columbia english phd application

Application Management

Welcome to the columbia university graduate school of arts and sciences application..

English Education PhD

Doctor of philosophy (75 points).

The primary purpose of the doctoral programs in English Education at Teachers College is to advance knowledge relevant to the teaching and learning of English and to prepare expert teachers of English for careers as scholars, researchers, and teacher educators in the field of English education. ​​ The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) program in English Education is open to a wide array of scholarly interests and thrives on the diversity of backgrounds and experiences students bring with them. As a Ph.D. student, you will become conversant with the principal theories, research methods, and pedagogical traditions of the field of English education. The degree program leads to an original research project culminating in the development of a scholarly dissertation that contributes to knowledge in the field. Graduates often take up research careers in universities or other educational institutions upon completion of their Ph.D. 

Experiences and Exposures: 

• World-class faculty come together with a collaborative group of students from around the world to critically engage with theoretical and pedagogical stances that underpin English Education. 
• Engagement in the scholarly community via coursework, research experiences, and opportunities to write and present at scholarly conferences. 
• Supported by faculty mentors, students take on individual exploration of enquiries and conduct original research into issues of critical importance to the field of English Education.

Final Admissions Deadline:  January 15th

The final deadline for doctoral program applications is January 15th (with a December 1st as a priority deadline).

If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to a faculty member regarding the admissions process for this program.

Admissions Information

Displaying requirements for the Spring 2024, Summer 2024, and Fall 2024 terms.

Doctor of Philosophy

• Points/Credits: 75
• Entry Terms: Fall Only

Application Deadlines

• Spring: N/A
• Summer/Fall (Priority): December 1
• Summer/Fall (Final): January 15

Supplemental Application Requirements/Comments

• Online Degree Application , including Statement of Purpose and Resume
• Transcripts and/or Course-by-Course Evaluations for all Undergraduate/Graduate Coursework Completed
• Results from an accepted English Proficiency Exam (if applicable)
• $75 Application Fee
• Three (3) Letters of Recommendation, one (1) of which must be academic
• Academic Writing Sample
• Three to five (3-5) years full-time teaching experience is expected

Requirements from the TC Catalog (AY 2023-2024)

Displaying catalog information for the Fall 2023, Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 terms.

View Full Catalog Listing

Doctor of Philosophy in English Ed

The Doctor of Philosophy (75 credits) degree is designed to prepare candidates for positions in higher education as teachers and researchers whose scholarly activity is focused on the theoretical, philosophical, and pedagogical questions that define English education as a discipline for teaching and inquiry.

Required courses for ALL English Education/Teaching of English doctoral candidates:

A&HE 5510 Seminar in Foundational Texts 1 

A&HE 5504 Research Paper: Teaching of English (co-requisite with A&HE 5149)A&HE 5149 Writing Research: Methods and Assumptions (co-requisite with A&HE 5504)

A&HE 6504 Doctoral Seminar: Teaching of English

A&HE 7504 Dissertation Seminar: Teaching of English

A&HE 8904 Dissertation Advisement in the Teaching of English

A range of electives in literary and rhetorical studies

Four research methods courses for a total of at least 12 credits. It is recommended that candidates include at least two of the following:

A&HE 5150 Research in Practice

A&HE 5160 Qualitative Methodologies & Theoretical Frameworks

A&HE 6151 Narrative Research in English Education

A&HE 6152 Advanced Narrative Research in English Education

Students may also satisfy the requirement for research methods courses by completing approved courses in other programs and departments across the College.

Credit Requirements and Transfer Credits for the Ph.D. in English Education

The number of courses students take depends in part on the number of credits students transfer from previous graduate work at Teachers College. Students working toward the Ph.D. degree (75 credits) may transfer a maximum of 30 credits and will thus complete at least 45 credits while in the Ph.D. program. Approval of transfer of credits is always at the discretion of the advisor.

Coursework Restrictions

An academic advisor must approve all coursework in a student’s program plan, especially to ensure enforcement of the following College and Departmental policies:

No course that is “R” (attendance) credit or that is “P” (pass/fail) may be counted toward the Ph.D. aside from A&HE 6504 and A&HE 7504.

Students must consult their academic advisors when they undertake an independent study, an internship, fieldwork courses, or graduate courses in other colleges (usually GSAS) of Columbia University or at other universities within the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium.

Doctoral students are generally discouraged from taking 4000-level courses and must consult with their academic advisors before registering for these courses.

Candidates should take a minimum of two courses outside the English Education Program (Courses not designated A&HE).

