The Graduate Program

The graduate program in English at the University of Virginia has long been a distinguished one. We offer three graduate degrees, including the Master of Arts, the Doctor of Philosophy, and the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. While the following section of the website deals primarily with the MA and PhD degree programs, you can find information about our renowned MFA in creative writing here. 

At a time of rapid transition in the field of literary and cultural studies, we are intent upon sustaining our offerings in traditional historical periods, elaborating those in diverse world literatures, and engaging fully with the spectrum of current theoretical concerns. The University of Virginia is also widely recognized as a leader in digital humanities, an area for which much of the initiative comes from faculty and graduate students in the English department. We take pride in offering graduate study superintended by an internationally renowned faculty.

The Master of Arts Program provides advanced training in literary studies, preparing students for either admission to Ph.D. programs or careers in a variety of fields that require intellectual ingenuity, skills in writing or research, or training in literary criticism and theory. Those who wish to pursue doctoral degrees regularly gain admission to other fine programs. Those seeking careers immediately following the MA have found jobs in secondary teaching, technology, the public sector, business, publishing, and higher education. The MA degree may be completed in three full semesters, though students opting to write an MA thesis often take a fourth semester. 

In addition to our regular MA, we offer several concentrations.  The MA in English with a Concentration in Teaching Literature and Writing is a two-year program that provides specialized training in teaching, and, in the second year, teaching opporunities and financial support (tuition, fees, one-person health insurance coverage, and a salary per course). The English Department also offers a Concentration in World Religions, World Literatures, a multidisciplinary and interdepartmental concentration that joins the study of literature and literary theory to the study of religious traditions. In cooperation with the Law School, we offer an interdisciplinary MA in Law and Literature. Our BA/MA program enables selected UVa undergraduates to take graduate courses in their fourth year and go on to complete the MA degree the following year. Interested MA students may choose to earn a certificate in Comparative Literature, a certificate in American Studies, or a Digital Humanities certificate. The MA in English is a terminal degree; UVa MA students who apply to the PhD program compete with other transfer applicants. 

The PhD program, with its coursework, exams, guided dissertation research, and training in teaching, places graduates in college and university research and teaching positions, in secondary education, and in academic administration, as well as in positions in publishing, consulting, the public sector, private foundations, and journalism—everywhere that research skills, rigorous analysis, and good writing are valued. In addition to their specialized research, interested PhDstudents may choose to earn a certificate in Comparative Literature, a certificate in American Studies, a certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies, a Certificate in Africana Studies, or a Digital Humanities certificate. Financial support, including health insurance and tuition remission, is awarded to all PhD students from the first through the fifth year of study, with students regularly receiving support in the sixth and seventh years of study. As part of their package, PhD students teach one course per semester in years two through four of the program.  The fifth year of study is a fully funded year dedicated entirely to writing the dissertation without teaching obligations. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences awards Dissertation Completion Fellowships to select graduate students in the sixth year. These fellowships provide stipend and tuition support and require only half-time teaching, freeing up a significant amount of time for dissertation writing. Students in the English Department have been very successful in winning these fellowships.  Beyond this, students may receive tuition remission, fees, and a salary in consideration for teaching in the sixth and seventh years. Government loans and work-study funding are also available. Students typically complete the doctoral degree in six to seven years. The English Department makes every effort to place its students and has a good record of doing so. Recent recipients of the PhD have found teaching positions at such institutions as Williams College, Illinois, Ohio Wesleyan, Harvard, Virginia Commonwealth University, Bowdoin, Clemson, Iowa, McGill, Nevada, MIT, Dartmouth, Bowling Green, New Mexico State, Penn, North Carolina, Rutgers, Fordham, Tufts, Arizona, Wake Forest, and Berkeley.

 The University library system is a resource of many dimensions. The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library holds a number of remarkable collections of American and British literature. Most noteworthy is the Barrett Library, one of the finest research collections in the world for American literature, including rare books and manuscripts of Cabell, Cather, Crane, Cummings, Eliot, Frost, Harte, Hawthorne, Hemingway, Holmes, Howells, James, Twain, Wharton, and Whitman. Manuscripts in the collection include The Red Badge of Courage, the 1860 Leaves of Grass, and The Sun Also Rises. Other collections of note include the William Faulkner Collection, the unique Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Novels, the Wagelin Collection of American Poetry, the Taylor Collection of American Fiction, and the Tunstall Collection of Poetry.  Alderman Library, the largest circulating library on Grounds, is an excellent research facility with a standard working collection suitable for advanced studies across the humanities.  The library's online holdings and well-staffed Scholars' Lab provide access to a large collection of literary works and advanced computer techniques for working with the texts.  In addition, Clemons Library holds an abundant collection of video material and a well-equipped media center. The Department itself is the home of three prize-winning journals: New Literary History, an internationally respected journal of theory and interpretation; Studies in Bibliography, the premier international journal of analytical bibliography and textual study; and Meridian, a student-edited journal of writing.

Students with physical or learning disabilities which may require reasonable accommodation at the University should contact  Brad Holland, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities.  Information about the larger University and Charlottesville communities may be found here.


The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only.  The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php.