As a small department, we offer our majors the individual attention and advising they might expect at a much smaller institution, combined with the extensive resources of a large university. Comparative Literature majors regularly join our faculty and graduate students for our weekly luncheon that brings in lecturers from around the world to discuss issues of global importance. Our students even have their own departmental mailboxes!
Individually tailored programs
If you are a student with unique interdisciplinary interests, we can help you devise an individualized program of study that suits your academic needs. We can also help you with multiple majors and/or minors, which most of our majors pursue and complete within four years. Many of our majors pursue double or even triple majors in Comparative Literature, along with English, women’s studies, philosophy, communications, journalism, education, African/African American studies, Asian studies, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Jewish studies, theater, and film and video, among others.
Advising Contacts
To schedule an appointment or see walk-in times, please go to the Liberal Arts Advising page.
Transfer Student Advising
Transfer students admitted to the Comparative Literature major are contacted by Liberal Arts after their credits have been evaluated towards their degree requirements. NOTE: This doesn’t happen until AFTER students accept the offer of admission, pay the acceptance fee, and transfer their credits from any previous institutions attended. You may be asked for syllabi if credits are evaluated as general credits rather than as direct equivalents of Penn State courses, so please keep information from your previous courses.
If you want to get an idea about how your credits might transfer prior to accepting your offer, you may use the transfer credit tool at https://admissions.psu.edu/info/future/transfer/credit/.
Graduation
Students are responsible for ensuring that their graduation requirements are complete. It is strongly recommended that prior to registering for your final semester, you meet with your adviser to review your remaining requirements. After scheduling your courses, you should review your degree audit to verify that all of your requirements are complete with your scheduled courses. You are also encouraged to check with your adviser to make sure this is the case! If your degree audit indicates any missing courses or problems, review your situation with your adviser.
At the beginning of your final semester, you will activate your intent to graduate on eLion. Make sure your local and permanent addresses are up to date so that commencement information and your diploma are mailed to the correct address. Specific commencement information for the College of the Liberal Arts isn’t mailed until a few weeks prior to the end of the semester, so review general commencement information at http://www.registrar.psu.edu/graduation/graduation_index.cfm.
Activating your intent to graduate on eLion will also activate your graduation status for any minors or concurrent majors you are completing. In addition to verifying your major requirements, you will want to verify minor and concurrent major requirements with advisers in the appropriate departments.