English (Ph.D.)

Tuition fees for English (Ph.D.) are 37,334 USD per year, while admissions are rolling.

This Ph.D. program trains scholars in cultural analysis, theoretical inquiry, and literary criticism across a broad range of literary and cultural studies. Students develop critical reading, research, and historical analysis skills through a curriculum emphasizing fundamental literary issues, genre, period formation, and critical theories. The program allows specialization in African American, American, British, or Caribbean literature, comparative studies, or literary theory and criticism.

Focus areas include African American literature, American literature, British literature, Caribbean literature, comparative studies, literary theory and criticism.

The program requires 72 credit hours, with a curriculum emphasizing critical frameworks addressing fundamental literary issues, genre, period formation, authorial techniques, rhetorical strategies, thematic motifs, and critical theories.

Graduates are prepared for postdoctoral positions, tenure-track teaching appointments at colleges and universities, and careers in the non-profit and private sectors.

Admission requires a bachelor's degree or international equivalent with a minimum 3.0 GPA, GRE scores are not required. Applicants must submit an online GradCAS application, statement of purpose, autobiographical statement, resume/CV, official transcripts, three letters of recommendation from professors, and a 12-15 page critical writing sample.

The programme totals about 72 credit hours. Full-time, on-campus format. For international students, tuition is well above the median for US programmes. The institution admits about 35% of applicants.

Howard University’s legacy is shaped by academic study, research, and service. Its community includes scholars, student researchers, athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs. The university carries the identity of an HBCU while preparing students for study and careers across a broad range of disciplines. Alumni stories include physicians, astrophysicists, educators, lawyers, public officials, and advocates whose work has reached beyond the campus.

Students can apply to more than 130 areas of study across 14 schools and colleges. Howard offers undergraduate, graduate, professional, and doctoral programs, with fields ranging from the humanities to scientific disciplines. Research and centers address health and medical issues, economic disparities, cybersecurity, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, drug abuse, energy systems, accounting and finance, women’s leadership, and journalism and democracy. The university has also launched an AI certificate program for undergraduate students.

Located in Washington, DC, Howard connects academic life with a city central to American government, public service, journalism, and cultural life. International students should review the university’s range of schools and degree levels carefully, since programs differ across undergraduate, graduate, professional, and doctoral study. Howard’s guiding phrase, “Excellence in Truth and Service,” reflects the university’s emphasis on student success and service to local and global communities.