Graduate Program
Fellowships
All students admitted to the Ph.D. program are funded on fellowships during their first five years. As of 2001, the Graduate School has also provided summer-study fellowships to Ph.D. students for the summers following both their first through third years. Students in the English Ph.D. program typically use their summer fellowships for language study following the first year; they may also apply for a tuition fellowship from the Graduate School's Summer Foreign Language program to cover the cost of a language course. English Ph.D. students often use the fellowship funds for the summer following the second year of study to support their full-time study for oral exams, which occur in the fall of the third year.
Students advance to candidacy in their third year when a dissertation prospectus is submitted and approved. For students at the dissertation stage, a number of fellowship and grant opportunities exist both within the University and outside it to support the pursuit of dissertation research and writing over the summer months. Within Yale, for example, the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library provides generous fellowships for the support of dissertation research in its wide-ranging and rich collections; the Lewis Walpole Library offers fellowships for students and other scholars to pursue research in its 18th-century collection; and the Yale Center for British Art offers support for travel for research elsewhere. The Graduate School and the English Department offer information and guidance about applying for research grants from other sources to students pursuing dissertation work. In addition, the Graduate School maintains two general funds of its own that provide support for students in the summers of their dissertation years: John F. Enders Fellowships and Research Grants, and the John Perry Miller Fund.
