Bachelor of Arts [B.A] [English] From Allegheny College

Our curriculum seeks to improve students? ability to express their own best ideas in a variety of forms. By mastering modes of analytical reading, critical explication, coherent argument, and creative thinking, students acquire those skills required to succeed in many professional fields. By studying a variety of literatures in English, they learn to recognize the ideas and perspectives that shape their own and earlier times; and by cultivating a sensitivity to and healthy skepticism about the subtlety and power of language, they become educated in the fullest sense.

English majors are required to have a GPA of at least 2.0 in English at graduation. All English courses taken at Allegheny on a letter-grade basis are included in the calculation, with the exception of repeated courses, for which only the most recent grade counts. At least 10 courses, including the Junior Seminar and Senior Project, must be taken on the letter-grade basis; additional courses may be taken Credit/No Credit, though the department recommends that the number of such courses be kept to a minimum.

A major in English leads to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Two tracks are available within the major, the standard English major and one with an emphasis on creative writing.