PhD English Composition at University of Pittsburgh

Programme overview

The Composition concentration within Pitt's PhD in English, centred on composition, rhetoric and literacy studies with an interdisciplinary emphasis on writing, pedagogy and media. Students work across English Literature, Film and Writing courses and take electives in History, Linguistics, Anthropology and Communication.

Faculty: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences | Department: English / Composition Program | Intake: Fall | Location: Pittsburgh, PA, United States

What you will study

Faculty strengths include student writing, digital production and analysis, transnational literacies, technology and materialities of composition, large-scale textual analysis, archival and historical methods and cultural rhetorics. Students teach first-year writing and upper-level Public and Professional Writing courses, with a first-year fellowship releasing them from teaching.

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Application information

Entry requirements

Admission is through the English Department PhD: GradCAS application, unofficial transcripts, 2-4 page statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, writing sample of about 20-25 pages, $75 fee; Dietrich minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA; GRE not required. The English PhD is on alternate-year admissions with the next cycle opening September 2027.

Domestic applicants: USD 27,412 a year (2026-27). Pennsylvania-resident graduate tuition, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, full-time two terms (fall and spring). Tuition only; mandatory fees and other expenses excluded. Source

International applicants: USD 49,272 a year (2026-27). Out-of-state (non-PA resident) graduate tuition, Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, full-time two terms (fall and spring). Tuition only; mandatory fees and other expenses excluded. Source

Intake: Fall

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