Undergraduate Degrees-Department of English - Carnegie Mellon University

Undergraduate Degrees

The Carnegie Mellon English department offers four undergraduate degrees:

The Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing is based on a conservatory model in which students study with faculty members who are practicing poets and prose writers. The heart of the program is the workshop, in which students take small, roundtable classes that help students to practice their craft, to experiment, and to grow as writers.

The Bachelor of Arts in English draws upon the artistic and research strengths of its faculty in creative writing, literary and cultural studies, and rhetoric. Students in the English B.A. thereby learn the research skills and writing strategies to enable them to analyze the language and texts of others and to report their research in effective texts of their own. Such training can prepare students for graduate work in literature, culture, or rhetoric, and also for careers in law, business, or government, which require similar skills in interpretation, writing and the analysis of how communication works.

The Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing is a career-oriented major designed to prepare students for successful careers as writers and communications specialists in a range of fields: publishing, government, law, journalism, health care, community advocacy, the non-profit sector, education, corporate communications, finance, and the arts. The major is designed to develop writers with both the professional skills needed to negotiate current work contexts and the analytic and problem-solving skills needed to keep pace with cultural and technological change.

The Bachelor of Science in Technical Writing is a career-oriented major for students interested in writing for technical fields. Technical writers design, write, and edit documents for engineering, scientific, industrial, and governmental organizations. These include technical reports, computer manuals, brochures, proposals, technical specifications, educational and training materials, and marketing or public relations releases.

Visit the CMU Undergraduate Admissions website to learn about applying to CMU and the College of H&SS.

prospective cmu students

English faculty advisors provide academic guidance and can help you choose a major that best fits your needs and interests. Contact us to arrange a meeting with an advisor.

prospective majors

Undergraduate students: for information on what courses meet your requirements, please see our "What Counts for What?" document [.pdf]. Also, for more information on where to go with questions, please see our "Where to go With" document [.pdf].

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