Graduate Program Overview
Graduate Studies Program
Ph.D PROGRAM IN ENGLISH AT PRINCETON
The aim of the Princeton graduate program in English is to produce well-trained and productive scholars, sympathetic and intelligent critics, and effective and imaginative teachers. The five year Ph.D program is intense but also supportive. Princeton maintains a feeling of intimacy despite being a high powered research university; it is large enough to sustain an extremely diverse, cosmopolitan, and lively intellectual community, but small enough so that no one need feel lost in it. Because this is a residential university, whose traditions emphasize teaching as well as research, the faculty is easily accessible to students and concerned about their progress.
Located between New York and Philadelphia, Princeton combines the cohesive identity of a university town, with easy access to the cultural and professional resources of major urban centers.
FACULTY The faculty of the Department of English is notable for its scholarly reputation, commitment to teaching, and accessibility. Faculty members have diverse interests in the field of literary study, from the traditional methods of historical research to the newer areas of literary theory, Afro-American studies, feminist criticism, and film. For a listing of current faculty and their fields, see the sheet included with this brochure. While Princeton maintains a single faculty engaged in both undergraduate and graduate teaching, the majority of graduate seminars are conducted by senior members of the faculty. Students may take courses as well in cognate departments such as comparative literature, classics, philosophy, linguistics and art history.
The university offers programs in creative writing, visual arts, and theater and dance. Although these programs do not have graduate courses, graduate students are welcome to participate when space permits. The faculty in creative writing is one of the most outstanding in the country, and includes Joyce Carol Oatesm Toni Morrison, Russell Banks, Paul Auster, Edmund Keeley, James Richardson, and Julie Agoos.
COURSE OF STUDY
The graduate program in English is a five-year program leading to the Ph.D. Students may not enroll for the Master of Arts degree. During the first two years, students prepare for the General Examination through work in seminars, and directed or independent reading. The third and fourth years are devoted to teaching in undergraduate courses, and to the writing of a dissertation.
The major work of the first two years should reinforce the student's general knowledge of English and American Literature. During the second year, the student also begins intensive study in a special field of interest, which may be a historical period, a genre, or literary theory and criticism. While programs are flexible, a student normally enrolls in three seminars in the first three terms, and two seminars in the fourth term. Students are also encouraged to continue taking courses in the third year and beyond.
The two-part written comprehensive examination must be completed by the end of the second year. A written examination in the special field, and a follow-up one-hour oral must be completed by the beginning of the third year. Students with intensive preparation or previous graduate study are encouraged to take the comprehensive at the end of the first year.
Students must also demonstrate a reading knowledge of two-foreign languages before the completion of the General Examination. The languages normally recommended are Latin, Greek, French, German, and Italian, but other languages relevant to the student's program of study may be substituted with the approval of the director of graduate studies.
ADVISING
Each entering student is assigned a faculty advisor who works with the Director of Graduate Studies in planning course selection in the first year. At the beginning of the second year, students choose two faculty members in their field of special interest as advisors for Part II of the General Examination and conduct the follow-up oral. By the third year each student chooses a dissertation director, who must be a tenured member of the department, and may also indicate a preference for a second reader, who may be either tenured or untenured. The Dissertation Committee has the option of recommending a second reader when the prospectus is approved.
GRADUATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (GAC)
The GAC is constituted of all registered graduate students, and has a rotating chair. It meets on the first Wednesday of every month to discuss issues of concern to students, and to present them to the Department. The GAC also organizes social activities, including a fall picnic, a Christmas dance, and an end-of-the-year celebration.
COLLOQUIUMS
Graduate students are welcome to participate in a variety of seminars and colloquiums organized by the English Department and other departments and programs. These may involve the discussion of an article or problem, the presentation of a paper, or a forum for debate. Colloquiums also include one-day conferences on a number of topics. Among those sponsored by the Department and jointly run by the graduate students and faculty, are groups on History and Literature; Gender and Feminist Literary Theory; Renaissance Studies; and Politics and Literature. Students also may join the weekly Graduate Women's Studies Seminar; participate in the meetings of the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies; attend the Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism; and involve themselves in any of the eighteen colloquiums under the aegis of the Council of the Humanities.
