Bachelor of Arts in English

Our students become consummate readers and writers who think critically and creatively and who land in satisfying careers in education, publishing, law, business and the nonprofit sector.

Students studying English at CU Boulder learn to read and write with precision, to think critically, and to be creative. We believe studying English cultivates humanistic and global empathy, and empowers students to be engaged citizens who help advance the world’s societies and cultures. We offer two concentrations: literary criticism and creative writing.

  • Learn to write clearly, think critically and read carefully
  • Practice articulating your original ideas, both in speech and in writing
  • Prepare for a wide variety of career possibilities

Learn from diverse, award-winning faculty, including Fulbright winners, a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow and Professors of Distinction

Grow your expertise in small classes with faculty who will get to know you

We offer many labs and centers in specific areas of interest for you to engage with other students, including the Media Archaeology lab

Be successful.

Be prepared to meet the needs of our 21st-century society by applying your writing and critical-thinking skills in a wide variety of careers.

 
$54,300

Median salary of CU Boulder students who study English, 1–5 years after graduation

 

Editor, educator, technical writer, social media manager, content manager and author are common job opportunities for graduates

 

Work in education, publishing, law, business and the nonprofit sector

Academic Plan & Requirements

A minimum of 36 credit hours must be earned in the Department of English, 18 of which must be upper division. Students must also complete the Arts and Sciences general education requirements.

When declaring their English major, students must choose one of two tracks:

  • Literary criticism: This track emphasizes the history and analysis of literature from Chaucer and Shakespeare through comic books and other contemporary literature
  • Creative writing: This track teaches the skills of fiction and poetry through small workshop-based studio courses

Community & Involvement

We offer students many opportunities to network with peers and faculty, further their studies, and get the most out of their undergraduate experience.

Be inspired.

The English department has an extensive list of alumni who have worked in a variety of fields across the globe.

Some alumni of the program include:

Kathy Beeck

('86)
Co-founder of the Boulder International Film Festival, now in its 14th year.

Ashby Pate

('00)
A lawyer with the law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC and a former associate justice of the Supreme Court of Palau.

Jack Williamson

(PhD'64)
A successful science-fiction writer from 1928 to 2005. He was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction," and was named the second Grand Master of Science Fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1976, and inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1996. He is credited with inventing the term “terraforming” in a 1942 short story.

Luis Alberto Urrea

(MFA'97)
A Mexican American novelist and professor of creative writing at the University of Illinois Chicago. His memoir, Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life, received the American Book Award in 1999, and his nonfiction book The Devil’s Highway: A True Story was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Sean Forman

('07)
A multi-Platinum recording artist and co-founder and member of the electronic pop duo 3OH!3.

Serena Chopra

(MA'12)
A poet and Fulbright fellow who teaches in the MFA program at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

Leather Storrs

('92)
A Portland, Oregon-based celebrity chef and co-owner of Portland’s Noble Rot restaurant.

Kate Grenville

(MA'82)
An Australian author who has received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and Orange Prize, and whose work has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

News & Stories

College of Arts & Sciences magazine cover