The 9 Best Universities In The World To Get An English Degree

Love to read books? Hate to do chemistry experiments? You could be an English-major in the making.

US News and World Report recently named the top colleges in the world to get an English degree. Harvard University topped the list with University of Oxford in the UK coming in second.

Check out our slide show of the best universities in the world to study English. Then tell us, do you agree with these rankings? Weigh in below!

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Comments

[sdfsfsdf]

07:40 PM on 12/01/2011

Berkeley has the #1 English Department in the US. Obviously these people have no idea what they're doing.

[Samuel Graham]

08:12 PM on 10/27/2011

All these lists are always the same schools.

[Willowset]

01:12 PM on 10/24/2011

This depends on the type of "English degree." Are we talking British literature here? If not, look at all of the great American writers who have received an MFA from the University of Iowa.

[bluechao]

11:51 AM on 10/25/2011

I think these are PhDs in literature, they are talking about. If they were talking about writing degrees, Iowa would certainly be at or near the top of the list.

[FriarTuck13]

12:59 PM on 10/24/2011

And who can afford any of them...and even if you get a BA in English who is going to hire you. You'll do better to study Spanish or French at least you would be bi-lingual. Get real. This "The Best..." has run its course. Stop already.

[j lasoul]

11:40 AM on 10/28/2011

The article is likely referring to graduate programs, not BAs.

The US schools on this list all offer full tuition remitions for their PhD students and offer funding packages (that usually require some teaching) of at least $20,000 a year. UofT provides some funding for its PhD students and there are federal and provincial funding options as well. From what I have heard, the UK schools fund a lot less, but there are still option.

So in short, you may not have a lot of career opportunities on leaving one of these programs, but you won't have a lot of debt either

[Jill1975]

08:33 PM on 10/30/2011

The issue addressed was the quality of the professors and grad students not the tuition or job prospects.

[traceymarie]

04:58 PM on 11/02/2011

companies who want well rounded literate people working for them

[JustAWiseCrackingGuy]

02:52 AM on 10/24/2011

This list is largely true because these are schools that a degree from, regardless of area, is going to look good. Graduates basically go on to be Professors in every other college's english programs.

[Max Vohra]

01:32 AM on 10/23/2011

Do you think these universities pay for these advertisements?

[Mouse718]

10:50 AM on 10/22/2011

There are NO "good" schools to get an English degree, since there is nothing you can do with a BA in English. There are very few teaching positions, so don't count on that.

[Jill1975]

08:36 PM on 10/30/2011

If you get good grades and test well , you can become an MD , lawyer, scientist etc with an english degree. You only need on year of biology , one year of physics and two years of chemistry to get into med school so you might as well major in English if you like the subject because that is the last chance you will have to study literature

[traceymarie]

04:58 PM on 11/02/2011

you must be a bag if you find an english or literature degree useless.

[TygerLilly]

06:00 PM on 11/02/2011

In this economy yes., they are . I have a Masters in Art History from an Ivy League school....talk about useless degrees....kids today go for the "cool" degree woman s studies, Russian lit etc..rather than thinking it through and do some research on what will be trending in the future.

[Mouse718]

10:45 PM on 11/02/2011

It WAS useless. I spent a few years as a receptionist. Then I wised up, saved enough money and went to school to be a nurse. Now I have a useful degree and skilled, well paying, meaninful career.

[PaticaDeGato]

09:36 AM on 10/21/2011

Likely "Best of" university lists coming up soon on HuffPo:

- Tastiest university burritos
- Cleanest university bathrooms
- Spiffiest university sportswear
- Nicest university penises AND
- Most satisfying sororities

[Fromageball]

08:05 AM on 10/21/2011

Is there really nothing else to write about regarding college? Lists of "best universities to..." this and that where we see the same ones listed over and over? I'm pretty sure a degree in underwater basket weaving from any of these unis would be more useful than if they came from other places, and it would likely only be because the person could put "harvard" on his/her resume.

It would be one thing if the articles were at least interesting/humorous, but I can look up US News rankings myself.

[joefoss]

05:30 AM on 10/21/2011

RE: "Size Matters"
No disagreement with the "universities" on this list, but why the obvious bias against smaller colleges?
=When you ask people involved in higher education about wonderful schools for English "majors," they invariably include liberal arts colleges like Kenyon (Ohio), Middlebury (Vermont), and Amherst (Massachusetts).
=And, if you ask students at these schools how they "rank" their experiences, they will universally express their enthusiasm for the quality of their classes, the easy access to professors and courses, and the individual attention and support they receive in a smaller-sized college community.
=Believe it or not, not every student should go to "Harvard, etc.," even if they had the opportunity. More importantly, not every undergraduate would thrive if they did!

[naschkatze]

12:14 PM on 10/20/2011

What a surprise from HP. Any list of universities with positive qualities is always the same list. It's almost like spam.

[GraceNotes]

11:47 AM on 10/20/2011

I would have liked to study literature at Princeton, because Joyce Carol Oates is one of my favorite authors.

[skraeling]

02:51 AM on 10/25/2011

Dorothy Johnson and Leslie Fiedler were two of my favorite professors along with Walter van Tilburk Clark at the U of Montana.....and it will never make a list like this...

[bigskyblueeyes]

12:49 AM on 11/07/2011

Agreed. The University of Montana has an amazing MFA department but it will never make this list as the HP only seems to put Ivy leagues and tres cher colleges on their top whatever lists....

[sorgine]

10:22 AM on 10/20/2011

Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge, really? HP could as well just delete their whole "college" section, it's booooooooring!

[Michael Clanchy]

12:46 AM on 10/20/2011

UCLA and Berkeley over Sorbonne? Yeah, right.

[muhair]

01:49 AM on 10/20/2011

Such a provocateur...

[Michael Clanchy]

08:48 AM on 10/20/2011

Hi, stranger.

Come on. You knew you were thinking the same thing. No Sorbonne? No Tubingen? No St. John's? Sounds like another nein-nein-nein plan.

[TheNextVoiceofYouth]

07:21 PM on 10/19/2011

Great, fancy top schools. Thanks for nothing.

[Michael Clanchy]

12:46 AM on 10/20/2011

What did you think you were going to see - the community college on the corner?

[TheNextVoiceofYouth]

02:26 PM on 10/20/2011

No, I was hoping to see some affordable four year universities that I could maybe transfer. At least at a good english college I might be among bookworms like myself. Anyway, it doesn't matter now because today I decided to transfer to a instate college. If I still feel a bit like an alien there, so be it. I'm mostly an introvert anyway.