Anyone applying with a non-English degree?

[anxious_aspirant]

Hello, all - fairly new to the site.

To satisfy my curiosity, wondering if anyone on here is applying to a graduate English program with an undergrad/other-grad degree in another subject. (Also, to be honest, wondering if I'm the only one.)

Specifically, has anyone had success getting in, if that's the case? If you did, what do you think won over your schools?

Optimistically, I hope the extra-disciplinary thing gets me points for being different from other applicants. Pessimistically, I assume it means they'll take me as an impostor and scoff at my app.

(Even if it doesn't apply to you specifically, I'd love any anecdotes you could share along these lines, too. Any colleagues who did it?)

[Silent_G]

I'm in the same boat. My undergrad majors were Anthropology and Philosophy, but now I'm applying for PhD programs in English. So far I have one rejection and still waiting to hear from the rest, so I can't speak to whether or not I've been successful. I, too, am hoping that the schools I've applied to will appreciate my interdisciplinary background. Fingers are crossed.

[jma310]

One of my fellow MA students has a degree in religion, he's getting his MA in lit and just interviewed for the Stanford phd. we also have a phd student in my current program whose BA was in nursing, though the program I'm speaking of is admittedly not super prestigious. And I remember meeting someone at Rutgers English open house who had her BA in a different field.

[jma310]

Sorry for capitalization stuff, using my iPhone while I should be reading, obviously!

[anxious_aspirant]

Thanks for the info - It's a bit more encouraging. Granted, I did take tons of English courses as an undergrad, got a masters in teaching it, and have been teaching it ever since. But I do fear an "studio art degree" sounds bogus, even if it's from a liberal arts school.

Good luck, Silent_G! Here's to the odd ones out in every applicant pool.

[perrykm2]

Don't a lot of students with Film Studies degrees generally end up in Lit programs for their advanced degrees? It seems to happen often enough.

At first I felt concerned that I wouldn't have enough English coursework. I started off as a Classics majors and then picked up Literature as a secondary degree, so I have the bare minimum amount of coursework possible, including a handful of cross-listed Classics courses. I'm sure they're looking for certain types of coursework on your transcript, like general theory, advanced theory, upper-level classes that pertain to your specialization, so it wouldn't necessarily be the amount of courses you took but rather if you took the right courses and did well in them.

I'm sure your SOP and writing sample will evince that you know what you're talking about and can walk the walk.

[callmelilyb]

I was accepted to a handful of solid English programs with a B.A. in Political Science. Though I did have a minor in English it was pretty bare bones (rhet/comp, grammar, and survey courses, mostly...maybe two upper division seminars that were outside my field of interest and no theory....)

I also know of at least one other person in my program who has a degree in American Studies.

[hawkeye7269]

Yes! Success is possible without the BA in English. I have a BS in Biology and a BA in History, with only about four legitimate English courses to my name, none of which were theory driven (not necessarily a bad thing). I wrote an Honors Thesis on Milton, and took an Honors seminar or two in the field. My dual degrees prohibited me from spending too much time doing English classes.

Nonetheless, I was just yesterday accepted to a Ph. D program in English at Catholic University in DC, with full funding. What seemed to do it for them was my writing sample, personal statement which tied my previous fields of study to English, and some strong letters from English professors. It sounds like you've got a bunch more courses than I had, so I think your chances of getting accepted are as good as anyone's. In fact, some programs seem to like non-English students, as it adds a unique perspective to the department.

I hope you get accepted somewhere! I think its great to have students with a variety of backgrounds in the field.

[Frozenroses]

English Phd with Masters in cinema and undergrad in TV production here

[insideoutside]

It seems to me that people do get in to English programs despite no English background if they come from very select (dare I say trendy?) disciplines, i.e. women's studies, film, american studies, and others. I'm also hoping to apply to English depts this fall for a PhD, while my undergrad was in English lit, my M.A. is in area studies (that dreaded "discipline" that English depts love to hate). In other words, not trendy. Now, I'm very critical of area studies myself and basically tailored my master's to take as many theoretical courses as I could in the areas of research that I am interested in for the PhD. Still, no English grad courses (though plenty of literary theory) and I'm really nervous about how this area studies degree will affect my chances. I have a decently literary reason for having done it - I was at the time interested in non-english and non-european literature (thereby ruling out comp lit) and the only place that allowed me to study it was an area studies dept., but I'm worried that English depts won't care about my reasons.

In other words, I'm wondering what y'all think and if you've heard of anyone making this particular switch. Thanks!