The Department of English offers two closely related graduate programs: an MA/PhD program for students who have completed the BA and a PhD program for those who come to UCSB with an MA. Both programs are designed to take five years and include extensive coursework in English, American, and Anglophone literature, a language requirement, and a doctoral dissertation. Fellowship support is available for particularly strong candidates in their first and/or last years of graduate study; additional support comes from teaching and/or research assistantships. Most students become teaching assistants by their second year in the program, if not earlier. Students are also given the opportunity to apply to teach in the summer as Associate Instructors upon achieving their MA degree. The Department of English is strongly committed to providing financial assistance to all of its students with five-year funding packages.

The UCSB English Department is unique for its collaborative research initiatives. While offering a full range of literary historical periods, national and global literatures written in English, and critical approaches, the department has eight centers that cut across traditional boundaries to allow faculty and students to collaborate on leading-edge research activities and courses.

UCSB provides an exciting intellectual environment in a setting of great natural beauty. The attractive campus, overlooked by the Santa Ynez Mountains, lies on an 1,000-acre promontory jutting into the Pacific Ocean. West Campus, part of which is designated a natural preserve, contains undeveloped, ecologically important dunes facing the Channel Islands. Downtown Santa Barbara is 10 miles away; Los Angeles is less than two hours by car.

For an online application, visit UCSB’s Graduate Division homepage.

For more information about this program, see our Graduate Program Handbook