PhD Application Guidelines

Within the PhD Program, students will apply for and be admitted to a specific section. Each section differs slightly in its seminar requirements, but all students throughout the department may take graduate seminars in any section, and may work with any faculty members who best fit their interests. 

The department supports a wide range of specializations across multiple languages, fields, geographic regions, and historical periods of literary and cultural production. Regardless of students’ chosen specialization, we emphasize comparative, multilingual, and interdisciplinary approaches, and so our program is a particularly good fit for prospective students who wish to approach their field of study from this vantage point.

Comparative Literature

Students whose primary area of concentration lies within the Comparative Literature Section commit themselves to the study of three languages and literatures in the original. Various theoretical definitions of "Comparative Literature" highlight a synchronic emphasis (e.g., "1592" in Britain, Spain, and Flanders; existentialisms in Germany, France, and the U.S.), a diachronic emphasis (e.g., the "I" in Renaissance perspective, seventeenth-century philosophy, and nineteenth-century narrative), or a transnational approach (e.g., East/West/North/South poetics; New Wave cinemas in France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S.). Theory, histories of literary criticism, and aesthetics also form part of the discipline's focus. The Comparative Literature Section also houses student and faculty groups that work in languages such as Chinese, Classics (Greek and Latin), Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Russian, which are not administered by autonomous sections. The Classics group welcomes students with comparative interests who study classical Greek and Latin literature in conjunction with a focus in a modern literature.

Cultural Studies

The Cultural Studies and Critical Theory Section offers graduate students the opportunity to study various theoretical approaches as well as "culture" from a materialist perspective within the comparative context of several traditions of language and literature. A Cultural Studies project may locate its inquiry within a single national and historical context (e.g., nineteenth-century U.S. culture), or it may consider the forms and practices generated by the encounter between two or more cultural entities. Culture, broadly defined, is approached as a set of historically specific practices that include literary, aesthetic, visual, performative, juridical, and a variety of "popular" forms and articulations.

Literatures in English

While our focus remains on writing produced in Britain and the U.S., as its title is meant to imply, the Literatures in English Section encourages study of Anglophone writing in a global and multicultural context. UC San Diego's comparative emphasis offers several advantages for the study of literatures in English. By actively studying in a second (and even a third) literature, students are in a unique position to explore theoretical currents and critical modes within and beyond the English-speaking world, and to evaluate claims for the uniqueness of its national literary traditions. It is not uncommon, for example, for students working in early modern English drama to draw upon Spanish and French, as well as English exploration narratives in the New World, or for a student of American modernism to work with congruent developments in the Caribbean or the Indian subcontinent. Traditionally, faculty members in the Literatures in English Section have research and scholarly interests in several fields, allowing the graduate student to work across national, linguistic, and methodological borders.

Literatures in Spanish

The Spanish Section is committed to the study of literature and culture in their material and political context. The faculty encourages the use of a dialectical method that combines formal analysis with a discussion of broader social issues. Following in the footsteps of section founders such as Carlos Blanco-Aguinaga, the Spanish Section continues its rich history of scholarship and teaching in all areas of Spanish peninsular cultures ranging from medieval to the early modern and contemporary periods. The section is especially strong in its coverage of Latin American and U.S. Latino topics. It is recommended that students conduct research across disciplines and national boundaries, e.g. literatures of the Americas or transatlantic studies. All students in the section will gain a broad knowledge of a diverse range of Spanish-speaking traditions. Because of the unique structure of the graduate program, seminars will expose students to the latest trends in Latin American and European cultural theory.

Your Statement of Purpose should, above all, articulate your specific research interests in your proposed field(s) of specialization. What areas of literary and/or theoretical inquiry do you want to pursue and why? How has your academic background prepared you for this specialization? What key intellectual/critical questions motivate your work in this particular field or fields? Why do you want to pursue these interests in the UCSD Literature Department specifically?

Your Statement of Purpose should also indicate which faculty members you hope to work with and how their research and teaching connects to your specific research interests. We want to make sure that, if admitted, your research interests could be supported by our department, and so it’s particularly crucial for us to know what you want to study and which faculty members you anticipate working with.

Further information on the Statement of Purpose is also available here.

Along with questions about your intended research, faculty you'd like to work with, and your specific interest in our program, the department-specific questions will also focus on language knowledge and past teaching experience.

Language Knowledge

Students in the Literature PhD program will be required to study and complete coursework on literature in a language other than that of their specialization (two languages for Comparative Literature students). Within the first three years of the program, students will need to complete classes that demonstrate competence in reading, understanding, and interpreting both literary and critical texts in a second (or third) language, and --when appropriate--ability to follow seminar discussions or lectures in that language. The amount of prerequisite language study to successfully take these graduate courses is typically 2-4 years, varying by language and form of study.

