Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? How about to L'Etranger? If you love literature a program in comparative literature might be the right move for you. Sometimes students can be scared to go into this type of field. “Can I get a job after? Will it be worth it?” We have heard it all. Thankfully, majoring in comparative literature gives you a wide range of writing and critical thinking skills. Plus many students chose to go back to grad school in a variety of topics with a degree in comparative literature. So if you love it go for it! And these are the top ten schools you should be looking to go to for it.
Cornell
Cornell has two tracks in its comparative literature major. The first is the comparative literary studies track. This is the more conventional track, but they also offer the literary, visual, and media studies track. This second track looks at a wide variety of media as literature, not just books. Both tracks focus on the critical and historical perspective on world literature and cultures. Their major is fairly flexible with many options to complete the required credit counts. They also offer an honors program and a minor in comparative literature.
Georgetown
Georgetown offers the Global and Comparative Literature major. Students learn two or more linguistic, literary, and cultural traditions through the program. They offer research opportunities and every student in the program completes a senior thesis. Their program is very global focused so students are encouraged to take classes in literature from different regions and cultures and students work with the program director to choose their courses.
Harvard
Harvard’s Comp Lit program has the subtitle, “explore the world of literature in any language.” Students can pursue this major with Hindi, French, Spanish, English, Chinese, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Arabic, Swahili, and more. The major is flexible in many ways, not just in which language of literature you can choose. Students craft their own curriculum and can connect literature to the arts or history or whatever best fits their special interest. Students have both a junior essay and a senior thesis as well as a general oral examination in this program.
UC Berkeley
The Comp-Lit major at Berkeley has students read literature in its original languages and also examines literature over multiple time periods. Their program is fairly flexible when it comes to choosing a concentration and students work with an advisor to plan their education. They also have the UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal for those hoping to get involved with Comp Lit outside of the classroom.
USC
USC offers two tracks in their Comp Lit Major: the Literature/Media/Critical Thought Track and the Foreign Language Track. Students in either track often double major in a related field and the department also offers a minor in both tracks as well as a Global Cultures Track. USC has an honors program and also awards with cash prizes through the department. They also offer a specialized abroad program to Budapest.
Brown
Brown in general loves an open curriculum model and their Comp Lit major is very flexible. Advanced literature courses from any literature department at Brown can be used for concentration credits and any language, ancient or modern, can also be used to pursue Comp Lit. They really stress the language side of Comp Lit and have 3 tracks: Comparative Literature in Two Languages, Comparative Literature in Three Languages, and Literary Translation. In any of the tracks, they also have genre & period requirements. Students must take one course in each literary genre (poetry, narrative, and drama/film) and in three different historical periods.
UChicago
Students interested in Comp Lit at UChicago are encouraged to declare their interest in the major as soon as possible. They work directly with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to make a detailed education plan and choose a course load. There are several requirements in the major including a language requirement, but there is a good amount of flexibility in how students fulfill the major requirements. UChicago also has students do a BA capstone project their senior year.
Princeton
Princeton’s Comp Lit major has three types of requirements: Comparative Literature courses, Non-English-language reading courses, and Track courses. The track courses fall into 5 concentrations that are unfortunately a bit tricky to understand. They include Comparative work in literatures, Comparative work in literature and another textual discipline, Comparative work in literature and another medium, Comparative work in literature and regional or ethnic studies, and Comparative work in literary study and the creative arts. Sorry that those were a mouthful. While the names of these tracks are rather dense, each just asks the student to take two higher-level courses in related fields. There is also a Departmental Historical Period Requirement. The department also offers several abroad options, funding for research and abroad opportunities, and Summer Thesis Research Funds.
Middlebury
Many amazing liberal arts schools offer programs in Comparative Literature. If you are hoping to study comparative literature at a small school, you should look into Middlebury. They have eight requirements for the major, but for the majority of them, many courses will fill the requirement. They offer classes like Tang Poetry/American Poetry, God and Love: India & Israel, Modern Philosophy & Literature, and many more. Seniors in the major also write a 35-page (article length) comparative essay (advised independently). They also offer an honors track.
Yale
Yale Comp Lit majors explore literary study, ancient and modern literary theory, and the relationship between literature, film, and other branches of the arts and sciences. There are only two required courses in the major and the rest of the credits are flexible. There is a literature requirement, period requirement, and a senior paper, however. They offer several concentrations including Literature and Comparative Cultures Concentration, Intensive Language Concentration, The Film Concentration, and The Literary Translation Concentration. Outside of the classroom they also have The Journal of Literary Translation (JoLT).
Comparative Literature is a major where students can create their own path. Most top programs are very flexible when it comes to credits and choosing a concentration that excites the individual student. Comp Lit programs are also great for students who want advising and career support as most top programs have resources for students.
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