T

HE ENGLISH MAJOR

When to Declare

In the spring semester of your second year, the Dean of the College will notify you of the date by which you must declare your major. By the time of your declaration, you should have fulfilled the area requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences. If you have completed most of these requirements and taken the required ENLT 2000-level prerequisite, you may declare your English major earlier than fourth semester.   We urge you to begin literary studies early by taking an ENLT course during your first or second year.

Declaring the Major

When you are ready to declare your major, take the following steps:

1. Secure the College's form for declaring the major from either Garrett Hall or Bryan 236. Fill out the top half of the form before seeking assistance from the English Department.

2. *Fill out the English Department's own declaration of major form, available here

3. Learn about the courses offered by the Department through three main sources:

*Course Descriptions on the English Department website.  Written by the course instructor, these often contain a discussion of texts and topics that will be studied during a particular semester, as well as requirements for the course;

*The UVA Class Schedule specifies courses actually offered during a particular semester by their numbers, titles, meeting time and place.

*The Course Catalogue lists all the courses the English Department teaches (irrespective of particular semesters) and can help you plan your major.

4. When you are ready to declare your English major, go to Bryan 236 to learn the office hours of the Director of Undergraduate Studies. He or she will discuss the major with you and assign you to a faculty advisor. Barring unforeseen circumstances, this person will be your advisor as long as you are an English major. After you have been assigned an advisor, talk with him or her about your proposed program. Your advisor will sign your Declaration of Major forms for both the College and the English Department. Return these forms to Bryan Hall 236.

Planning Your Major

Your advisor will help you to devise a meaningful program that answers your needs and interests. Remember, though, that even the best advisor is not a mind reader. You must think for yourself about what direction you want your program to take. Even if your only desire is to make your study of literature as broad as possible, you should try to order your courses in logical sequences -- arranging, for instance, 3000-level surveys early in your career to prepare you for the more specialized 4000-level seminars. Furthermore, especially if you want to emphasize some special area -- like genre studies, American fiction, or Renaissance poetry -- you need to recognize that the obligation to choose course offerings to fulfill your interests belongs to you.

The realities of each semester's course offerings may sometimes alter even the most carefully devised plans. You need to use each pre-enrollment time as an opportunity for meeting with your advisor to scrutinize your progress in the major and to reevaluate your plans for future study. The Course Descriptions posted on the departmental web site can be an invaluable tool for allowing you and your advisor to arrange your courses according to the reading and writing loads of each professor. (Even the most ardent reader of fiction might think twice before signing up for three novel courses in one semester!)

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR IN ENGLISH

A Prerequisite Course

Students who wish to become English majors must achieve a grade of "C" or better in any ENLT 2000-level course taken at UVa AFTER matriculating here.  Students should consult the Schedule of Classes or the course descriptions on the department's home page to ascertain which ENLT courses are currently being offered. Numerous sections of these courses will be offered each semester. Students are advised to complete the prerequisite before the end of their third semester at Virginia. STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER INTO UVa IN THEIR SECOND OR THIRD YEAR INTENDING TO DECLARE AN ENGLISH MAJOR WILL BE ASKED TO OFFER EVIDENCE THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN A WRITING INTENSIVE INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN LITERATURE AT THEIR PREVIOUS INSTITUTION. If you have not already completed such a course and then received credit for it by permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, enrollment in an ENLT-2000 level course is mandatory.

Course Hours

Majors must take ten upper division courses. English courses below the 3000 level may not be counted towards the major. The prerequisite ENLT course is not included among the ten courses for the major. Eight of the ten required courses for the major must be taken in the English department at UVa.

Major Requirements

1. History of Literatures in English (ENGL 3810, 3820, and 3830)
2. Two courses in literature pre-1800 (ENMD, ENRN, or ENEC). Only one of these may be a Shakespeare course (ENRN 3210, 3220, 3230, or a 4000-level seminar in Shakespeare).
3. One 4000-level seminar in literature (4000-level WR courses do not count).  5000-level courses count toward this requirement only by permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Distribution of Courses

No more than nine hours of the course hours offered for credit towards the English major may be in any one of the distribution categories (ENMD, ENRN, ENEC, ENNC, ENMC, ENAM, ENGN, ENGL, ENWR, ENSP, ENLS, ENCR). 

However, students participating in the departmental Distinguished Majors Program are allowed to take a fourth and a fifth course in the ENGL category, while students enrolled in an area program may take a fourth course within an appropriate rubric.

Academic Requirements for the Major

A minimum GPA of 2.0 in courses offered toward the English major is required.  Students who fail to maintain this average will be put on departmental probation.  If the problem continues, they may be invited to declare a different major.  Courses in which a student receives a grade lower than C- will not count toward the major.

Major Credit for Work in Foreign Literatures

With the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, you may apply 3 hours of credit towards your English major if you complete a course in the literature of another language (taught either in that language or in translation) at the 2000-level or above. This includes literature courses taught in the Comparative Literature Program, CPLT, unless they are specifically cross-listed as English courses.  If a course taught in translation does not deal primarily with literary texts, you should bring the syllabus to the Director of Undergraduate Studies for approval in advance.

Examples of courses which might be applied in this way would be CPLT 2010 or 2020, ITTR 2260, RUTR 3910, or SATR 3000. Courses in other literatures for which you wish to gain major credit must require at least 10 pages of writing (excluding blue books) in the course of the semester.

