Any English majors?

From experience, English degrees are the second most useless degree to have. Other than teaching, you can literally do nothing with it.

(Philosophy is the first most useless one, just for clarification.)

 

I'm an English Literature major about to finish my undergrad this coming school year. I also have a minor in Technical & Professional Writing (TPW), which is the field I actually plan to pursue. TPW is useful in all business settings, since it involves everything from writing instruction manuals to documenting company procedures to writing promotional/marketing copy. My Lit degree complements the TPW one well because with both, I diversify my writing skills in a wide variety of styles and genres. Studying Literature has allowed me to build my writing and analytical skills, both of which are useful in any job setting.

Many people will tell you that English degrees are useless unless you want to become a teacher, but I believe otherwise. Writing skills and written communication skills are extremely important. There's nothing like poor grammar or incorrect spelling or inability to construct a proper sentence to decrease a business's credibility or to make a company's representative look incompetent. Well-written promotional material sells products; clearly-written instruction manuals make happy customers; the list goes on. While what I'm talking about is geared mostly towards my TPW degree, my English Lit degree is just as worthwhile.

I initially majored in Business because I thought that would be the practical thing to do. However, I felt miserable at the thought of being a Business major, so I finally followed my gut and switched to something I actually enjoyed: English.

So, I say that you shouldn't worry what other people say about whatever degree you wish to pursue. If you want to become an English teacher, go for it. It does take a long time to get your PhD, and it is difficult to get tenure, but it's really up to you whether you wish to invest your time and energy to do something you like.


P.S. — Here's a great article that's very uplifting for English majors: Why I Hire English Majors

 

Yep, I majored in English. It has been hard to find jobs that pay well. I'm hoping to get a teaching certificate in the next few years/MA in education, and that should help. But it's been a very difficult life, financially, and though I've really tried to get into technical writing and such, I never had any luck. I've done everything from wait tables to be a wine-buyer/sommelier to a library assistant.

It's a great major, but one the world doesn't value a great deal. I think that's the case with a lot of arts/creative related things in the US. We don't really value the arts, overall. Things like newer detergents and shinier cars get more attention.

 

You could be an editor for a newspaper (even though they aren't exactly stable) or for a news website.

Editors get paid quite well.

---------- Post added 10th Aug 2013 at 11:58 PM ----------

Yeah, this, too.

 

I don't think I could disagree with this more. Your degree is what you make of it. If you go through college taking classes haphazardly until you fulfill the requirements for graduation, then yes, your English degree (any degree for that matter) will probably be useless. With careful planning, a goal to reach, intense networking, and perhaps some kick-ass internships: You can probably find a decent and rewarding career. I have plenty of friends who have graduated with English degrees, working in jobs they quite enjoy.

As for teaching (I double majored in English and Education), I would say that if you don't have a passion for it, then don't do it. I find it irritating when people treat teaching like its some type of back-up plan (Not saying that you are one of these people, I'm just venting). Teaching is a difficult career path to choose that requires a unique temperament coupled with appropriate training. To be frank, teaching these days is a difficult career to get into logistically. If you're not totally interested in teaching, there's no point in further saturating an already inundated job market. However, if you are truly rearing to take classrooms by storm, then make your education work for you. Make connections and work closely with your professors (They'll lead you in the right direction - Its part of how I landed my current job).

And for what its worth: The Ideal English Major - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

 

This. English degrees are far from useless.

I also agree with your point about not pursuing teaching unless you really have a passion for it. In addition to what you've already said, I think that many "teachers" these days are inadequate. They may have gotten their degrees, devised a curriculum, and stand in front of a classroom every day, but many are not actually "teaching" anything of value. If you're not serious about wanting to teach for the right reasons (i.e., making a difference in your students' lives and educations), then you shouldn't do it just for the sake of getting a career out of it. I've had some horrible teachers who have shown complete disregard for their students' educations, who have wasted my time, and who should clearly not be teaching. It takes a very special type of person to be a true teacher. Anyone can get a degree and talk to a class full of people, but valuable instruction, I find, is rare.

Also, thanks for sharing that article. Loved it!

 

My advisor is on my tail about finishing my edits for a novel, and I am 21 credits shy from my associates, and about 100 credits shy from my bacholers.

My goal is to be a writer, but my other goal is to work in publishing and editing. I just love working with words, and using them to convey ideas.

 

I am halfway through college, and I haven't changed my mind about English, but I found a new side of it I'm really interested in. Teaching was never an interest for me, but I really like creative fiction, so I set that as my main focus with my degree. I plan to be a writer and have another job, so I'd most likely be writing on the side.

Last year, I took my first linguistics class and immediately fell in love. I never knew sociolinguistics was so interesting. This semester I have a research internship in applied linguistics, and I'm excited for that. Now I'm focusing on both of these areas, and I'm not quite sure where my new-found interest will take me

 

I have an English degree and although I got off to a rocky start with it, it's turned out pretty well in the end.

I entered college intending to get an engineering degree because I am really interested in science and tech. Unfortunately, anything higher than algebra pretty much did not compute for me. So after three years of beating my brain against the wall, I switched majors to English and completed my degree in three more years.

After graduation, I should have moved to get a job since Tucson had limited options, but I really didn't want to. I also really didn't know what to actually do with my degree other than teach, which I had no interest in doing. Languished in retail mgmt and sales hell for a few years before a friend convinced me to move to the East Coast.

In Virginia, I learned some things:

A) the business/corporate world often doesn't care what degree you have as long as you have a degree (a good friend of mine has worked in a variety of corporate jobs and got me on the path to what I do now - her degree is in marine biology). They're going to train you to do whatever they want done anyway. I've been told much the same happens in technical fields btw.

B) there are lots of areas in the business world where the skills you learn with an English degree are applicable, either directly or not. In my case, these were:

Instructional Design
Technical Writing
Editing
Proofreading
Training

As part of all of these fields, I had to apply the research, critical thinking, project mgmt and organization, presentation, and writing skills I learned as an English major. It also turned out that I'm quite good at teaching adults (I've gotten more than a few compliments from both students and co-workers), which is funny since the last thing I wanted as a college student was to teach.

These days there are actually degrees in some of the things I've done, or the degree is now much more widely known about than when I was in school. But the majority of the people I've worked with still have degrees in English or similar 'liberal arts' fields. Often the degree got them in the door, but something else they like to do is their 'day job'. I had a boss with an Art degree. He spent most of his time doing computer graphics and website design and programming code to make computer based training courses.

As far as money, I make a comfortable, if not spectacular living at what I do. I could make a good deal more if I was willing to move, or job hunt more aggressively, but I like my current job and life here and several friends (who are the sort to normally push to constantly be looking for the next job and follow the job market closely) have advised me to just stay where I am for now.

The upshot of all this is that an English degree can be quite useful. But you need to think outside the box, keep an open mind, and cast a wide net when thinking and looking at your employment options with it.

Hope this helps,

Todd