DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

The Doctoral Program in English Literature

Applying to the Doctoral program

Look for Program Code E25PH when searching for the PhD program in the online application system

Application information FOR

matriculation in Fall 2025

• Application deadline: Thursday, December 12, 2024

• All application materials are due by 11:59 pm (CST) on the day of the deadline

When reviewing applications, we look for evidence of keen intellectual ability, skill in literary analysis, scholarly potential, and a strong sense of academic purpose. We do not emphasize any single factor, but pay close attention to written work and to applicants' competency in one or more foreign languages. We typically expect to receive between 200 and 300 applications for admission to the doctoral program, with a target class size of between 6 and 8 students.

Notification of the admissions committee's decisions will most likely occur in early February. Once our offers of admissions have been made, we will invite those prospective students to campus for a Visiting Weekend around the beginning of March. This is a chance for you to meet with faculty and current graduate students, discuss future projects, and hear about current doctoral work, tour the department and the campus, sit in on graduate seminars, and to look at some of the many advantages that Evanston and Chicago have to offer.

IMPORTANT

All supplemental application materials must be submitted through The Graduate School's application system. Please do not send, or have sent, paper copies of any documents. If you or your recommenders are having difficulty submitting any component of the application online, and the application system's online help is unable to resolve your problem, please contact the Graduate Program Coordinator.  Never have any application materials sent directly to The Graduate School or their Office of Admission.

In all cases, our department's specifics regarding supplemental application materials supersede those listed on The Graduate School's website, as well as any listed in the application itself. 

Supplemental Application Materials

The English Department requires that the following documents be submitted as part of the online application for the PhD program (program code E25PH).  

• One scanned copy of the OFFICIAL transcript from each institution you've attended;
  • We cannot accept printouts of unofficial grade reports,
  • Transcripts for non-degree courses are not needed,
  • Transfer credits and courses taken as part of a study-abroad program will usually be included in your degree-awarding institution's transcript. There's no need to submit separate transcripts from those other institutions;
• Two letters of recommendation, though we strongly advise you to ask for three;
• An academic statement (1000 word max) answering the following questions: what are your academic interests, why do you wish to pursue graduate studies in our department, how has your academic and professional background prepared you for graduate study, and how will our program help you achieve your intellectual and professional goals? Please include mention of any research, training, or educational experiences you have that would be relevant to our program;
• A personal statement (500 word max) addressing how , as a student in our graduate program, you could contribute to an intellectual community that prioritizes equity, inclusion, belonging, and cultural humility.  Your answer may draw upon past or present experiences, whether in academic work, extracurricular or community activities, or everyday life;
• It is not required, but feel free to submit an additional statement (250 word max) addressing concerns you may have with your application. If you feel that your academic credentials do not demonstrate your true capabilities, or if there are gaps in your academic career that you think it would  like to explain, this is the section in which to share that information;
• A sample of your writing on a literary topic, ideally a critical essay, between 12 and 25 pages.  Scholarly citations must be included, but do not count against the page limit;
  • Please do not submit creative writing samples of any kind;
  • Standard margins, Times New Roman 12 pt, double spaced;
  • You may submit more than one sample, so long as the total page count does not exceed 25
• All non-native English speaking applicants are required to report scores from either the TOEFL or the IELTS exam;
  • To be considered official, the exam must have been taken no more than two years prior to the intended September of entry,
  • Because of the level of English fluency required of students in our program, we will only consider applications with a TOEFL score of at least 100, or IELTS score of at least 7,
  • Rules governing exemptions from this requirement can be found in our FAQ;
• Additional details from Northwestern's Graduate School about the application (including further details on the TOEFL/IELTS requirement, transcript submission, application fees, etc...) can be found on The Graduate School's website.