Flexibility is encouraged. Our program has the advantage of intimacy. Brandeis University is a small liberal arts university. The English Department faculty has about fifteen members, with coverage of most fields and a diversity of critical approaches. About eight new students are admitted each year.
Seminars usually have between five and fifteen students.
Classes shared with undergraduates may be larger. There is much informal contact with the faculty outside of class. Closely supervised practice in teaching is also one of the strong features of our program. Among them have been Alice Walker, Olga Broumas, Denise Levertov, Adrienne Rich, Mark Strand, Mark Doty, Stephen McCauley, and Louise Gluck. In addition there is a Boston-area library consortium that allows graduate students to use books in major libraries in the area.