Our program has a long tradition of training scholars, teachers, and members of the profession of literary study. The program emphasizes close attention to literary history and form, and to the cultures, societies, and politics by which they have been shaped. With a large and diverse faculty, the department has taken a leading role in defining the future direction of the discipline.

The English Graduate Program is designed for students who wish to obtain the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Approximately 150 graduate students are currently studying for the Ph.D. in English at New Brunswick. Annual incoming classes to the English Graduate Program number about 17 students. Students are admitted to begin in the fall semester only.

Rutgers University has excellent library and electronic resources for research in literature. Apart from the regular collections in the Rutgers library system (numbering over two million volumes), a special English Graduate Collection at Alexander Library (the central library) provides a permanent non-circulating reserve library of basic texts and important works of literary scholarship and criticism, and makes carrels available to Ph.D. students. English graduate students may also make use of the nearby Firestone Library at Princeton University, as well as the New York Public Library and the various university libraries in New York City, a 45-minute train ride away.