Can You Study Abroad with an English Literature Degree

Nobody tells arts students the truth.

You spent three or four years reading, writing, analysing, and arguing. You developed a depth of critical thinking that most STEM graduates will spend their entire careers trying to build. You wrote essays that required you to hold multiple competing ideas in your head simultaneously and produce a coherent argument from them. You did all of this and then walked into a study abroad consultancy and watched the enthusiasm disappear the moment you said English Literature.

The study abroad industry is built around engineering, business, and computer science. Arts students are an afterthought at best and an inconvenience at worst. Most consultancies do not know what to do with you and rather than admit that, they simply tell you your options are limited.

They are not. At Studyinfo we have helped arts students with average grades find genuine study abroad pathways that most consultancies never even mentioned to them. This guide is everything we wish someone had told those students on day one.

Why Arts Students Believe They Cannot Study Abroad

The belief that English Literature graduates cannot study abroad comes from three places.

First, the consultancy industry. Most study abroad consultants in Bangladesh and South Asia specialise in a narrow set of destinations and a narrow set of subject areas. Engineering for Germany. Business for Canada. Nursing for the UK. When an arts student walks in, the consultant either does not know the landscape or does not have the institutional relationships to place arts students confidently. It is easier to say options are limited than to do the work of finding them.

Second, scholarship perception. The scholarships that get the most attention, DAAD, Chevening, Commonwealth, are marketed heavily toward STEM and development related subjects. Arts students assume these scholarships are not for them. Some of that assumption is correct but most of it is not.

Chevening in particular explicitly funds students from any discipline including literature, creative writing, cultural studies, and the humanities broadly.

Third, career anxiety. Arts students from South Asia face enormous family and social pressure to choose practical subjects. The question of what you will do with an English Literature Masters abroad is asked so often and so aggressively that many students internalise the doubt before they even begin researching.

All three of these barriers are real. None of them are insurmountable.

What You Can Actually Do with an English Literature Degree Abroad

Your undergraduate degree in English Literature opens doors to a surprisingly wide range of postgraduate programmes at foreign universities. You are not limited to studying English Literature at Masters level. Your degree demonstrates analytical writing, critical thinking, research skills, and the ability to construct complex arguments, skills that are valued across multiple disciplines.

Postgraduate programmes commonly open to English Literature graduates include:

Which Countries Are Best for Arts Students

Not every study abroad destination treats arts students equally. Here is an honest assessment of the main options.

The UK

The UK is the strongest destination for English Literature and humanities students from South Asia by a significant margin. British universities have deep, well established humanities departments with global reputations. Entry requirements for humanities Masters programmes are often more flexible than for STEM subjects. Many programmes consider the quality of a writing sample or a research proposal more heavily than your undergraduate GPA.

Some of the strongest UK universities for English and humanities include:

• University of East Anglia – home to one of the world’s most respected Creative Writing programmes, the birthplace of the modern British creative writing MA
• University of Edinburgh – strong English Literature and Creative Writing programmes with an internationally diverse student body
• University of Manchester – excellent English and American Literature programmes with strong research culture
• University of Exeter – highly regarded for English Literature, Creative Writing, and Film Studies
• Goldsmiths, University of London – particularly strong for Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, and contemporary arts
• University of Kent – strong Comparative Literature and postcolonial studies programmes with more accessible entry requirements
• Coventry University – good English and Creative Writing programmes with more flexible entry requirements for international students

The two year Graduate Route visa after graduation gives you real time to build a career in the UK or use the UK as a base for international opportunities.

Ireland

Trinity College Dublin has one of the strongest English departments in the English speaking world. University College Dublin, University of Galway, and University College Cork all have respected humanities programmes with generally more accessible entry requirements than equivalent UK universities.

The post study work permission of two years after a Masters applies equally to arts graduates and the Irish publishing and cultural sector, though small, is internationally connected.

Canada

University of Toronto, McGill University, and University of British Columbia all have strong English and humanities departments. However, immigration pathways after graduation in Canada are more straightforward for STEM and business graduates than for arts graduates, and this is worth factoring into your decision.

The Netherlands

For students open to Europe, University of Amsterdam and Leiden University both offer strong English literature and cultural studies programmes taught in English at significantly lower tuition costs than the UK.

Entry Requirements for Arts Masters Programmes Abroad

Most UK and Irish universities require the equivalent of a 2:1 for Masters entry. For arts programmes specifically, many universities place significant weight on:

• A writing sample for Creative Writing and Literature programmes
• A research proposal for research focused programmes
• Your personal statement
• References from academics who know your work

For a strong arts student with average grades, the writing sample and personal statement are the most powerful tools available. An admissions committee for a Creative Writing Masters is evaluating whether you can write. If your writing sample demonstrates genuine talent, a 58% undergraduate GPA matters significantly less than it would for a business or engineering programme.

Studyinfo Tip: For Creative Writing and Literature programmes specifically, spend more time on your writing sample than on any other part of your application. Ask your best English teacher or a trusted reader to review it critically before you submit. A genuinely strong writing sample has secured places at good UK universities for students whose grades would have been borderline on paper alone.