Doctoral Program Milestones Program Plan

During their first year of study, students in consultation with their advisor should complete, and file with the Office of Doctoral Studies, a program plan (the forms are available in the English education office and in the Office of Doctoral Studies) anticipating all the courses they will need to complete within the scope of their doctoral studies. This program plan should then be reviewed annually with the student’s advisor (and revised as necessary) giving student and advisor an annual measure of the student’s progress through the program

A&HE 5504: Research Paper in the Teaching of English

Before enrolling in A&HE 5504, students must have completed at least two research methods courses, have successfully completed the Certification 1 Examination, have discovered an area or problem of interest that they wish to study for their 5504 project, and have familiarized themselves with some of the available research literature on the topic or problem they propose to investigate. The research paper completed in A&HE 5504 allows a doctoral student to demonstrate the capacity to complete independent research and produce a research paper at a level of sophistication that promises success in undertaking a doctoral research project and doctoral dissertation. The completed A&HE 5504 research paper must be approved by faculty as qualifying the student to proceed to the next milestone in the doctoral program, the Certification 2 Examination.

Certification Examinations

Certification examinations certify a student’s expertise in the foundational texts, research traditions, and theoretical perspectives that represent the history of English Education as an academic discipline and that inform research in the more specialized field of study defined by a student’s anticipated dissertation project. Doctoral students in the English Education Program must pass two separate certification examinations. Examination 1 is a take-home examination, seven days in duration, covering the history of English education with a focus on one of the major curricular strands within the discipline. Examination 2, covering a specialized disciplinary area related to the student’s dissertation topic, is a take-home written examination to be completed within a time frame (up to one semester) set by the student’s faculty advisor. The topics and texts to be covered by the two examinations and the examination questions are determined by each student’s advisor in consultation with the student who will be examined.

Foreign Language Requirement

Candidates for the Ph.D. degree in English education must demonstrate reading proficiency in at least one foreign language at a level of competence sufficient to read scholarly or professional work relevant to their own field of study. Students should contact the Office of Doctoral Studies for the current policy regarding satisfying this requirement. Courses in statistics or other past substitutes for a foreign language will not be accepted.

Dissertation Proposal (A&HE 7504)

The doctoral dissertation proposal consolidates the work candidates have done in courses, professional reading, and the two certification examinations. It is usually a 60 to 100-page document, which outlines a coherent account of the work a candidate wants to undertake for dissertation research, usually presenting drafts of early chapters for the dissertation. Typically a proposal includes an introductory chapter describing the origins and aims of the project, a fairly complete review of the literature, a chapter on research methods, and some preliminary data and data analysis. The dissertation proposal must be accepted at a formal or informal hearing where at least two faculty members function as examiners. Students may not undertake the dissertation proposal until both certification exams have been completed successfully.

Award of the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree

Students become eligible to apply for the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree upon completing 75 credits of coursework and fulfilling each of the previous doctoral program milestones. Upon being awarded the M.Phil. degree, doctoral students become “candidates” for the Ph.D. degree. Applications for the M.Phil. degree can be filed with the Office of Doctoral Studies.

Dissertation

The doctoral dissertation is the culminating research project of the doctoral program and constitutes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of English Education. As candidates write their dissertations, they must enroll in A&HE 8904: Dissertation Advisement in Teaching English, which is designed to help them refine their thinking and revise their writing as they complete successive drafts of their dissertation.

The Advanced Seminar

What is known historically as the Advanced Seminar now functions as a pre-defense meeting of a portion (2-3 faculty members) of the Ph.D. candidate’s doctoral dissertation committee, which convenes to interrogate and advise the candidate on the dissertation in progress in order to ensure its successful completion. The committee may be convened at any point in a candidate’s progress toward completing the dissertation research, but is ordinarily convened for English education candidates at a point when the candidate can present a rough draft of the entire dissertation for scrutiny by the dissertation committee members. The committee is convened in response to a formal request filed with the Office of Doctoral Studies (ODS) by the candidate with the approval of the dissertation advisor. Candidates should consult the ODS early in the dissertation project to ensure that all procedural rules for convening the Advanced Seminar and reporting on its deliberations are properly observed.

Dissertation Defense

The dissertation defense offers the opportunity for members of the candidate’s dissertation committee, all of whom have carefully read the dissertation, to interrogate the candidate on any and all dimensions of the candidate’s research and the written dissertation that is the product of that research. In most cases the committee will suggest minor revisions that the candidate is expected to incorporate into the dissertation before filing the final version. A typical defense, however, is less an interrogation than it is a collegial discussion of the candidate’s research project and findings with attention to next steps in the candidate’s research agenda and possibilities for revising and publishing the dissertation or sections of it. A successful dissertation defense marks both a moment of certification and a ritual initiation. At the conclusion of a successful defense, authorized doctoral faculty officially certify a candidate’s accomplishment in completing a major research study that makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of English education broadly defined, and thereby welcome the doctoral candidate into the community of scholars.

