The Michigan Department of English Language and Literature, which awarded its first graduate degree in 1886, has a proud tradition of leadership in scholarship and teaching. With award-winning faculty, the Department now offers three PhD programs, English Language & Literature, English & Women's and Gender Studies, and English & Education, and the Helen Zell Writer's MFA Program, providing a distinctive array of choices for applicants and a rich cultural community for our students. Please read through this section for particulars on each of the graduate degrees offered by the Department.
We have a limited number of application fee waivers for the MFA and PhD programs for the fall 2025 applicants. Please see the guidelines below, if you believe you meet these criterias, send a copy of your undergraduate transcript and brief statement describing items number 3, 4, 5 and 6 to: graduate.english@umich.edu.
In general, the RMF eligibility criteria are as follows:
The RMF is open to newly admitted students in a Rackham graduate program who:
- have a record of superior academic achievement (e.g., grade point average, honors, or other designation);
- are U.S. citizens or permanent residents or undocumented students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA);
AND meet one or more of the following additional criteria: - come from an educational, cultural or geographic background that is underrepresented in graduate study in your discipline in the United States or at the University of Michigan
- have demonstrated a commitment to diversity in the academic, professional, or civic realm through their work experience, volunteer engagement, or leadership of student or community organizations. By diversity, we mean efforts to reduce social, educational or economic disparities based on race, ethnicity or gender, or to improve race relations in the U.S.
- have experienced financial hardship as a result of family economic circumstances
- are first generation U.S. citizens or first generation in their families to graduate from a four‐year college
Graduate Offices (3187 AH)
Meg Sweeney, Graduate Program Director
Peter Ho Davies, Director MFA Program in Creative Writing
Ellannee Rajewsky, Graduate Program Manager
Julie Cadman-Kim, Program Manager, Zell Writers' Program
Senia Vasquez, Graduate Program Administrative Assistant
