Composed,
Creative,
Critical
Explore graduate programs
in the Department of English
Admissions
M.A. Program
Ph.D. Program
Photo credit: Erin Chambers
Open letter to prospective students
Dear Prospective Graduate Student,
We appreciate your interest in the graduate program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln! The Department of English offers a vibrant, diverse, and intellectually stimulating place to do your graduate work.
We currently have approximately 120 graduate students in our M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Literary and Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, and Composition and Rhetoric. We offer graduate coursework in all these areas. Through research, teaching, and outreach, our department enacts a commitment to imaginative reasoning, a value and a practice that allows us to make connections across boundaries, imagine new possibilities, and exchange ideas with others. We enact this through analyzing literature and moving images, producing creative works and rhetorical texts, and developing critically-informed digital environments.
How to Apply
The annual application deadline is December 1. Students with a B.A. may apply for the M.A. or for direct admission into the Ph.D. Students with an M.A. or M.F.A. may apply for the Ph.D.
Each year, the Creative Writing Program accepts applications to the M.A. or Ph.D. programs only in a specific genre. Admissions in "poetry" or "fiction/nonfiction" alternate in each subsequent year. Visit our admissions page for details.
Graduate Student Directory
Want to know who's who among our graduate students? Browse our students' profiles and catch a glimpse of the breadth of research, writing, and teaching that takes place here.
Teaching and Assistantship Opportunities
Our financial aid packages include teaching and reading assistantships for M.A. and Ph.D. students that offer stipends and/or tuition. Reading assistantships give students the opportunity to partner with faculty on their research, plan conferences, work on special projects, or join the staff of the Prairie Schooner. Teaching Assistantships place M.A. and Ph.D. students in the classroom as instructors. In addition, many of our graduate students have obtained fellowships and assistantships in other campus offices, including Women’s and Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, the Center for Digital Research in Humanities, and the College of Arts and Sciences Academic and Career Advising Center.
Job Preparation and Placement
We are committed to training our students for life after graduate studies, and we take job preparation very seriously. Our Placement Advisor works closely with students, and all our faculty assist students with their job searches. Many students have obtained tenure track jobs in colleges and universities, while others have found excellent jobs in publishing or other areas, such as with the MLA. A number of our recent graduates have already published books, both academic and creative.
Award-Winning Faculty
Our English department faculty are internationally recognized leaders in their fields of research and creative work, and consistently win the most prestigious teaching awards at the university. Many faculty also serve as editors or on the editorial boards for national and international journals.
Affiliated Interdisciplinary Programs
Many of the department faculty and graduate students are actively engaged and have partial appointments with interdisciplinary academic programs at UNL. These interdisciplinary programs host many activities - including symposia, conferences, outside speakers, and panel discussions - in which department faculty and graduate students often participate.