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Program Director : Yolanda Sealey Ruiz, Limarys Caraballo

Teachers College, Columbia University 327 Horace Mann Hall

Phone: 212.678.3070 Fax: 212.678.8197

Email: pa_enged@tc.edu

Applications for 2024 Columbia Summer Session programs are now open!

Application materials, carefully read the requirements for your specific program..

View Graduate Preparation Programs

Completed online application form

Select Non-Degree & Other Certificate Programs within the online application system to access the application. Then select Visiting - Postbaccalaureate as your Program of Study.

You must submit all materials directly, not through an agent or third-party vendor, with the sole exception of submissions by the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Program and its three partner agencies IIE, LASPAU and AMIDEAST, and by the Danish-American Fulbright Commission (DAF), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), and Vietnam Education Fund (VEF). 

If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact the admissions office at visiting [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu .

$80 nonrefundable application fee (U.S. currency)

Fee payment must accompany the online application. 

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended are required. In the Academic History section of the online application, applicants must list and upload unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary institutions you have attended full-time for at least one term . This includes any summer program(s), study abroad program(s), or transfer coursework (regardless of the number of credits received or whether these credits were transferred to your home institution). 

Please note: your transcripts must include your full name, the institution name, and all courses and grades earned at that institution. Your transcripts must also confirm your current enrollment or degree conferral. 

Domestic Institutions You must list and upload unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary institutions you have attended full-time for at least one term. This includes any summer program(s), study abroad program(s), or transfer coursework including any additional mark sheets, official translations, or degree certificates for international transcripts as needed with the exception of: 

• Coursework where no credits are earned.
• You completed a total of 11 credits or less (on a traditional U.S. credit system) outside of your degree-granting institution and those credits appear on your degree-granting institution transcript.

If requested, applicants may be required to provide transcripts from any and all post-secondary institutions.

International Institutions You must list and upload unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary institutions you have attended full-time for at least one term. This includes any summer program(s), study abroad program(s), or transfer coursework including any additional mark sheets, official translations, or degree certificates for international transcripts as needed with the exception of: 

Before your application can be considered complete and ready for evaluation you must submit official transcripts from your institution. For Indian universities, this includes all semester mark sheets. If your university provides transcripts in a language other than English, both the original language document and English translation are required.

Admissions staff will carefully review these official translations for accuracy and authenticity, and investigate any credentials that seem suspect if a student is being considered for admission.

All applicants must submit certified and secure electronic transcripts directly from their institution or via the vendor that provides that service for their institution to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (transcripts[at]sps[dot]columbia[dot]edu) .

If a school does not offer electronic delivery, you must write to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (transcripts[at]sps[dot]columbia[dot]edu) to provide us with the link to your institution’s web page regarding transcript orders. After verification, we will respond with further instructions.

If requested, applicants may be required to provide transcripts from any and all post-secondary institutions. 

Documents required if admitted:

If your institution is within the United States You must submit a certified and secure electronic transcript sent directly from the institution or via the vendor that provides that service for their institution to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (transcripts[at]sps[dot]columbia[dot]edu) . If a school does not offer electronic delivery, you must write to transcripts [[at]] sps [[dot]] columbia [[dot]] edu (transcripts[at]sps[dot]columbia) .edu to provide us with the link to your institution's web page regarding transcript orders. After verification, we will respond with further instructions.

If your institution is located outside of the United States You will have provided an official transcript from the institution for use in review of your application. No other transcripts are required at this time.

Please note: The School of Professional Studies will not accept as official any transcript submitted directly by an applicant, either in person, via email or by mail.

Falsification, forgery, and misrepresentation of any type will risk forfeiture of admissions and/or enrollment. Forfeiture may occur whenever an integrity lapse is discovered, and may include admissions revocation, expulsion, or another sanction outlined within the Student Conduct and Community Standards . Applicants would not be entitled to request any refund of the application fee, enrollment deposit or tuition in the case that the official transcript deviates from the unofficial. 

Statement of academic purpose (in one or two paragraphs)

The statement of academic purpose should address the following:

• The subjects and course topics you intend to study.
• Why you feel you are prepared for rigorous academic study at Columbia – for this you may highlight prior coursework completed, work projects and/or your employment history.
• How the program fits into your overall academic and/or professional goals.
• An explanation for any weaknesses that may appear on your academic transcript or a highlight of any strengths that may not be evident elsewhere (as appropriate).

