last modified:2007-11-26 14:59:11
Undergraduate Program
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The Undergraduate Program
The undergraduate program in the Department of English is frequently recognized as one of the strongest in the University. The variety of courses and the quality of the faculty create an excellent environment for undergraduate education.
Two facts in particular contribute significantly to the quality of courses: the vast majority are taught by full-time faculty members, and most have fewer than 40 students. As a result, English majors at the University of Utah receive a degree of personal attention not possible at most large public universities.
Students in English enter a world rich with intellectual possibilities. In addition to studying the wide range of works of literature written in English, students have the opportunity to explore theory, film, rhetoric, and popular culture and to develop their skills as critical and creative writers. English majors learn to write and speak with precision, subtlety, and authority. The skills they acquire in critical thinking and expression are not limited to the study of literature and culture. Such skills are also central to any career or subsequent degree that demands the ability to think, argue, write, and speak about complicated issues.
Teaching is perhaps the most familiar career path for English majors, but it is far from the only one. A degree in English is excellent preparation for careers in law and business (on average, English majors score near the top on graduate entrance exams). A surprising number of students admitted to the country’s best medical schools majored in English. Recent graduates work in any number of different fields—from public relations to publishing, from investment banking to health care. Their ability to pursue analytical problems exhaustively and communicate their findings persuasively not only makes them attractive employees but also gives them the intellectual flexibility to master new skills quickly and move between fields successfully.
This kind of intellectual flexibility is especially valuable in today’s economy, in which those with the most successful careers frequently change not only jobs but areas of interest. All English courses foster analytical agility: students read compelling and carefully designed works of literature and are then challenged to write with care and intelligence in response. At the core of the English major is the conviction that this kind of rigorous and imaginative thinking, pursued under the guidance of dedicated teachers and scholars in small classes (in particular, the Advanced Seminars which are required of all majors), is the best preparation for the world that awaits students after graduation.