Major requirements, declared Fall 2021 or later

The English Major consists of no fewer than 12 courses, of which a minimum of 7 need to be upper-division (#100-199) :

• English 45A - Literature in English: Through Milton
• English 45B - Literature in English: The Late-17th through the Mid-19th Century
• English 45C - Literature in English: The Mid-19th through the Mid-20th Century
• A course in Shakespeare (17, 117A, 117B, 117J, or 117S)
• English 90 - Practices of Literary Study. *English 90 (or a qualified equivalent from another school) must be taken prior to English 100. You should not enroll in English 100 unless you have taken English 90 here or an equivalent literature class prior to enrolling at Cal. Equivalent classes cannot be R1A or R1B; they must be more advanced courses in literature written in English. If you think you have taken such a class that is not already listed on assist.org and you want approval for it in lieu of taking English 90, please complete English 90 Articulation Petition for Transfer Students form.
• English 100 - The Seminar in Criticism. *English 90 and English 100 must be taken in sequence and in separate semesters prior to enrolling in English 190.
• English 190 - The Research Seminar or H195A/B - The Honors Seminar *English 90 and English 100 are requisites for English 190.
• Five English Department elective courses - One of these electives, or else an appropriate 90, 100 or 190, satisfies the "Literatures in English" major breadth requirement. One upper-division elective, or else an appropriate 100 or 190, satisfies the "Literature Before 1800" major breadth requirement. For "Literatures in English" and "Literature Before 1800" course offerings, please see the corresponding links on the classes page.​

​ENGLISH 90 and ENGLISH 100 must be taken in sequence prior to ENGLISH 190. Transfer students entering the third-year class may be able to apply credit for ENGLISH 90 by transferring certain qualified literature courses completed at their prior college. To ascertain which courses are already articulated with English 90, check ASSIST; if you think that another of your other upper-level community college courses might qualify, consult with an Undergraduate Major Advisor. (Composition courses are not eligible.) Students entering in their freshmen year should complete English 90 by the end of their sophomore year, then an English 100 in their junior year, and an English 190 in their senior year.

If you haven't declared the English major yet, visit our Major Completion Sheet. This will help you plan your schedule.

Detailed Requirements

• Students majoring in English are expected to complete at least seven courses in the English Department here. Other courses counted toward the major can total no more than five and may not be taken concurrently while a student is enrolled at UC Berkeley. (Note, in other words, that students cannot take community college courses towards the major English after they have enrolled here at Cal.) For more about transferable courses, see the Extra-Departmental Work and Study Abroad tab at left.
• English 45A, 45B, 45C, and Shakespeare are required of all majors and must be taken for a letter grade. Students declared beginning Fall 2021 must also complete the English 90-100-190 sequence for a letter grade.
• Students must also take one course (an elective or an appropriate 90, 100 or 190) that satisfies the department’s “Literatures in English” requirement and one upper-division course (an elective or an appropriate 100 or 190) that satisfies the “Literature Before 1800” requirement. Neither of these courses can be taken P/NP.
• Please keep in mind that a minimum of 7 out of 12 of your major requirements must be upper-division (#100-199) ; this means the majority of your electives, if not all, will be upper-division.
• Electives: Of the twelve courses required for the English major, 5 are elective courses in the English Department. Elective courses are those that you take based on your personal interest in the study of English; an elective course is any four-unit course in the English Department. Two of the five elective courses for the major may be taken P/NP. The P/NP option in English is subject to the regulations set forth in the L&S Announcement.
• See both the "Berkeley Connect, Independent Study, Decal" tab and "Extra-Departmental Work and Study Abroad" for possible exceptions for electives. All exceptions must be approved by a Major Adviser and updated on your APR.
• No more than two 4-unit English Department Summer Session courses taken at UCB may be counted toward the major (Note: this rule was waived for all English Department courses taken Summer 2020).
• No more than two Creative Writing courses may be counted toward the major (English 43, 141, English 143 A, B, C, E, etc). English 141 cannot be taken twice.
• To graduate with a degree in English, a student must achieve at least a 2.0 GPA in: a) all work undertaken at the University of California (all campuses); b) all courses required for the English major, and; c) all upper-division courses in the English major.

Course-specific details​​​​​​​​