Honors Program in English

When can I apply?

The application is emailed each year in January to all juniors registered on the English major email list. Applications are also available on request from the Department office. Accepted students will be notified of their admission prior to registration for the fall semester, and no later than the end of spring break.

What happens if I’m accepted?

Successful candidates enroll in the Honors seminar on research methods and thesis writing (ENG 4040), and begin drafting their project early in the fall of their senior year. They spend the spring completing the thesis, working individually with one faculty member (ENG 4250). Each semester in the Honors program carries 3 credits and counts as an English major elective. 

Anything else should I know about the application?

*To be eligible for the Honors program, students must have a minimum 3.50 GPA in English Department courses

*Admission to the Honors program depends both on academic record and the student’s having an area of interest that matches the expertise of available faculty

*Admission to the English Honors program guarantees admission to the BA/MA program.

English majors who would like to learn more about that program are invited to contact Professor DeWispelare ([email protected])

All English majors who are interested in the Honors program should discuss it with their advisors, and are encouraged to meet in person with the Director of the Honors Program (currently Professor Green-Lewis, at [email protected]).

Honors Program in Creative Writing

The Honors in Creative Writing program offers exceptionally motivated majors a yearlong opportunity to draft, revise, and complete a creative writing thesis under the mentorship of a two-person committee. Creative writing theses have included novels, poetry chapbooks, short story collections, linked essays, and hybrid works. Interested students should apply to the director of Creative Writing the year before they plan to graduate, typically in the spring semester of their junior year. Accepted students will be assigned an adviser and second reader, to whom they will propose a project and then together develop a writing schedule for the thesis year. In addition to their creative work, students will write a prefatory critical essay of up to 10 pages and enroll in ENGL 4220, the thesis seminar.

The Honors in Creative Writing program is designed for students considering future graduate study in creative writing and for students interested in a more culminating challenge to their creative writing coursework. The program also welcomes students looking for an intensive self-directed learning experience and students committed to imaginatively exploring a question, a story, and/or an aesthetic practice.