Undergraduate Program
Welcome!
The Department of English at Georgetown University offers a major, a minor, and an honors program for undergraduates. In the English major, students have the opportunity to explore an extraordinary range of Anglophone texts and diverse critical methods for engaging and analyzing those texts. The major allows students to build a course of study that attends to the complexity of texts in their historical, cultural, and formal contexts. Our faculty publish and teach courses on British and American Literary Periods and Authors; Postcolonial Ethnic, and Critical Race Studies; Genre Studies; Creative Writing and Rhetoric; Critical Theory; Studies in Gender and Sexuality; and Cultural, Media, and Performance Studies.
All English courses have as a goal to develop of students’ abilities as close readers and cogent writers; they place heavy emphasis on critical thinking, interpretive sophistication, awareness of aesthetic and cultural issues, and effective speaking and writing. Courses often encourage students to connect their study to other disciplines at Georgetown. Students will also find a strong grounding for continued study in graduate school as well as valuable preparation for various professions and professional schools, for example law, medicine, and business.
Most students declare their English major in their sophomore year. First-year students interested in the program should consult their first-year English professors. Departmental advisers are available to all English majors.