Scholarships Available for Arts Students

The scholarship landscape for arts students is smaller than for STEM but it is not empty.

Chevening Scholarship: Open to all disciplines including arts and humanities. Chevening has funded English Literature, Creative Writing, Cultural Studies, and Linguistics students. The key is demonstrating leadership potential and a clear plan for how your degree will contribute to your home country after you return.

Commonwealth Scholarships: Available for Masters and PhD study in the UK and other Commonwealth countries. Open to all disciplines. Competitive but genuinely accessible to arts students with a strong academic record and a research focus.

Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust: This is one of the most underknown scholarships specifically relevant to Bangladeshi arts and humanities students. The Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust offers grants to Bangladeshi nationals for short visits, study, and research in the UK in the arts, humanities, and heritage fields. It is specifically designed for students in exactly your situation and it is significantly less competitive than Chevening or Commonwealth.

British Council Bangladesh: Various British Council programmes support arts and cultural exchange between the UK and South Asian countries. Check their website for current offerings.

University specific scholarships: Most UK and Irish universities offer merit scholarships for international Masters students. Arts programmes are included. These typically range from 2,000 to 5,000 pounds and are worth applying for at every university you apply to.

Can Average Grade Arts Students Study Abroad

Not only can they, the arts is one of the areas where average grades are most consistently overcome by other strengths in a university application.

Unlike engineering or medicine where technical competence is directly measurable by your grades, arts programmes are evaluating something more complex: your intellectual engagement with literature and ideas, your ability to write and argue, and your potential as a thinker and researcher. None of these things are perfectly captured by a percentage on a transcript.

A student we worked with from Dhaka graduated with a 59% in English Literature from a private university. Three consultancies told her the UK was not realistic for her profile. She applied to five UK universities with a personal statement we helped her develop and a writing sample she had been working on for months. She received offers from two universities including one strong offer from a university in the top half of the UK rankings for English. She is now completing her MA in Contemporary Literature and is the editor of her university’s student literary journal.

Her grades were average. Her writing was not.

Three specific things average arts students can do to strengthen their application:

• Start writing your sample now, months before your application deadline, not weeks. The strongest writing samples are the result of multiple drafts and genuine critical engagement, not a rushed submission.
• Research the Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust before any other scholarship. It is specifically designed for you and most Bangladeshi arts students have never heard of it.
• Contact programme administrators at your target universities and ask whether a strong writing sample can be considered alongside a borderline academic profile. The answer at arts programmes is more often yes than you would expect.

What Nobody Tells Arts Students About Studying Abroad

Your degree is more transferable than anyone told you. English Literature graduates have gone on to careers in publishing, media, international development, education, diplomacy, cultural organisations, content strategy, and user experience writing. The analytical and communication skills you built studying literature are genuinely valued in these fields. The problem is not your degree. It is that nobody in the South Asian study abroad industry knows how to place arts students in these pathways.

The Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust is genuinely for you. This fund exists specifically for Bangladeshi students in the arts and humanities who want to study or conduct research in the UK. Applications are far less competitive than Chevening or Commonwealth as a result. Go to the Charles Wallace Trusts website and read the Bangladesh section carefully.

A Masters abroad can redefine your career ceiling in Bangladesh. English Literature graduates with foreign Masters degrees are genuinely rare in Bangladesh. In a country where English language education, publishing, media, and international development organisations are growing sectors, a UK or Irish Masters in a relevant humanities field positions you very differently from the majority of your peers.

Writing programmes care about your portfolio more than your grades. The University of East Anglia Creative Writing programme has produced more published novelists than almost any other institution on earth and has accepted students with unremarkable academic records because their writing sample was exceptional. Invest your energy accordingly.

You do not have to study Literature at Masters level. An English Literature degree is a valid foundation for Masters programmes in education, publishing, journalism, cultural management, and library science. Branching into an adjacent field at Masters level can open career pathways that a straight continuation of your undergraduate subject might not.

Before You Apply: Checklist

• Research the specific entry requirements for arts programmes at your target universities, many weight writing samples heavily
• Start drafting your writing sample at least three months before your application deadline
• Research the Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust and check current application deadlines
• Check Chevening eligibility and note that all disciplines including arts are welcome
• Contact programme administrators at borderline universities before applying to ask about non-standard profiles
• Write a personal statement that demonstrates genuine intellectual engagement with your subject
• Research postgraduate programmes beyond Literature including Creative Writing, Education, Publishing, and Cultural Studies
• Ask your strongest academic reference to write specifically about your analytical and writing abilities

Your Arts Degree Is Not a Dead End

The study abroad industry will not always fight for you. It is not built for arts students and most people in it will not take the time to find the pathways that exist for your profile.

But those pathways exist. The universities that want you exist. The scholarships designed for you exist. The careers that your degree prepares you for exist.

What you need is the right information and the willingness to apply strategically rather than following the conventional path that was never designed with arts students in mind.

Your degree taught you to think, argue, and communicate. Those are not small things. Use them.

For help finding arts and humanities programmes that match your profile, browse our Find a Course directory. Check our Scholarships page for humanities friendly funding options, or contact us for personal guidance on your application as an arts student.