I chose CompLit because I wanted to study literature without confining myself to one language. The concentration also offers the freedom to study virtually anything in the humanities (and beyond), allowing me to draw connections between philosophy and literature. The tutorials each semester provide structured and individualized support to explore academic interests and prepare for the senior thesis, which has been invaluable as I plan to pursue a career in academia.

I chose CompLit to explore literature freely and broadly– as a process, as a cultural practice, as an experience– and in other languages.

Literature was always a form of discovering new people and places for me, which is why it would be counterintuitive to limit myself to only one culture or language. With the abundance of literary works around the world, the majority of which are unknown to me, I simply could not imagine myself spending the next three years reading what I could easily find by myself. Comp Lit allowed me to venture far beyond what I was familiar with, introducing me to writers I would not have read otherwise, but who turned out to be formational in my educational experience. In the beginning, I was afraid of too much freedom in crafting my own syllabus, thinking I didn’t know enough to decide what to study. Still, the amount of personalized guidance I received in all my classes made me confident in my own choices. This is what I love most about this department – in all the courses I took, I was able to focus on various independent projects, which helped clarify my broader interests. The freedom I feared turned out to be the biggest motivator to constantly expand my knowledge and freely merge my passions for performance art and film with the study of literature.

Comp lit is one of the best, most challenging, and most supportive concentrations on campus. I love it as both a field of study and as a community: the professors are extremely supportive and have a genuine interest in their students, both academically and individually. Students’ contributions are valued and taken seriously by the department. I also love getting to learn from other students, who have super cool interests and perspectives. Because the concentration is small, there’s a lot of individual attention and support. Academically, the field facilitates an interdisciplinary approach that I really love; it puts everything in dialogue with each other, revealing connections and complications.