Applying to Grad Programs without undergraduate English

[BNRGrad]

I graduated from a good liberal arts college in 2004 with a BA, having double majored in US History and Classics (4 years of Latin, 3 of Greek).  I completed an honors thesis that would make a good writing sample.  My cumulative GPA was 4.0.  I took the GRE in late 2011, thinking to apply to Classics programs, and my scores were 170 Verbal (99%), 159 Quant (82%) and 5.5 AW (96%).  I ultimately decided not to apply for Classics, due to some other major life changes at the time, and also to the fact that I don't want to spend the rest of my life translating.

 

I do, however, love the literature, and have also come to love the classics of English Lit as well, primarily through my own personal reading.  I would concentrate on Dickens if such a thing is possible.  

 

In considering English Lit programs, the problem is my total lack of undergraduate coursework.  I placed out of the English general ed requirement for my college thanks to the AP test from high school, and consequently, never took a single English class.  Some grad schools explicitly list a major in English as part of the application requirement; others don't.  How much coursework would I need to take before I could expect serious consideration?  Is there another way to "prove myself" than spending more time and money in the undergraduate world?  Do some programs allow for provisional/probationary acceptance, dependent on completion of certain prerequisites at the school itself?

 

Side note:  my primary goal is to teach, and as such, I would be thrilled with a job at the community college level or at a small private college.  I'm also open to the idea of earning a MA to teach, ideally, at a private/religious high school, if that would be a good stepping stone (or possibly an end in itself--you never know).  

 

Thanks for any advice!

[ProfLorax]

Yes, some MA programs do allow students to fulfill undergrad course requirements at their universities. SF State, I believe, is one school that offers provisional acceptances. 

 

I would also suggest taking a literature course at a community college or local university next semester. Loving to read literature is different than loving to study literature. I imagine Classics and 19th century British literature have overlapping methodologies, but there are bound to be differences. Make sure you really know what you are getting yourself into before applying. Plus, it could help your application. In a class, you'll be introduced to critical and theoretical perspectives on Dickens, which you can incorporate into your writing sample.

 

Since you are unfamiliar with scholarship surrounding Dickens, I'd also suggest searching for articles on Dickens via Google Scholar and seeing what kind of work people are doing with his texts. For better or for worse, it isn't enough to love the literature; to succeed as a grad student, you also have to love (or at least be engaged in) the critical discussions that surround your period. 

Edited October 13, 2013 by proflorax