Honors Program in English
Thinking about graduate school application materials? Want to demonstrate your persistence, organizational skills and intellectual focus to future employers? Wishing you had a chance to work more closely with a professor whose work you admire? The distinctive Honors in English or Honors in Creative Writing Program might be what you’re looking for!
The program offers motivated seniors the opportunity to write a thesis of 60-75 pages on a subject of their own choosing, under the guidance of a faculty member who is an expert in that field.
Honors in English
Application Requirements
- Minimum 3.50 GPA in English courses
- Unofficial transcript
- Copy of a strong English paper, graded and with the professor’s comments
- Demonstrate strong academic record and have an area of interest that matches the expertise of available faculty
How to Apply
The application is emailed each year in January to all juniors registered on the English major email list. You can also download the online application (PDF). Physical copies of the application will be available on request from the English Department office. Please note the deadline indicated on the application! Accepted students will be notified no later than the end of spring break.
In the application, you will need to explain a little about what you think you’d like to write a thesis on. You’ll also need to identify at least one professor who is willing to supervise your thesis. (Acceptance into the program depends on faculty availability.)
All English majors who are interested in honors should discuss it with their advisors.
Accepted English Honors Students
You must register for the Honors Seminar on Research Methods and Thesis Writing (ENGL 4040) in the fall and Honors Thesis (ENGL 4250W) the following spring. Courses may not be taken out of order, nor can they be taken together.
Honors candidates enroll in 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. Each semester in the honors program carries three credits and counts as an English major elective.
BA/MA Program and Honors
Note: The BA/MA program is separate from the honors program. However, admission to the honors program guarantees admission to the BA/MA program. Please note that the BA/MA program requires you to take one graduate seminar per semester during your final year of the BA program.
Honors 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. The program is designed for students considering future graduate study in creative writing and for those interested in a challenging culmination 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.
Application Requirements
- Minimum 3.25 GPA
How to Apply
Interested students should apply directly to the director of creative writing the year before they plan to graduate, typically in the spring semester of their junior year.
Accepted Creative Writing Honors Students
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 thesis work, students will write a prefatory critical essay of up to 10 pages and enroll in Creative Writing Senior Thesis (ENGL 4220).
Past creative writing theses have included novels, poetry chapbooks, short story collections, linked essays and hybrid works.
Honors Program Students: Class of 2023
Connor Christopher
Connor Christopher's thesis explores the power of Filth in transgressive cinematic experiments by John Waters and Harmony Korine, touching on themes of queerness, “bad” taste, anti-capitalism, failure, utopia, and more.
Bella Sayegh
Bella Sayegh's thesis explores the visual culture and theme of surveillance in Charlotte Brontë’s work, regarding the figures of the ghost and the governess.
Rayner Reinhardt
Rayner Reinhardt's thesis employs psychoanalytic theory to explore the implications of mother-daughter relationships on feminine trauma and subjectivity within the works of Toni Morrison.
Guadalupe Rosa
Guadalupe Rosa's thesis focuses on elements that built 19th Century British identity while analyzing how it came at the expense of the dehumanization, stigmatization, and deconstruction of other communities.
Elliot Culin
Elliot Culin's thesis explores portrayals of "horrific motherhood" in the horror genre, examining how horror stories reveal intimate and societal fears about motherhood.