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Graduate Admissions

This Department's Graduate Program in English Literature offers advanced instruction in the field of English and American literature for students interest in pursuing master's and doctoral degrees. The Litowitz Creative Writing Graduate Program offers advanced instruction both in creative writing and in English and American literature as a dual MFA+MA degree. All programs require full-time residency, with seminars and workshops offered primarily during the day. The flexibility, interdisciplinary focus, and outstanding reputation of these programs--combined with the extraordinary scholarly, creative, and cultural resources available in Chicago, the beautiful lakeside campus in Evanston, fine local restaurants, and annual art and music festivals--all make Northwestern a superb place to earn a graduate degree in English. Scholarly and library resources at nearby universities, as well as the Newberry Library and many cross-school and cross-disciplinary study groups and reading groups, provide a rich context for research and study at Northwestern.

The following pages give detailed information about program requirements for the master's and doctorate, as well as extensive guidelines about the admissions process. To gain a sense of the Graduate Program's expectations and culture, we recommend that interested students review the information contained in this section of our website, which is dedicated specifically to the Graduate Program. Information about the members of our faculty can be found on their individual web pages.

If you have particular questions about admissions to the MA, MFA+MA, or PhD programs, please look through our FAQs. Feel free to direct any further questions about the Litowitz MFA+MA dual-degree, MA, and doctoral degree programs to the department's Graduate Program Coordinator.