BA English Hons. from DU: About the course

BA English Hons. is an undergraduate programme in English which helps a student delve deep into the world of literature and communicative English through the study of novels, poetry, drama, prose and film etc. It not only deals with building the language aspect but also helps in getting a deeper insight into the world of politics, history and the social sciences.

It is a three-year degree course with minimum eligibility of 10+2.

Why should one study BA English Hons?

BA English Hons. majorly deals with developing an understanding of literature available on a wide range of topics including history, politics and the world in general. This helps a student to develop the analytical skills and the requisite knowledge to understand a wide range of topics.

• It helps an individual to broaden their horizons and understand different perspectives.
• Moreover, the course also deals with the writing aspect which is needed in every field.
• Another good reason to study this course is the variety of job opportunities available after the course-journalism, content creation, research, linguistics, education, editor etc.

BA English Hons. from DU: Admission

The minimum eligibility to pursue BA English Hons. from DU is to complete a 10+2 level of education or equivalent from a recognized board or university.

The student should also meet the cut off requirements which are released by every college separately. However academic session 2022 onwards the merit-based admission will be replaced by CUCET.

Thus a student would be required to clear the CUCET score and the merit eligibility set by each college separately.

BA English Hons. from DU: Cut offs

Cut-offs for the years 2021-22 for the general category were as follows:

College	First cut off	Second cut off	Third cut off
St Stephen’s College	Commerce-99 Humanities-98.7 Science-99	closed	closed
Hindu College	99.25	closed	closed
Lady Shri Ram College for women	99	98.75	98.5
Miranda House	99	closed	closed

BA English Hons. from DU: Fees

The fees for English honours DU in some top colleges are as follows:

College	Fees
Hindu College	INR 53000 (3 years)
St Stephen’s College	INR 40000 (1 year)
Lady Shri Ram college for women	INR 48000 (3 years)
Miranda House	INR 14160 (1 year)

BA English Hons. from DU: seats 

Seats for BA English Hons from DU in some of the top colleges are as follows:

College	Total	UR	SC	ST	OBC	EWS
Lady Shri Ram college for women	106	43	16	8	29	11
Hindu College	49	20	7	4	13	5
Miranda House	78	31	12	6	21	8
St Stephen’s College	30 (50% for christians)	12	2	1	–	–

BA English Hons. from DU: syllabus

Core papers:

Semester 1	Semester 2
Indian Classical Literature European Classical Literature	Indian writing in English British Poetry and Drama:14 to 17th centuries
Semester 3	Semester 4
Popular literature English Literature British Poetry and Drama:17th and 18th centuries	British Romantic Literature British Literature:18th Century British Literature:18th Century
Semester 5	Semester 6
British Literature: The early 20th Century Women’s writing	Postcolonial Literatures Modern European Drama

Generic Elective:

• Text and Performance
• Language and Linguistics
• Academic Writing and Composition 
• Media and Communication Skills
• Language, Literature and Culture 
• Gender and Human Rights
• Contemporary India: Women and Empowerment

(Any four) 

Paper Titles for Discipline Centric Electives:

• Partition Literature
• Autobiography
• British Literature: Post World War II 
• Literary Theory
• Nineteenth Century European Realism 
• Research Methodology
• Science fiction and Detective Literature 
• Literature and Cinema 
• World Literatures 
• Modern Indian Writing in English Translation
• Travel writing 
• Literary Criticism
• Literature of the Indian Diaspora

Every student needs to opt for 2 semesters. Each college will provide 4 options.

Ability Enhancement Elective Course 

• Technical Writing
• Translation Studies
• English Language Teaching 
• Soft Skills 
• Business Communication 
• Creative Writing
• Film Studies 

(Any two)

Ability Enhancement Course 

• English/MIL Communication
• Environmental Study

(Compulsory)

Best colleges for BA English Hons. from DU

St Stephen’s is undoubtedly the best college to pursue BA in English Hons. from DU. However the ranking of colleges as per the public opinion, cut-offs and academics are as follows-

1. St Stephen’s College
2. Lady Shri Ram College for women
3. Hindu College
4. Miranda House
5. Hansraj College

BA English Hons. from DU: Placements 

English Honors DU students are offered job profiles such as content writers, editors or marketing-related roles. These roles can offer salaries from INR 2-15 lakhs from top colleges of Delhi University.

However, the majority of students end up applying for a master’s degree, usually in the UK or the US.

Professional courses, teaching roles and research are the major options chosen by English Hons. students.

The average package at St Stephen’s stood at INR 8.8 LPA and INR 7.5 LPA at LSR.

To check the placement brochure of St Stephen’s check the brochure at website

BA English Hons. from DU: Jobs

The majority of the jobs taken up by English Hons students include being a professor, content writer, journalist, copywriter, author, linguist etc.

Let’s discuss these job profiles in detail:

• Content writer: Content writing includes writing content for different websites, blogs, and social media platforms for a company or on one’s website. This job can be full time or as a freelancer. This job profile requires skill sets such as good writing and expression which are English Hons. students usually excel at.
• College professor: After completing the undergraduate degree in English, students can pursue their master’s and PhD to secure their job as a professor/ school teachers.
• Journalist: Students also go for professional courses like journalism after completing their undergraduate in English. This is because a journalist requires a good command of the language and thus many English majors end up taking jobs as journalists.
• Author: Many English majors have a dream to write their books. A degree in literature is a good option to kick start a career as an author. Many students do freelance work as a copywriter and on the side also write their books.
• Linguist: Some people are passionate about languages and end up as linguists. They study different languages and understand their various aspects of it. English literature can be a good degree to start with.

Famous alumni of BA English Hons. from DU

Notable English Hons. alumni from DU are:

• Konkana Sen Sharma: She is a Bollywood actress who graduated in English from St Stephens.
• Vinod Dua: He was a famous journalist who served at Doordarshan and NDTV. He completed his BA English Hons from Hansraj College.
• Barkha Dutt: Another NDTV Journalist who completed her BA English Hons. from DU at St Stephen’s college.
• Meera Rajput: She is a Bollywood celebrity who completed her English Hons. degree from Lady Shri Ram College for women.
• Anita Desai: She is an Indian novelist who completed her English literature degree from Miranda House in the year 1957.

Skills learnt from BA English Hons. from DU

A degree in literature prepares an individual to understand the world from different perspectives. Since BA English Hons. from DU is a rigorous course that involves multiple and diverse literatures including the history, plays and novels from various eras and diverse authors, it helps in developing critical and analytical skills required in various professions.

It allows an individual to deeply analyze the meaning and understand the deeper and even hidden meaning of a text.

Thus this course provides more than written and communication skills.

Frequently asked questions

To check more course profiles visit our website