Declaring the Major
Students are strongly encouraged to declare their major as soon as they have determined that they have an interest in the major and have met the requirements for declaration.
The English major is composed of ten courses (31 credits) of Intermediate or Advanced level course work and is ideally completed over the course of 4-5 semesters (two or three courses in the major per semester). It is possible to complete the requirements in less time, particularly if summer courses are used but it becomes much more difficult.
The requirement for declaring the English major is the completion of the six credits of Literature (L) that is required for the Letters and Science Humanities Breadth requirement. The six credits of Literature do not have to be in the Department of English.
Students wishing to declare must be in the College of Letters and Science or have the approval of their college if they are not an L&S student and wish to add English as an additional major.
Transferring to L&S (if your only major(s) is/are in the College of Letters and Science but you are currently in another school or college).
Additional major guidelines by school or college
Students who have met the requirements for declaration should make an appointment with the undergraduate advisor.
English majors are encouraged to supplement their major coursework with collateral courses in the following areas:
- Classics
- Comparative literature
- Integrated liberal studies
- Literature in other languages, literature in translation
- English language and linguistics
- European and American history
- Art history
- Philosophy
- And others...
Other pages for students interested in declaring an English major
Department of English
7195 Helen C. White
600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706
608-263-3761
800-123-4567
fax: 608-263-3709