College...hopefully. Maybe? (how much, school, education)

[NYCAnalyst]

FYI, it is all about drive and determination. How hungry are you?

I have a friend who graduated in 2008 with a bachelors in English from SUNY-Binghamton (Better than Hunter). He has been unemployed since graduation - that's 17 months and counting. He is 23 but is living like he is an 18 year old frat boy.

Law school is not easy, you have to have a top GPA and high LSAT's. The OP didn't mention anything about wanting to become a lawyer....

The OP needs to find out NOW what she wants to do in life. He/she doesn't have to stick to it, but at least there is some sort of long term plan for his/her life/career that can be changed. When I was going to college, I wanted to be a computer programmer, but I switched to finance after my junior year. At least I could explain to people in job interviews why I took the classes / major I took and why I suddently wanted to do finance. I don't think I would have gotten a job if I had said "Oh, I didn't know what I wanted to do in life so I chose this major for the hell of it".

(I am just saying this because in NYC, most people who go to college to "find themselves", find themselves alone, but more importantly broke and unemployed.)

[xwonderx]

Wow, I kind of feel like I've gotten a wake up call...

In my perfect world, I would take the English degree, go on to Graduate school, and end up working as a public relations specialist. I was hoping going to school in New York would make it easier to get an internship, but now I'm not so sure.

[NooYowkur81]

The only reason I even brought up Law School was because it was an example of something people with English degrees end up doing. I didn't bring it up to go into a tangent about Law School. It was an anecdotal example since a few people were saying an English B.A. is useless. An English major grouped with a good compliment in a double major can work well. For instance English/Marketing can help you get into the advertising field.

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by NYCAnalyst

FYI, it is all about drive and determination. How hungry are you?

I have a friend who graduated in 2008 with a bachelors in English from SUNY-Binghamton (Better than Hunter). He has been unemployed since graduation - that's 17 months and counting. He is 23 but is living like he is an 18 year old frat boy.

Law school is not easy, you have to have a top GPA and high LSAT's. The OP didn't mention anything about wanting to become a lawyer....

The OP needs to find out NOW what she wants to do in life. He/she doesn't have to stick to it, but at least there is some sort of long term plan for his/her life/career that can be changed. When I was going to college, I wanted to be a computer programmer, but I switched to finance after my junior year. At least I could explain to people in job interviews why I took the classes / major I took and why I suddently wanted to do finance. I don't think I would have gotten a job if I had said "Oh, I didn't know what I wanted to do in life so I chose this major for the hell of it".

(I am just saying this because in NYC, most people who go to college to "find themselves", find themselves alone, but more importantly broke and unemployed.)

There are a lot of unemployed recent college grads from all kinds of backgrounds and majors at the moment.

You are right about having at least some notion or idea of what you want to do exactly once your out of school, but realistically a lot of people don't really figure it all out until their sophmore or junior years in college. It is a good idea to have a Plan A, and a Plan B, and maybe even a Plan C.

[NYCAnalyst]

Originally Posted by xwonderx

Wow, I kind of feel like I've gotten a wake up call...

In my perfect world, I would take the English degree, go on to Graduate school, and end up working as a public relations specialist. I was hoping going to school in New York would make it easier to get an internship, but now I'm not so sure.

This is my opinion:

You don't need graduate school to work in public relations. All you need is the ability to communicate well, market yourself effectively, and be a good networker. If you are attractive and can hold your alcohol it doesn't hurt either.

If you major in English, you'll end up reading a whole bunch of books. I'd suggest majoring in communications and/or marketing, since you'll learn presentation skills, as well as other skills that are more pertinent to PR.

If you are outgoing, love to meet new people, etc - you'll def meet alot of people in NYC and will be very successful at it. Also, meeting people will lead to job opportunities.

Public Relations Specialists

I will say, it will be harder to meet people at Hunter since it is a commuter school...but if you want to do PR you can see this as a challenge and overcome it.

Stay hungry. Remember, Sylvester Stallone was rejected over 1,500 times by film agents before he starred in Rocky.

[iskray917]

ok lots of advice in this thread. DO this. DON'T DO this. We don't know who you are or what your passions are. If you want to major in English, go for it. Who are we to tell you what you should or should not study in college?

[NooYowkur81]

Originally Posted by iskray917

ok lots of advice in this thread. DO this. DON'T DO this. We don't know who you are or what your passions are. If you want to major in English, go for it. Who are we to tell you what you should or should not study in college?

This is probably the best advice people have given on this board so far.

Many will give you career advice along the way in life but you should always balance it off with a good deal of self awareness and self assessment. In the end you are the one who has to live with your own decisions and doing something that makes you happy or fulfilled is very important and should never be overlooked.

[newtoli]

Originally Posted by xwonderx

Wow, I kind of feel like I've gotten a wake up call...

In my perfect world, I would take the English degree, go on to Graduate school, and end up working as a public relations specialist. I was hoping going to school in New York would make it easier to get an internship, but now I'm not so sure.

PR is incredibly cut throat and competitive and you will make almost no money the first 5-10 years of your career, if you can even get an unpaid internship. I have a friend who is now 28, had all the right degrees and connections, and only now actually has a paying PR job... and her parents are still paying her rent.

You'll deal with a lot of trust fund kids willing to work for free in that field - especially in NY. Where are you living now? Come up with a fallback plan/degree. Come up with something that gives you leeway to do what you dream of doing, but also provides you with a fall back "regular" career. I only say this as advice - I am now 30 and see a lot of my friends who went to school for a dream career working retail or not working at all.

[Cyclops99]

I hate to tell someone not to follow their dreams or to pick one major over the other...especially since I don't know you. Of course you shouldn't listen to anonymous people on a forum. But there are people here with experience and wisdom... Just make sure whatever decision you make, it is an informed decision. And I agree with the others that you should have a back up plan...just in case. So like I said earlier...if you want to major in english go for it...but maybe add another major or minor. And most importantly in college is to get internships so you get your foot in the door.

[clevedark]

Don't limit your horizons to the grotesque and slimy worlds of PR and latter day Gordo Gekkos who insist you have to be hungry. You still have a chance to be a worthwhile human being who can contribute something to the world.

Find a school, study, and try to do something good with yourself.