About this Degree
The English Department at the University of Georgia is a diverse scholarly community of more than 40 faculty, 60 graduate students, and 400 undergraduate majors and minors.
Our classes focus on discussion, critical and collaborative thinking, and writing and analysis. Students have the opportunity to participate in the verbal worlds of other times and places, drawing on the full range of linguistic tools, historical knowledge, and interpretive experience at our disposal. In English classes, we work to deepen our understanding of the critical and creative imagination.
The skills developed in our classes—writing, communication, collaboration, analysis, research, and interpretation— help prepare students for a range of different careers. The English Major allows for great flexibility, and students can choose to focus their studies according to their own interests. Since English majors always have a choice of which classes to take (there are no individual courses that are required), it is relatively easy to fit your English courses around other required courses. The English Major complements other disciplines well.
What you will learn
In any given semester, you will find courses covering a wide range of topics. We offer classes focused on particular genres (fantasy, poetry, science fiction), classes based in historical periods (like Modernism or Medievalism), classes focused on particular kinds of writing (creative writing, technical writing, digital storytelling) and more. We also offer classes focused on the way literature interacts with various big ideas and topics, like Literature and Revolution, Literature and the Natural World, Literature and Philosophy, and Literature and Childhood. The majority of our courses are taught in a discussion format with great attention paid to the nuances of language and style. English classes are generally small, so students have the opportunity to get to know their professors.
As an English major, you will hone your skills as a reader, writer and communicator. Every organization and company needs people who can read and write well. If you have ever gone to a museum’s website, or listened to a podcast, or clicked through an email advertising a sale at your favorite store, there was someone like you on the other end creating these examples of successful communication. Companies and organizations have stories to tell—to stakeholders, to other businesses, and to the public, and someone majoring or minoring in English has the necessary close reading skills, audience awareness skills, argument crafting skills, research skills, and rhetorical sensitivity to thrive in content producing and editing positions. Some (though certainly not all) possible career paths include: nonprofit organizations; marketing and public relations; publishing; web content production; and libraries.
Interesting Facts about this Degree or Program
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The English major at this institution is amongst the top twenty most enrolled degrees at UGA.
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The Department of English at Franklin College has a double degree program available for English and English Education.
Other Information about Degree or Program
The Creative Writing Program at the University of Georgia directs and supports the emergence of the artistic voice in print by offering a Ph.D. in English with a creative dissertation. Students are encouraged to develop a course of research that complements their writing practice and prepares them professionally for a teaching career at the university or college level. The program fosters serious conversations among our students about aesthetics and criticism, experience and culture, and politics and history—not only in the classroom but through public readings and lectures. Our faculty and students play an active role in the cultural life of Athens, both as artists and organizers.
Additional information about this program can be found here.
Scholarship and Award Information
Virginia Walter Scholarship
This scholarship will be awarded to an outstanding English major. Candidates, who are nominated by faculty, must have a GPA of 3.6 and have completed at least six upper-division English courses. The winner must be enrolled at the time of winning the award.
Joshua David Brown Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to the outstanding rising junior in the English Department. Candidates, who are nominated by faculty, must have a GPA of 3.6.
H. Grady Hutcherson Memorial Scholarship, Prigge Family Scholarship
These scholarships are awarded to outstanding English majors who are eligible for need-based aid.
Undergraduate Prizes
The English Department awards two Undergraduate Essay Prizes for critical writing at the upper-division level: one for an essay focused on primary materials and one for an essay that makes extensive use of secondary sources.
Digital Humanities Prize
This prize is awarded each year for outstanding student work in the digital humanities that has been created as part of an English class.
Virginia Rucker Walter Poetry Prize
Every year, undergraduate students are invited to enter the annual Virginia Rucker Walter Poetry Prize. Students may submit up to three poems for consideration.
Additional information about these scholarships and awards can be found here.
Employment Information
| Ingersoll Rand | Intuit |
| Abercrombie & Fitch | Joseph W. Jones Research Center |
| Advertising / Marketing Agencies | Kilpatrick Stockton LLP |
| AMAC | King & Spalding |
| Black Hawk College | Libraries |
| Board of Regents | Macon County Board of Education |
| Booz Allen Hamilton | Market ResearchFirms |
| Communications Firms | National Management Services |
| Community Loans of America | Newspapers / Magazines / Books |
| Consulting Firms | Nonprofit Organizations |
| Cornerstone Family Service | North Georgia Medical Transport |
| Delta Premium Supply | Professional Journals |
| Diamond Sports Management | Publishing Companies |
| Editorial Departments | Regions Bank |
| Energy Efficient Designs | Sapphire Technology |
| Follett Higher Education Group | St. Martin's Press |
| George Walton Academy | The Grier School |
| Government Agencies | Vaughan & Murphy |
| Helicopter Express | Warrens, Anderson Timmons, Baker |
| Humane Society of Northeast Georgia | Lavender Law Firm |
- Assistant Events and Outreach
- Coordinator
- Book Critic
- Case Assistant
- Cognitive Therapist
- Communications Specialist
- Computer Programmer
- Consultant
- Consumer Researcher
- Copywriter
- Corporate Communications Specialist
- Customer Service Representative
- Digital Media Consultant
- Documentation Specialist
- Editor
- Educational Sales Representative
- Emergency Medical Technician
- Freelance Writer
- General Books Coordinator
- HR Assistant
- Information Abstractor/Indexer
- Instructional Consultant
- IT Specialist
- Leadership Consultant
- Legal Assistant
- Library Technical Assistant
- Literary Assistant
- Manuscript Reader
- Market Researcher
- Marketing Coordinator