years; a stipend; and health insurance.

Students in the M.F.A. program receive two years of funding, including a first-year Graduate Assistantship working at Epoch, a periodical of contemporary literature published by the Creative Writing staff of the Department of English; a first-summer teaching assistantship, which is linked to a teachers training program for which residency is required; a second-year Teaching Assistantship with a full tuition fellowship; a second summer fellowship; a stipend; and health insurance.

The deadline for all programs is December 15.

In the second in our series of graduate program profiles of our sponsoring Consortium members, we will be discussing the University of Pennsylvania. From the English Department website:

One indication of our interdisciplinary orientation is that our faculty are serving or have recently served as directors of the Penn Humanities Forum, Kelly Writers House, the Material Text Seminar, the The Center for Africana Studies , the South Asia Center, and the Programs in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, Cinema Studies, and have won more teaching awards than any other department in the School. Our undergraduate Alumni have gone on to highly successful careers in advertising, publishing, journalism, law, information technology, and other fields; many of them participate in our Career Nights or have joined our English Career Liaison Database, providing a network of helpful contacts for current Penn English Majors.

U Penn has an English graduate program that enrolls 5 Masters students and 12 Ph.D. students per year. The terminal Masters program, which takes place in one year, is a challenging option for those not able to make the longer commitment of the Ph.D. program. Students provide their own funding.

Students in the five-year Ph.D. program all receive the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, which covers tuition, general fees, and health insurance for 5 years. The total value of the fellowship for one year, including all benefits, was $53,000 in 2008-09. In addition, U Penn offers the William Fontaine Fellowship to African-American/Black, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Native American students.

The U Penn English department works closely with students on job placement after graduation, and over the past nine years has placed 66% of graduates in first-time tenure-track positions at a range of colleges and universities.

The deadline for application for graduate study at U Penn is December 15, 2010.