TEACHING
All graduate students who have passed the General Examination are required to teach in undergraduate courses as part of their preparation. While the minimum requirement is six hours, most students teach more than this. The department offers many opportunities for teaching experience in conjunction with its large and popular undergraduate program. Students may teach in the writing program, conduct sections of large lecture courses, or direct precepts in upper-division courses. This teaching is supervised by experienced members of the faculty, and occasional colloquiums are offered on teaching methods and other matters of professional interest.
In addition to the general collection of the Firestone Library, students in the Department of English have access to a number of special collections which are particularly rich in materials for study: one of the most important collections of Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States; works of the Restoration Period, with emphasis on the drama; the theater collection, which contains materials for the study of theatrical history; extensive collections concerning the history and literature of the middle Atlantic and southern states; the Sinclair Hamilton Collection of American Illustrated books, 1670-1870; the Morris L. Parrish Collection of Victorian Novelists; the J. Harlin O'Connell Collection of the 1890's and the Gallatin Collection of Aubrey Beardsley; and the archives of major American publishing houses. The extensive Miriam Y. Holden Collection of Books on the History of Women is located adjacent to the department's basic literature collection in the Scribner Room. The Robert H. Taylor Collection, which is strong throughout the range of English literature, is now housed in the library and is available for the students' use.
The department has a strong record of job placement, and works closely with students to help them prepare for the application and interview process. In the past few years, for example, Princeton Ph.D.s have taken tenure track positions at major colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, including University of British Columbia, Cornell, Fordham, Harvard, Kenyon, Michigan, Rutgers, Tulsa, UCLA, Virginia, Washington University and Yale.
ADMISSION AND FINANCIAL AID
Competition for admission to the program is keen. About twelve new students From a wide range of backgrounds are enrolled each year. The department looks for candidates of outstanding ability and scholarly promise who have the potential to be lively, effective and sympathetic teachers. It's judgements are based on letters of recommendation, transcripts, a personal statement, a sample of the candidate's academic writing, and performance on the GRE verbal aptitude and advanced tests. Facility in foreign languages is also taken into account. Inquiries to the department are routinely shared with the Office of Graduate Admission. However, if you do not receive an application form and "Guide to Graduate Admission" within three weeks of receiving this brochure, please write to the Office of Graduate Admission, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544.
Fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School at large, on the department's recommendation. Awards are made on the combined bases of financial need, ad demonstrated on the GAPSFAS (financial statement) form, and academic merit. Unfortunately, not all admitted students can be offered financial aid; students are therefore encouraged to seek outside sources of support. Fellowship awards are usually continued at their original levels while the student is in good standing in the program. In the third and fourth years, students have the opportunity to teach in undergraduate courses as Assistants in Instruction. Assistants in Instruction are paid at a rate somewhat higher than most fellowships.
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
The department offices, lecture halls, and seminar rooms are located in McCosh Hall. Graduate seminars meet here, in classrooms and faculty offices, as well as in the English Graduate Seminar Room in Firestone Library. The Hinds Library, the department's reading room and lounge, is located in McCosh, and offers a casual meeting-place over coffee for students and faculty during the day. There is a separate English Graduate Reading Room in the Library , where reserve books for graduate seminars are kept on the shelves. It is adjacent to the Scribner Room, the department's large non-circulating collection of books and journals.
The Graduate School provides University housing for about 65 percent of the graduate student body. New students have first priority. Many students without dependants choose to live in the Graduate College, a handsome Gothic dormitory complex located about one-half mile from the center of campus. Unfurnished apartments for married students are also available. While housing in the Princeton area is expensive, many graduate students find convenient and attractive private housing, sharing accommodations or investigation neighboring towns. There are also opportunities for graduate students to apply for resident positions in the undergraduate colleges.
VISITING PRINCETON
Applicants for admission are welcome to visit the campus at any time, and tours of the campus are available. Interviews are not required, but if you want an appointment to meet with the Director of Graduate Studies or a faculty member, contact the department, and we will try to arrange one. Since admissions is handled by the faculty of the department, rather than by a staff, we cannot always schedule interviews for those who would like them, and from January 1 to March 15, we are unable to offer interviews since selection work makes it impossible to handle appointments. Admitted students are invited to the campus in March and April, and have the opportunity to visit seminars, stay with graduate students, and meet with faculty.