Once you are in the program, it is very difficult to start learning a language (without any prior study). Learning a completely new language requires many hours of study, and you run the risk of falling behind in the program.

In the application, you will be asked to detail your prior study or knowledge of language(s). 

Teaching Experience

Students in the Literature PhD program will be required to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for at least one full academic year, and most students will serve as a TA starting in the first quarter of the program (continuing to serve as a TA throughout the entire program for their financial support). While prior teaching experience is not required, any prior experience is certainly advantageous.

In the application, please detail any past teaching experience(s).

A 25-page writing sample is required. A single substantive work of 25 pages or more (not including bibliography), relating to the primary field(s) of specialization you name in your Statement of Purpose, is preferred. However, multiple writing samples adding up to or exceeding 25 pages, a single substantive work of 25 pages (including bibliography), and writing samples tangentially related to the applicant's planned field of specialization are also acceptable.

The writing sample must be in English. For students applying to the Literatures in Spanish section, please do include a Spanish-language writing sample, as well as an additional English-language writing sample (for admissions committee members who do not read Spanish).

The PhD Program does not require applicants to submit GRE scores, as we use a more holistic approach to reviewing applications. Please do not submit GRE scores.

For international applicants, English Language proficiency must be demonstrated. International applicants may be exempt from this requirement if they have earned or will be earning a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree with grades of B (3.0) or better from either:

• A regionally accredited U.S. college or university where English is the sole language of instruction, or
• A foreign college or university which provides instruction solely in English. You may verify whether your institution meets this requirement by looking up your institution in the IAU World Higher Education Database (WHED). If English is not the sole language of instruction listed, if no language is listed at all, or if the institution does not appear on the WHED website, you are required to submit English proficiency exam scores. No other documentation (e.g. letters, language certificates, school websites) may be used in place of WHED as a means to obtain an exemption from the English proficiency requirement. 

For all other international applicants, UCSD and the Department of Literature accept the following English proficiency exams:

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - minimum speaking score of 26 required
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS) - minimum speaking score of 8 required
• The Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) - minimum speaking score of 84 required
• Duolingo English Test (DET) - minimum speaking score of 150 required

For more information on these exams and how to submit your scores to UCSD, visit the English Language Proficiency page.

Applicants will be required to pay the application fee or request a fee waiver at the end of the online application. Your application cannot be reviewed until this fee is paid or successfully waived. Please plan ahead if you will be requesting a fee waiver, as these take time to process and you will need to submit your application early.

The application fees are:

• US Citizens, Permanent Residents, and Undocumented Applicants: $135.00
• International Applicants: $155.00

Fee Waiver Requests

To request a fee waiver, you must first have a completed application that is ready for submission (at least one week prior to the application deadline). Before submitting, review the information on the Graduate Admissions website (Application Fee and Fee Waiver) to determine if you are eligible for a campus fee waiver. 

1. If you are eligible for a campus fee waiver, complete the "Request Fee Waiver" tab within the application, upload documents, and submit your application. Please note all fee waiver requests must be submitted at least one week prior to the application deadline. Your application must be fully submitted for your fee waiver to be processed.
   1. You will receive notification of your fee waiver status (Approved, Denied, or Further Documentation Needed). Please be sure to regularly check the email you entered in the application, as well as the application portal, for these notifications. 
      1. If your fee waiver has been approved, your application will be forwarded to our department for our admissions review process.
      2. If your fee waiver has been denied, you will need to pay the application fee by the application deadline in order to be considered for admission. If the fee waiver is denied after the application deadline, you will have one day to pay your application fee. Failure to pay within the allotted time will result in your application being removed from consideration.
      3. If your fee waiver needs further documentation, it is your responsibility to follow-up with Graduate Admissions and provide the required documents (or pay the application fee).
2. If you are not eligible for a campus fee waiver and would like to request a department fee waiver,
   1. Email the following information to litgrad@ucsd.edu:
      1. Your full name and applicant number (from the application)
      2. Confirm that you have reviewed the campus fee waiver options are are not eligible for any of the categories
      3. A brief statement (justification) explaining your need for a fee waiver
   2. Our department will review the request and send you an email notifying you of your fee waiver status (Approved or Denied). Please note that we have a very limited number of department fee waivers and they tend to disburse early in the application cycle.
      1. If your fee waiver has been approved, our department will notify Graduate Admissions and they will apply the waiver and forward your application to our department for our admissions review.
      2. If your fee waiver has been denied, you will need to pay the application fee by the application deadline in order to be considered for admission.