Ph.D. in English
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ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
In order to be admitted to the Ph.D. program, you must have an M.A. record of distinction or a B.A. record that holds genuine promise for outstanding graduate work. Most students entering the Ph.D. program have grade point averages of 3.5 and above in their previous coursework. G.R.E. scores vary widely and are never the sole determining factor in an application file. Your writing sample and statement of purpose are also important sources of information about your qualifications for undertaking graduate study. However, successful applicants to our Ph.D. program typically have scored above 600 in the Advanced Test in English.
You may be admitted to the Ph.D. program directly after completing your B.A. if your undergraduate record is outstanding and if your qualifications are clearly above the average of students applying for the M.A. program. If you apply to the Ph.D. program with the M.A. already completed, you may be able to transfer up to 30 hours of graduate coursework from another institution toward the 60 hours required by Loyola University Chicago. After you have been admitted, the Graduate School will evaluate your transcript and determine which of your M.A. courses will be accepted by Loyola University Chicago.
PROGRAM OF COURSES
Doctoral students in English who have completed the M.A. degree will enter one of the following three specialized fields and must meet the course requirements defined for that specialization. Students will be free to change their field at any time, provided that they are able to fulfill the course requirements for the new field.
Note that several of these requirements will be partly or wholly fulfilled by all students as part of their M.A. study.
If a student has been required to take certain undergraduate courses as a condition of admission, those courses have priority over all other program requirements. No more than two undergraduate courses may count toward the Ph.D. Undergraduate courses cannot satisfy the specific distribution requirements outlined above: they will be counted as electives.
FUNDING FOR DOCTORAL STUDY
Graduate Assistantships: Each year, the department offers a number of graduate assistantships to new and continuing doctoral students. Assistantships cover the full cost of tuition and pay a stipend as well.
Students entering the Ph.D. program with a B.A. are eligible for up to four years of graduate assistantship; those entering with the M.A. are eligible for up to three years.
Loyola's graduate assistantship program differs in significant ways from similar programs at many other universities, particularly in terms of the duties students perform as part of their assistantships. To learn more, visit our graduate assistantship page.
Teaching Fellowships: Ph.D. students who have completed all the requirements for the M.A. are eligible to apply for a limited number of teaching fellowships offered each year by the Graduate School. Responsibilities include teaching a total of three courses during the academic year and attending weekly seminars for teaching fellows. Stipends are competitive.
Dissertation Fellowships: Ph.D. students who have completed their coursework and passed the Ph.D. examination are eligible to apply for a limited number of dissertation fellowships offered each year by the Graduate School. Stipends are competitive.
THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT
The foreign language requirement ensures that students are able to become acquainted with scholarship in languages other than English. Languages accepted are French, German, Spanish, Italian and Latin. Students may meet this requirement either by passing a foreign language examination or by taking a graduate-level course in a foreign language offered by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and receiving a grade of B or higher. This requirement does not count towards the 60 hours of coursework, and must be completed prior to the Ph.D. examination.
THE Ph.D. EXAMINATION
The Ph.D. examination includes a written and an oral component. The written exam consists of three three-hour papers covering fields chosen by the student in consultation with his or her examining committee and the director of graduate programs. With the approval of their examiners, students must define three fields of the following kinds:
- An area of critical theory
- An area of composition and rhetorical theory
- An author
- The literature of an historical period and/or genre, which may be additionally be focused on a particular subgroup
Students may include up to three fields of the last type, but only one field of any other type. Examples of fields of the fourth type might include:
- 17th-century British poetry
- Early modern women’s writing
- Postcolonial drama
- African-American literature, 1914-1959
- Contemporary working-class fiction of the U.S.
- Modernist poetry
- Women's autobiography
Any or all of the exam fields may be related to the student's dissertation topic; however, some breadth across fields is expected. And although the selection of texts within each field will be influenced to some extent by the student's particular interests and approach, he or she will also be expected to demonstrate a general mastery of the field.
DISSERTATION AND DEFENSE OF THE DISSERTATION
To become a Ph.D. candidate you must fulfill the foreign language requirement, pass the Ph.D. Examination, form a dissertation committee in consultation with the graduate programs director and the chairperson of the department, and complete an outline of your dissertation to be approved by your committee, the chairperson of the department, and the Graduate School. Regulations regarding the dissertation are set forth in the graduate catalog; please note that the departmental deadlines for distribution of readers' copies of the dissertation are October 10 for a January degree and February 10 for a May degree. When your dissertation is completed, you will be examined in a one-hour oral defense.
TIME AND RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS
Work on the Ph.D. must be completed eight years from the time you have begun coursework applicable to the Ph.D. If you entered the Ph.D. program with an M.A., you will have six years from the time of beginning coursework for the Ph.D. Extensions to these deadlines are possible by application to the Graduate School, with the recommendation of your faculty adviser and the Director of Graduate Programs.