No course in a foreign literature may be used to satisfy a distribution requirement for the English major.

A SPECIAL NOTE TO TRANSFER STUDENTS

Transfer students who arrive at the University in the fall of their third year will, of course, have special difficulties planning a major program. Because you will be expected to declare a major during your first week on the grounds, we are eager to help you get oriented quickly. You will be informed by letter before your arrival of the time and place of the meeting for transfer students who plan to major in English. There you will meet officials in charge of the Undergraduate Program, receive further information about the English major, and be assigned a faculty advisor who will assist you in planning your program of study. It is IMPERATIVE that you attend this meeting.

The Director of Undergraduate Studies will be glad to answer questions about whether any of the advanced courses you have previously taken may be counted toward your major. In general, we are willing to accept up to six hours of transfer credit if the courses correspond closely to those taught in our department. Because your preliminary choice of courses must be made very quickly, you should plan to reevaluate and revise your proposed course of study at the end of your first semester here.

Study Abroad and Transfer Credit

We encourage you to study abroad.  With some advance planning, you'll be able to complete your English major and have the experience of living and studying in a foreign culture.

All transfer credit for the English major, domestic and foreign, must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. It's a two-step process. 

1.  For pre-approval, bring the appropriate International Study Office "green" form and as much information about the courses as you have to the Director of Undergraduate Studies (at a minimum, you will need a detailed course description).

2.  For final approval (after you have taken the courses), you need to bring course syllabi and any written work you have done for the courses. A minimum of 15 pages of formal literary criticism (response papers, journals, reviews, essays on exams, etc. do not count) is required for each course.  In considering whether to grant credit toward the English major for courses taken elsewhere, the Director of Undergraduate Studies will take into account both the content of the course (how closely it corresponds to an equivalent course given at UVa.), and the level of difficulty -- whether the course is taught at the major level. 

We do not award major credit for summer-only study abroad programs. The Department does not accept courses taken elsewhere in place of ENGL 3810, 3820, or 3830. No more than 6 hours of transfer credit may count toward the English major. "Transfer credit" includes courses taken at any other University (before or after coming to UVa), and it includes the literature course taken from a foreign language department which you are permitted to apply to your major. In other words, 8 of the 10 required courses for the major MUST be taken in the English department here at UVa.

Applications for transfer credit in any form will be processed only during the fall or spring semesters. 

-J-term:  For J-term courses taught 1/2/09 or later, credit toward the major will be awarded on the following basis:

1. These courses must be numbered 3000 or 5000;

2.  They must be taught by English department faculty.

3. J-term courses taken earlier than 1/2/09 will not be grandfathered in.

-Semester at Sea major credit will be awarded on the following basis:

1. No major credit will be awarded for SaS courses taken during the summer cruise.

2.   Direct major credit for 300/3000 level or above courses will be awarded when they are taught by a faculty member of the UVa English Department during a semester-long voyage, beginning with 2009 voyages.

3.  Students may request major credit for courses taught at the 300/3000 level or above by non-UVa faculty on the same basis as any study abroad courses.  That is, students must, before the end of the fall or spring semester prior to the semester at sea, receive pre-approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies (on an International Studies Office green study abroad form). [*Students sailing on the spring semester, 2009 cruise will not be held to this deadline.] Post-approval will be granted at the discretion of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, upon the viewing of the course syllabus and a minimum of 15 pages of formal literary criticism (response papers, journals, reviews, essays on exams, etc. do not count). 

4.  All SaS courses that receive major credit will be counted as study abroad, and thus are limited to two (again, 8 of the 10 required major courses must be taken at UVa).

When studying abroad, students should use common sense in planning their programs and try to make the best use of their opportunities. There is a certain logic, when studying at an Australian university, for example, to taking a course on Australian literature, and the Department will, when appropriate, grant major credit for such work. By the same token, it is usually not a good idea to study English literature in a country where English is not the native language; in such countries you will probably get more out of taking a course in the native literature and using it for your "3 hours in a foreign literature" option. The Department runs its own Culture of London program; for information on this, contact the directors, Professors Michael Levenson and Stephen Cushman.

Applications for transfer credit in any form will not be processed during the summer session.

Independent Study

Majors who expect to undertake an independent project obviously have a special obligation to plan carefully. We have several courses designated for students who wish to design reading and writing projects of their own -- ENWR 4950 or 4960 for projects in creative or expository writing, and ENGL 4930 or 4940 for projects in literature and criticism. Independent study can be undertaken only with a full-time faculty member (not with a Graduate Teaching Assistant). Projects must require at least 25 pages of writing.

You will be allowed to sign up for one of these courses only after you have completed four 3000- or 4000-level courses. These independent courses of study should explore a topic which you would not have an opportunity to study in the department's regularly scheduled courses. If you have an idea for such a project, you and your advisor need to select a faculty member qualified to direct your course. You then meet with this faculty member to discuss your proposal and to ask whether he or she would be willing to direct your project. At this time you and your director must agree upon reading lists and the written and/or oral work required. In general, the requirements for these courses should be significantly more challenging than those of regular major courses. You should be willing both to read and to write extensively in an independent project. Once you have secured your director and settled your course plans, during pre-enrollment for your next semester's courses, you should complete the departmental forms for independent study (available in Bryan 236) and submit your formal proposal to the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students must have a grade point average in English of at least 3.3 in order to apply to do independent study.