English

CAREER POTENTIAL

A major in English will prepare you for any career that requires strong skills in writing, communication, and analytical thinking. Many graduates choose careers in writing, editing, teaching, publishing, journalism, advertising, law or public relations.

You could, for example, go on to teach English composition, British or American literature, or English as a second language in a public or private school. If you plan to teach English composition, literature or creative writing at the university level, you will need to earn a master's and possibly a doctoral degree. Our master's students have gone on to prestigious Ph.D. programs at universities across the U.S. Graduates from the Ph.D. program have successfully competed for tenure-track positions at several universities.

The English degree prepares you for a variety of careers outside of academia, as well. Many English majors enroll in law school. One alumnus is now head of the Rare Books Department at the New York Public Library. Others have become successful creative writers: novelists Karleen Koen, David Lindsey and Larry McMurtry; screenplay writer and director Ken Harrison; and poets Chad Davidson and John Poch. Alumni also include an editor with Rolling Stone magazine; a member of the public relations staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm; and various employees of government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Government Printing Office.

UNT's Career Center can help you prepare to pursue your career. The center has information about jobs and employers, and the staff can help you put together your resume, write application letters, develop job search strategies, and prepare for interviews.

Majoring in English

As an English major, you can choose to concentrate on literature, composition, creative writing or language arts with secondary certification.

If you opt for the concentration in literature, you will study British and American literatures. We offer a wide variety of courses, including period surveys and specialized classes. The latter might focus on genres, such as modern drama, or on major authors, like Chaucer, Milton and Shakespeare. Alongside these more traditional courses, we offer innovative special topics classes on subjects such as literature and film, literature and the environment, and literature and sexuality. These special topics classes reflect the research interests of our energetic and accomplished faculty. Topics change every semester.

The composition concentration will introduce you to the most effective principles and practices of written composition, with courses offered in classical rhetoric as well as in advanced contemporary writing fields such as expository writing.

The creative writing concentration affords you the opportunity to develop your own literary abilities. You will work closely with creative writing faculty and your peers in small workshop classes focused on challenging and honing your craft. We offer tiered sequences of workshops in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. You will also complete a range of literature courses, allowing you to explore the intersections of literary practice, scholarship and tradition.

The concentration in language arts prepares you to teach English in secondary schools, after you complete the requirements for teacher certification.

UNT's English department offers its majors a range of educational opportunities. Those taking creative writing classes, for example, will receive feedback from published writers. The Visiting Writers Series also gives you the opportunity to meet an array of engaging and accomplished contemporary writers. If you plan to teach English as a second language, you will work directly with international students to learn effective teaching strategies. Our literature classes encourage you to exchange ideas openly, develop your critical thinking and hone your argumentative writing. Some undergraduates also are recruited to help faculty with their scholarship; others work for the North Texas Review, the American Literary Review, and Studies in the Novel.

The English faculty is comprised of publishing scholars and writers in every field of English and American literature. Individual faculty members have published books with presses like Cambridge, Harper Collins, and Michigan; essays in prestigious journals such as ELR and Philological Quarterly; and creative work in The New York Times, The Paris Review and TriQuarterly. Our research and our writing have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

As an English student, you can participate in a number of student groups in the field, including an international honor society. The department offers several scholarships to English majors based on need, standing and academic performance.

Getting hands-on experience

Upon completion of 12 semester hours at UNT with at least a 2.5 GPA, you may work in a job related to your major through UNT's Cooperative Education and Internships office. You may earn academic credit and money and gain valuable work experience. Co-op employers pay extremely well, and the jobs usually last several semesters, often until graduation.

More than 1,800 employers work with the office to provide excellent learning opportunities, many of which become permanent full-time positions upon graduation. The office staff also assists with placing students in internships, which last for one full semester or summer.

Preparing for UNT

If you are a high school student, we suggest you prepare for college by becoming computer proficient and taking:

• English … 4 years
• Math … 4 years
• Social science — economics, geography, government, history … 4 years
• Science … 3 years
• Foreign language … 3 years
• Fine arts … 1 year

You will need to take courses in most of these subjects under the university core curriculum required of all undergraduates, in addition to your major courses. Writing courses and courses in American, British and world literature would also be beneficial. Talk with your high school counselor about preparing for college, including the entrance exams (SAT Reasoning Test or ACT) you should take during your junior year.

As a benefit for transfer students, UNT participates in the Texas Common Course Numbering System. This system makes it easier to transfer credits for general academic courses from one Texas institution to another.

If you're attending a Texas community college, you should consult the UNT Transfer Guide, the UNT Undergraduate Catalog and an academic advisor/ counselor to discuss your degree plan. Proper planning will help you receive the maximum amount of transfer credits.

You may declare a pre-major in English immediately upon enrolling at UNT. Once you have fulfilled the requirements to be admitted to major status, you will need to file your official degree plan with the English department's undergraduate advisor.

Charting your path with academic advising

The English department has full-time undergraduate advisors who will help you select courses necessary to earn your bachelor's degree. They also can provide information about scholarships. The department office is in the Auditorium Building, Room 112. The Undergraduate Advising Office is in Room 114 of the same building.

Curious about courses and other features of this major?
See the current catalog.