Department of English
Concentration FAQs
Declare a Concentration in English
After consulting the requirements for the concentration and determining that you want to concentrate in English (concentration code ENGL--new), students must file an online Declaration form via the Advising Sidekick (ASK).
Students will be assigned automatically and alphabetically to a department concentration advisor. Next, the student must meet with the assigned concentration advisor during office hours. The advisor will review the concentration declaration and course plan and answer any questions that may arise. Once the advisor has approved the declaration in the ASK system, the student will officially be considered an English concentrator.
Transfer Credit
Only the Director of Undergraduate Studies can approve transfer credit for English courses taken at other institutions. The Registrar's office has a form for both preliminary and retroactive approval. When you meet with DUS to request approval, you must bring with you the Registrar's transfer credit forms, plus the following: (1) a course description that explains in some detail the subject, approach, required reading, and assignments of the course for which you're seeking credit, and (2) an official transcript with grade received (if you've already taken the course). It may be necessary for you to provide the course syllabus and examples of papers written, particularly if you're trying to determine Brown English course equivalents.
Transfer Courses
Transferred courses that have been accepted as English Department course equivalents by the Director of Undergraduate Studies (i.e. given an ENGL course number on the transfer credit form) are treated as ones that have been taken in the department. They do not count against the two course limit for non-English Department classes. They can count toward the above-1000 level requirement, if they received approval as 1000-level courses.
Concentration Questions
No. Courses taken in other departments at Brown that have been approved by your concentration advisor as well as courses taken at other institutions that have been approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies can be counted as above-1000 level courses. However, only two non-English Department courses overall may be counted toward the English concentration.
The Dean of the College, not the English Department, is in charge of determining which courses count for the WRIT requirement. All English department courses, however, are treated by the Dean of the College as WRIT-equivalent courses. All questions about this requirement should be directed to the Dean of the College.
You are required to meet with your advisor at least once a year, but it is a good idea to consult with your advisor, at least briefly, before each pre-registration period so that you can be sure that you will fulfill the requirements of the concentration in time to graduate on schedule.
As many as two courses outside the department may count toward the concentration requirements. Any outside courses must be approved by your concentration advisor.
The application can be found on the Honors Program page. Applicants must be English concentrators in their junior year.