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Not all English major can actually write or edit, as the joke goes, they can analyze the symbolism of the color red in Tolstoy but can't string a sentence.
I took a news editing test for one job. It was not tricky, just a news article with basic errors. I aced it and was told that some 50 applicants (all with bachelor's and some with master's degrees, usually in English) couldn't pass it. Oh, and you had to touch type, no matter how badly or slowly, and I had 30 wpm with many errors, so that was good enough.
I dont have an english degree. But i have considered it (a lot). I am also a pretty decent writer and do well in english. Much prefer writing to testing and can pop out an 8 page paper in a couple of hours. I also find stupid (and annoying) errors in the books I read.
A number of friends with English degrees come to mind. One went to med school, and is a very successful physician. Another is VP of development for an important non-profit. A third heads a public relations agency. Yet others went to law school, and are partners in firms.
I don't get why people use these sorts of examples, lawyers, physicians, etc have those careers because they went to law, medical school, etc....not because they may have a degree in English. The English degree in these sorts of cases is immaterial, in fact in the case of medical school it does nothing for you.
Anyhow, pointing to some successful people with English degrees doesn't tell you anything about what, on average, is likely to happen to someone that majors in English....
DAVE, Jersey City University has not only English as a major, but also Journalism and Communication, and bunches of other stuff. You can start out taking courses in both fields, as well as some other things you find interesting in general, and eventually realize what appeals to you the most, and drill down on your major.
When you said you see errors in stuff you read, I'm that way, my father is that way, and I wound up as a writer and editor on several newspapers, I LOVED THAT JOB, getting the news, talking to people, writing out and editing 50 million stories, and on a small paper I also did photography and pasteup, all under deadline, and later I wound up with a graphics bunch and did their editing, it was a lot of fun being with a quasi-advertising department within a large company, and eventually I wished I had gotten into graphics and design, so creative, real ad agency type stuff.
But I started out as an English major, the work got a tad boring, so i moved over into Philosophy, got my B.A., was gonna get more degrees and be a professor, but married, and then did one year's grad work and got a certificate in writing & editing that trained me to work on newspapers, and that field has served me well. I would also, if you go that way, take a couple graphics art courses, becuz even in general newspaper work, you gotta be able to design a page, and while I was taught that in my writing & editing program, later on I wished I had had more expertise with that.
In fact, I wound up wanting to be a whole lot of things after I had finished school, maturing brings new interests. Among those things was wanting to be an architect, designing buildings and homes and such, and much later wanted to be a veterinarian tech, and even took some nursing courses. Of course, I also wished I had minored in music because as I got older, I spent more time fooling around with guitar and piano, and while I had teachers for all that, I wish I had known more about "music theory," and such things as that. And then there's art, ohhhhhhhhh I love painting now, so maybe a few drawing and painting courses would have helped me do a little better with it. BUT ALWAYS, when deciding on a final major, you gotta look at it as your bread and butter, what it's going to always provide for you and your family, where you can pretty much pick up a job wherever you go, and that you are just plain good at from the start. What I mean is, you may LIKE music, but it's pretty hard to make a living that way, thus is has to stay a minor in college. But with journalism, whether you go the newspaper route or advertising, for examples, you will have A SPECIFIC JOB that you are trained to do and will pay you an expected salary.
Anyhow, it's amazing just how far out you can go in thinking about jobs whilst wanting to be an English major. It can lead you into trying on lots of interesting work, depending on which aspect of English winds up appealing to you. But I WOULD look into newspaper/journalism work, since you find those errors so easily, the editing part of my job was easy as pie (altho it DID drive me crazy). In other words, English is fine, but why not also aim for THE variation on that theme that will earn you some cash, turn into a REAL job without any work but the B.A., like Journalism as a major. GG
-a program developer for an organization providing youth & family services
-newspaper reporter
-newspaper columnist
-newspaper photographer
-newspaper editor
-paralegal
-private tutor
-teacher
My SO also has an English degree. He has been employed as a/an:
-IT worker
-park ranger
-catastrophe claims field investigator for an insurance company
-fraud investigator for the same insurance company
-accountant for the same insurance company (that required becoming a CPA, though, which required masters-level accounting coursework...English background made the CPA examination process that much easier, though).
It's a fairly versatile degree, needless to say. Ultimately, though, it's going to come down to the individual and how intelligently he or she markets his or her skills. The course of study itself should provide one with tools that are easily applicable across a wide range of careers/fields. This thread comes up every so often, usually with user_id beating his/her head against a brick wall trying in vain to convince anyone who might put stock in it that it's the world's most useless major. Really, though, there aren't so much useless majors as there are people who are unsuccessful at marketing their skills well.
If someone has an english degree (either bachelor level or master) what can they do with it besides teach?
What NOT to do would be the better question.
Communications including print, Television, and film media.
Public Relations
Writing
Human Service
The Clergy
Law
Private Editorial Services
Higher Ed Counseling
writing
Sales of ANY SORT
Human Resource Management
Consultant in your favorite field.
Admissions Counselor.
Grant Writer - non profit administration
insurance.
Patient Care Liaison
Real Estate
Copy writer
Library Science
There are so many more. Never understood why those with MAs in English are so opposed to teaching at the college level.
Lot's of freedom, no parents to deal with, make your own hours.
I have a sister who has an MA in Journalism from Columbia (the Ivy League one) and she prefers poverty to teaching.
i think the problem is a correlative problem rather than a causal one. as others have pointed out, there are plenty of jobs to be had that require just any bachelor's. however, someone choosing to go into english is a lot less likely to have a clear picture of what they want to do upon graduation than someone going into something like nursing or engineering. so if you major in english because you like it and you have no idea what sort of jobs interest you, then yes you are going to struggle more than someone who knows what to apply to.
i think the problem is a correlative problem rather than a causal one. as others have pointed out, there are plenty of jobs to be had that require just any bachelor's. however, someone choosing to go into english is a lot less likely to have a clear picture of what they want to do upon graduation than someone going into something like nursing or engineering. so if you major in english because you like it and you have no idea what sort of jobs interest you, then yes you are going to struggle more than someone who knows what to apply to.
I don't agree. I think, like anything else, it's a case-by-case sort of thing. Some college students/recent grads are very focused, others aren't. Not having conducted any formal research on the topic, I can only speak anecdotally, but most of the other English majors I studied with knew exactly what they were planning to do with their degrees (for most at my alma mater, it was part and parcel of going into education, journalism school, or law school). I'm not really sure what your data is for determining that those choosing English as a major are "a lot less likely to have a clear picture of what they want to do upon graduation," but I actually didn't find that to be the case. I did know a few people who graduated without much clarity as to what their next steps were, but not too many (pretty decent school, with a noticeably motivated student body, overall, not a lot of the "I have no idea what I want to do" types, regardless of major)...but the ones that come to mind weren't actually English majors, as it turns out. Just my experience.
There are so many more. Never understood why those with MAs in English are so opposed to teaching at the college level.
I had an interesting experience when I was an undergrad in English...I had several professors who, based on my research and writing, suggested I consider pursuing the higher ed track, PhD level, etc. When I went to my advisor to mull it over, she was enormously discouraging of becoming an English professor...she had valid justifications for her stance (citing the then-flooded field, the fact that so many schools were going away from the hiring of full professors and staffing with adjuncts, and the schools that kept tenure track full professors on staff rarely having openings, the publish/perish issue, etc. But I also think she let her own personal issues with the profession get in the way of her advising, in this case.
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