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Hello All !
My daughter has just completed her junior year, and we are in the middle of the rigorous college search and selection process. My daughter is planning to major in English, which to be honest shocked the entire family (at first) because until this year she abhorred the subject. She had a teacher who changed the way she felt about the subject, and we now believe she has found her calling. While English is not her BEST subject in school (she made her first B's in it), it is the one she enjoy the most because she says that it is the only one that challenges her.

With all that being said, we are trying to find the best place for her to study it. We know all the ivies are good for English, and we are looking into some of them, but we would like to know about some of the other colleges with top English programs. I would appreciate any suggestions.

I have one last question. A friend of the family had a daughter who attended Johns Hopkins University, and majored in English. She told us that while most people recognize Johns Hopkins for its Sciences, it has excellent programs in Humanities as well. Is this true, or it just her promoting her daughter's school ?

By Morgantruce (Morgantruce) on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 08:27 pm: Edit

The English department at Kenyon College is well regarded.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 10:55 pm: Edit

I would second that
Kenyon would be my top choice, actually .

By Aparent (Aparent) on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 11:14 pm: Edit

Hopkins has an excellent professional writing program. Is your daughter interested in literature or writing?

By Thedad (Thedad) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 03:56 am: Edit

If writing, check out Mills College. Also UC Irvine.

By Good_Gal (Good_Gal) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 12:19 pm: Edit

Johns Hopkins is very good.
University of Iowa has great Creative Writing.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 05:35 pm: Edit

I've heard that Johns Hopkins is good but Kenyon would be my top choice as well. I personally consider it one of the best liberal arts schools in the country (stop gloating MorganTruce).

I'm a professional writer and frequently talk shop with other published writers - among the schools I hear mentioned frequently as having good English departments in addition to Kenyon are: Knox, Haverford, Dickinson, Carleton(very good), Brown, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Oberlin (very good), Pomona, Swarthmore, Smith, Reed, Whitman (very good), Wesleyan, University of Denver, Reed.

Duke is also supposed to have an excellent English department.

By Aparent (Aparent) on Sunday, June 22, 2003 - 06:22 pm: Edit

I am told by a Hopkins parent that their writing program emphasizes writing as a profession in a way that many others don't. Of course, we still don't know whether the OP's daughter is interested in writing...

Another writing program definitely worth looking at is Princeton's. Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, Paul Muldoon, Edmund White, John McPhee...it doesn't get any better. A couple of recent grads have come out recently with best-selling novels.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 10:06 pm: Edit

I wanted to add if you're looking at Johns Hopkins, it might be worthwhile to stop in at Goucher and Hollins as well - both have good English departments too.

By Sunshine916 (Sunshine916) on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 - 01:50 am: Edit

Kenyon-people in ohio dont shut up about their great english department...

By Amy301 (Amy301) on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 - 05:05 pm: Edit

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. We have started to look into Kenyon, and we are planning to visit it soon. My daughter is more interested in Literature more than she is in writing, and Kenyon has really impressed us in that area. Her father and I are happy about her interest in Kenyon because of its proximity to our home, only about 3 and 1/2 hours (we're in southwestern PA), the closest school she's looked into so far ! That should help with our empty nest syndrome, she's our only one, and we hate to see her go.

By Parentalunit (Parentalunit) on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 09:16 pm: Edit

For literature, try the great books curriculum at St. Johns. They have two campuses, one on the east coast (Maryland, I think) and one in the mountains of New Mexico.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 09:27 pm: Edit

Good Lord, yes. I've looked at their brochures and drooled.

Ultimately, not my D's cuppa nor even mine but very impressive.

By Amy301 (Amy301) on Friday, June 27, 2003 - 03:11 pm: Edit

We have look at St.John's. My daughter was very interested in the "Great books" program, but she didn't like the fact that they don't have any athletics.She plays soccer, and hopes to continue to play in college. She would like to end up at a school that has a strong D III program at the very least. While her father and I have always told her that athletics are not the most important part of college, when the scouts and coaches started to call things change for her....

By Thedad (Thedad) on Friday, June 27, 2003 - 03:55 pm: Edit

I she's a good enough soccer player she might be able to use that as a hook at some very good schools. I'd check out the Ivies that match up well along with schools like Williams, cross-checking versus quality of English departments...it's a pain of a process but it's worth it.

By Dave72 (Dave72) on Tuesday, June 22, 2004 - 03:08 pm: Edit

I would seriously urge you to look at Oberlin. In addition to its excellent English department, it also has one of the best Creative Writing programs in the country--one of the very first separate CrWr majors offered. And Oberlin is overall one of the best LACs around.