Applying to English PhD without BA in English?

Hi guys! I'm planning to apply for a PhD in English in the UK. I'm finishing my English MA right now in a Russel Group uni with predicted distinction, but my BA is in architecture. I do however have some BA credits in English lit from Cambridge's other institution ICE, which I used to apply for the MA. I've been looking around and a lot of the PhDs require a BA in English or a related subject. Will my lack of a BA be a significant problem or is there some wiggle room? If anyone has experience getting into an English PhD without a relevant BA would be lovely if you could share :smile:

Thanks!

Reply 1

Aglarien

I got my BA in another humanities subject & my masters in English. No one raised an eyebrow regarding my BA qualification when I applied for PhD in English programs. Not sure about Oxbridge though, as they got this rating system for filtering applicants and an irrelevant BA might get lower grade in that section. The other unis, in my experience, don’t care about your BA subject that much.
Things might be a little different for you as your BA is in an area less related to English than mine. Even so, I don’t think it would be a significant problem. If you can frame your research proposal to make it look like it’s related to your BA in some way (e.g. thinking about places in literature with a BA in architecture?), it can even be an advantage in scholarship applications. But of course, please do prioritise your own interests when choosing a topic!