Many undergraduate and graduate students enroll in the department's degree programs. Most Ph.D. students in English are preparing for careers as teachers and scholars, and many M.F.A. students in the creative writing program and the nonfiction writing program are preparing for lives as storytellers, essayists, and poets. The B.A. and M.A. programs provide valuable training for careers in a variety of fields. Students who have earned English degrees from the University of Iowa write for advertising firms, newspapers, the entertainment industry and book publishers; teach in primary and secondary schools; practice law and medicine; work in business, industry, and nonprofits; and participate in state and federal government. As far as possible, a student's course of study is arranged to meet his or her individual needs and objectives.

The Department of English participates in several of the University's interdisciplinary units: the Departments of American Studies, Cinematic Arts, and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies; the African American Studies Program; the American Indian and Native Studies Program; the Comparative Literature Program; and the Center for the Book.