Starting Summer 2024, the information collected in the Statement of Purpose will be incorporated into the application and you will no longer be required to submit a separate document. 

Your résumé

Please upload your résumé or CV. Please be sure to include all relevant work experience, professional organizations, or activities that would be relevant to evaluating your candidacy for admission.

Students whose native language is not English must include proof of English proficiency

English language proficiency.

If your first and native language is not English, you must provide official scores on the TOEFL, IELTS,  or Duolingo English Test (DET) unless both of the following are true:

• The language of instruction of your undergraduate degree conferring institution is English.
• You completed two or more years at the institution.

Applicant total scores must meet the Columbia SPS minimum requirement of 100 (TOEFL iBT), 7.0 (IELTS Academic) or 120 (DET) to be admissible. You will be required to enter your test scores or your anticipated testing date within the online application, and official test score reports will be required for your application to be considered complete and ready for admission review. TOEFL and IELTS Academic scores are valid for two years after your test date. Applicants receiving scores below the posted minimums may be advised to apply directly to the American Language Program. 

• To submit TOEFL iBT scores: Visit www.ets.org and send your official score to our school code 2594. Please note: we do not accept TOEFL best scores.
• To submit IELTS Academic scores: After you have submitted your application, please upload your unofficial IELTS Academic score report. Alternatively, you can also send us your official score through your testing center.
• To submit DET scores: Visit https://englishtest.duolingo.com . Filter by “Graduate” and choose “Columbia University - School of Professional Studies” as the recipient.

International students must fulfill visa requirements

Visa requirements.

International students are responsible for ensuring they have read and understand the University’s student visa application eligibility and requirements . Please note that it is not permissible to enroll while in B-1/B-2 status. International students enrolled in a full-time course load—registered for at least 12 points of credit-bearing courses a term—are eligible for a student visa.

Eligible international students who wish to apply for a student visa should do so immediately after they have received their letter of admission to Columbia University. This should be done by completing the Application for Visa Certificate (AVC) . Applicants should be aware that after admission into a program it may take up to four weeks to receive the documents needed from Columbia to obtain a student visa, so please plan accordingly.

International students who require a student visa to study at Columbia are required to pay an International Services fee. See your program's Tuition and Fees for more information

You can find the online application for visa certificate by clicking here:  http://isso.columbia.edu/ . While you are not permitted to submit the application until you have gained admission, we strongly encourage you to read the instructional information provided.

For questions about individual cases, please contact: International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) 212-854-3587 isso [[at]] columbia [[dot]] edu (isso[at]columbia[dot]edu) http://isso.columbia.edu/

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English Proficiency Requirements

To be considered for admission to Columbia, you must be comfortable with rapid and idiomatic spoken English. There are several different ways to demonstrate that you are proficient in English on your application:

• Your home language is English.
• Your primary language of instruction at school has been English for the duration of your secondary school career.
• 700 or higher on the Evidence Based Reading and Writing section of the SAT (either paper or digital administration)
• 29 or higher on the English or Reading sections of the ACT

If you meet one or more of the above criteria, you have fulfilled Columbia’s English language proficiency requirement. If you do not, you will need to take one of the following English Language Proficiency exams. Please note that English language proficiency, including potential English Language Proficiency exams, is required regardless of whether applicants choose to apply with other standardized test scores . If there are questions around your English Language Proficiency, you may be contacted for more information.

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

Please visit the ETS TOEFL web page   for more information on this examination. A minimum score of 105 (Internet-based test) is necessary for admission to Columbia. Your score must be reported directly to Columbia by the testing service, using report code 2116. 

Columbia accepts only TOEFL iBT ® scores by test administration date (e.g. full test administration results for one sitting) and does not accept MyBest™ scores. We will accept online results from the TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition and TOEFL IPT Plus for China . You may send multiple results.

IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

Please visit the I nternational English Language Testing System (IELTS)  for more information on this examination. A minimum score of 7.5 is necessary for admission to Columbia. Your score must be reported directly to Columbia Undergraduate Admissions. We will accept online results from the IELTS Indicator .

DET (Duolingo English Test)

Please visit the Duolingo English Test  for more information on this examination. A minimum score of 135 on the current DET is necessary for admission to Columbia. Your score must be reported directly to Columbia Undergraduate Admissions.

Cambridge English Qualifications

Please visit Cambridge English for more information on these examinations. A minimum score of 191 on the current C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency Cambridge English Exams is necessary for admission to Columbia. Your score must be reported directly to Columbia Undergraduate Admissions.