Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature

The Ph.D. in Comparative Literature provides rigorous training in multiple languages and literatures, comparative cultural methods, and critical theory, leading to careers in the academy and beyond. Our faculty and students come from across the globe to study, teach, and publish on literatures in several dozen languages from a wide range of historical periods. Course work in at least three national literatures and related fields provides the basis for work on translation, the history of ideas, gender and women's studies, cinema and media, Holocaust and genocide studies, multilingualism, postcolonialism, the environmental and medical humanities, globalization, and world literature. Our students and faculty also work in a variety of fields contiguous with literature, including the visual arts, film and television, music, history, law, philosophy, and medicine.

Admission to the Ph.D. Program requires an M.A. in Comparative Literature from UIUC or the satisfactory completion of the M.A. equivalent examinations. TOEFL) and must score at least 105 on the internet-based test (iBT), they must also pass the speaking sub-section of the iBT with a minimum score of 24. A grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (A=4.0), or comparable GPA for an international applicant, for last two years of undergraduate study is a minimum requirement for admission.