The MFA at Vanderbilt is a two-year program involving four semesters of graduate work in writing workshops and seminars.  Students enrolled will take a workshop and two seminars each semester, until their final semester, when work on the thesis will take the place of the seminars.



The Ph.D. Program in English offers coursework and research supervision in all areas of British, American, and Anglophone literature, film, cultural studies, and literary theory.   We aim to produce first-quality scholars, critics, and teachers of literature and culture for colleges and universities.  Our program is small, focused, and dynamic, featuring:

• A 1:1 student-faculty ratio with a superb research faculty 

• A flexible curriculum tailored to each student’s interests and background  

• A full, five-year funding package for every Ph.D. student 

• Opportunities to teach literature and writing 

• Opportunities for interdisciplinary work, including graduate-minor programs in Gender Studies and American and Southern Studies 

• Annual competitive summer research fellowships open to all

• Annual competitive dissertation fellowships and dissertation enhancement grants 

• Generous conference-travel funding 

• Affiliations with the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Dickens Project at the University of California, Santa Cruz, The English Institute at Harvard University, and the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University 

• A comprehensive system of mentoring and advisement from the first year through the search for academic employment  

Vanderbilt English Ph.D. Program Ranked #1 among Small Prestigious Programs