Earn Your English Degree on the Coast of Maine

Are you passionate about majoring in English but have been told it will limit your career prospects? Check your fears at the door. UNE’s Bachelor of Arts in English focuses on the highly transferable skills acquired as a student of literature: command of language, analytical skills, critical thinking, and the capacity to understand multiple perspectives. Combined with internships, research, and study abroad experiences, you will be highly valued by many fields that prize people who can communicate well, solve problems, assimilate information quickly, and work well with others.

A student uses a pink highlighter on their notes

Why UNE for Your B.A. in English

With faculty specialties in literature and health, law and humanities, creative writing, digital humanities, and more, the English program will expose you to a wide range of topics and genres.

  • Flexible curriculum, allowing for double majors and minors
  • Unique HuMed program to prepare for medical school while pursuing your passion for English
  • Instruction in digital literacies, culminating in the creation of a personal ePortfolio
  • Impressive archival collections for research and creative  projects
  • Opportunity to work as a Writing Fellow in our peer tutoring program
  • Intriguing internships
  • Study abroad opportunities
Headshot of U N E alumni Tyler Vunk

Tyler Vunk

English, Neuroscience

Academic Freedom

As a neuroscience major, I was looking for a way to stand out among other medical school applicants. I decided that the easiest way to get to the top of the overachiever pile was to adopt a second major — English.

I soon realized that my second major brought balance to my academic life. My English professors challenged me to back up my arguments, sharpening my research and writing skills, and gave me the space to safely experiment with both formal and colloquial forms of communication. This made me seek out hour-long conversations during office hours and design and take as many independent studies as possible. 

While my neuroscience courses were essential, my English courses — or more specifically the writing, speaking, and communication skills I gained in these courses — helped set me apart from other applicants. There are a lot of one-trick science ponies out there. Having a strong humanities background makes you gallop a bit faster.

Three years after graduation, I was the CEO of Vested Academics — a college planning and student coaching company. I focus on helping students improve their college readiness and avoid overpaying for their degrees. The skills I learned in my English courses have served me well.

Hands-On Learning

I was a research student for three-plus years in Dr. Ling Cao's neuroimmunology lab and co-authored a research review piece with Dr. Kristen Burkholder over a summer. Located on the UNE campus, these labs gave me the opportunity to perform professional scientific research, get published, and better understand the level of discipline one needs in order to succeed as a professional scientist.

Working with Dr. Jennifer Tuttle over one summer, I was able to perform an exploratory investigation of the narrative writing style. This experience not only generally strengthened my writing skills but also allowed me to develop my listening skills—actually hearing what people were saying, beyond their words. In fact, it's a skill I use every day, whether speaking with vendors, employees, or clients. I remain grateful for the opportunity that both Dr. Tuttle and the UNE English Department offered me.

My English professors challenged me to back up my arguments, sharpening my research and writing skills, and gave me the space to safely experiment with both formal and colloquial forms of communication.
English, Neuroscience

What will you study? English Degree Program Curriculum Overview

There are many ways you can navigate the English major.

B.A. in English Courses

The following are some examples of the exciting courses that the English major offers:

  • Law and Literature
  • Reading and Writing in Digital Environments
  • Victorian Monsters
  • Writing and Women’s Health
  • Fiction Writing Workshop
  • Animals, Literature, and Culture
  • Lyrics
  • Narrative Medicine

HuMed

Our HuMed program is the only one of its kind in the U.S., allowing you to indulge your passion for English while preparing for graduate study in our College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Meet our faculty and professional staff

a female student studies

Career Paths for English Majors

The unique skill set of an English major is far more sought after than most people realize. As academic training requirements in many fields are becoming increasingly specific, employers are eager to find candidates who are excellent communicators, creative and analytic thinkers, and critical readers.

An English major is a gateway to numerous professions, including:

  • Editor
  • Filmmaker
  • Lawyer
  • Librarian
  • Physician
  • Project Manager
  • News Reporter
  • Scriptwriter
  • Teacher
  • Television Producer

Career Advising for B.A. in English Students

Whether you have a specific career goal in mind or a vague idea of the field that interests you, Career Advising is here to help you plan your next step.

English 110

English 110 is our freshman writing course and a rigorous introduction to college-level. English 110 is not an introduction to literature or to the English major. Instead, you will be challenged to rethink your ideas, re-examine your interpretations of a reading, connect texts in provocative ways, and advance written arguments.

Experiential Learning in the Bachelor’s Degree in English Program

The English major emphasizes real-world learning, providing you with experiences that will set you apart in numerous professional fields. At UNE, we believe in learning by doing.

Hands-On Activities for English Students

  • Participate in the creation of student-run publications
  • Get on-the-job experience as a peer tutor in our Writing Fellows program
  • Conduct research or produce creative projects to present at local, regional, and national venues
  • Visit UNE’s DigiSpace to develop digital literacies and create new digital content for your ePortfolio
  • Create podcasts

Internships for English Majors

On-campus

  • Maine Women Writers Collection
  • Office of Communications and Marketing

Off-campus

  • Print and Digital Publications 
  • TV and Radio Stations
  • Libraries
  • Politicians' Offices
  • Law Offices
  • Schools
  • Museums
  • Corporations

For more information email the Academic and Career Advising Center at advising@parkviewhousebb.com.

A student looks up research articles on a computer with the U N E librarian

Beyond the English Classroom

Maine Women Writers Collection

The Maine Women Writers Collection offers students in English rich opportunities to do advanced research with primary sources as well as to gain experience in archival internships. The MWWC, which holds rare and unique material documenting the lives and writing of Maine women, is housed in a state-of-the-art facility where you can conduct hands-on research and develop your own original projects. You might also take advantage of an archival internship, which would provide you with one-on-one mentoring, experience working with special collections, and practical skills related to library and information science.

The Bolt

The Bolt is the student newspaper of UNE. Formerly called The Nor’easter News, the newspaper was founded in 2007 by a group of students that included English majors and a faculty member. As a student reporter or columnist, you might cover campus events and developments or a broad range of other topics of interest to the University community, including national and international affairs, politics, entertainment, the arts, and sports.

Zephyr

Zephyr is UNE’s journal of creative expression. It is more than a literary magazine, as each spring we publish not only selections of prose and verse, but original drawings, paintings, and photography as well. All current and former members of the UNE community are invited to submit their work. As an English major, you might participate in the life of Zephyr by serving on our editorial board, assisting in the submissions review process, or helping to promote and distribute each new issue upon its publication.

Research

As an English student at UNE you have many unique opportunities to pursue traditional literary research as well as to craft projects that reach across the arts and sciences. Recent students majoring and minoring in English have completed research projects on such diverse topics as mapping nationalist stereotypes in Sherlock Holmes stories, creating classroom materials for courses in narrative medicine, and digitizing cultural and scientific materials to enhance sustainability efforts in the Saco River estuary. All were funded by UNE summer grants or NSF grants. Students have presented their research at conferences such as the Northeast Undergraduate Research and Development Symposium, the Maine Women’s and Gender Studies Conference, and the UNE College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposia.

Bachelors of Arts in English FAQ