Any English majors out there?

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-10-05 06:44am

I have a weird question. I know a lot of people, as I am sure a lot of you know. A lot of these people out in the offline world, as well as the online world, want to major in English. I don't understand. Is it somehow really easy, as compared to a lot of other majors? Granted, I could do it if I wanted to, but I hate doing essays...

~ver

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-10-06 12:59pm

Ive never met one outside of teachers. I dont recall ever talking to one in college. Seems like a worse choice for jobs than my major was.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-10-06 01:10pm

If you plan on being a writer, I guess it would help. There are some jobs I can think having an english major would be useful in. Sadly enough, having an english major makes you qualified to teach any subject up to even a high school level, so you can have english majors who know little to nothing about math or science teaching those courses because of the extreme demand for math and science teachers. The idea behind that of course is that an english major can pick up any book and learn enough to reiterate it to the students...

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-10-06 01:30pm

I'm thinking of minoring in creative writing. Does that count?

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-10-06 01:33pm

Singular Quartet wrote:I'm thinking of minoring in creative writing. Does that count?

Close enough, I guess?

Also, love the av.

~ver

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2003-10-06 01:43pm

Well, I'm doing Professional Writing....

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2003-10-06 01:51pm

No, English major is not always easy. As a Biological Sciences/Neuro guy I have respect for the English majors. While granted, a 1,000 pages of English books does not equal the toughness of trying to read, understand and memorize 1,000 pages of Physiology (unless we're talking about James Joyce's Ulysses) their workload is tremendous.

Also for some analytical works.. sciences and English are almost similar. If you're not smart enough to cut the mustard, you just ain't going to be able to make the right connections for essays/tests.

People who become English majors are really the source pool for all sorts of professions. A number actually become doctors (thanks to a better GPA.. rat bastards), a lot become teachers, lawyers.. etc etc.

Reading is an important part of being "civilized" "cultured" and "intelligent." And if you're all three, and can prove it.. good for you!

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-10-06 03:27pm

TrailerParkJawa wrote:Ive never met one outside of teachers. I dont recall ever talking to one in college. Seems like a worse choice for jobs than my major was.

I graduated Pomona College with a double major in English and Theoretical Economics. English degrees are actually some of the most versatile of all degrees. Over 70% of all English majors who go on to graduate school eventually earn a masters or higher in some field other than English. Many English majors go on to earn law degrees, become writers, earn doctorates in literature or linguistics, become politicians or public servants, or enter into medicine and psychiatry or sociology. You probably haven't asked the right people.

I would say that an English major is relatively easy to acquire, but honestly the GOOD English majors can compete with just about everyone. The deal is that most English teachers are unwilling to flat out fail a student, so you're almost guaranteed credit in your classes if you turn the assignments in (as opposed to say, upper-division calculus where you can work your ass off and pull a C, as I discovered after Linear Algebra), but it does require a spectacular amount of analysis and work both to understand literature and then to be able to express that understanding. My favorite teacher had a saying about English majors: "English majors learn to think clearly, write clearly, and speak clearly. The combination means that people listen to them." Frankly, it's pretty true. You also learn a LOT when you're reading English literature about history, psychology, sociology, and philosophy just by reading your literature every day, which means that you have a MUCH wider knowledge base than most people who immediately specialize into (say) Organic Chemistry or Biological Anthropology.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-10-06 03:34pm

Trytostaydead wrote:No, English major is not always easy. As a Biological Sciences/Neuro guy I have respect for the English majors. While granted, a 1,000 pages of English books does not equal the toughness of trying to read, understand and memorize 1,000 pages of Physiology (unless we're talking about James Joyce's Ulysses) their workload is tremendous.

Also for some analytical works.. sciences and English are almost similar. If you're not smart enough to cut the mustard, you just ain't going to be able to make the right connections for essays/tests.

People who become English majors are really the source pool for all sorts of professions. A number actually become doctors (thanks to a better GPA.. rat bastards), a lot become teachers, lawyers.. etc etc.

Reading is an important part of being "civilized" "cultured" and "intelligent." And if you're all three, and can prove it.. good for you!

I have to say likewise. Being a former A-level English Language student who was at one point going to major in English, it is a tough subject, but biology like what I'm doing now is far more complex in the end.

Thankfully, more people are doing what I did and learning English to a decent level of study and then doing science. There is a lack of scientists who can do complex sums and understand new theories as well as convey their ideas well enough in English.

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2003-10-06 04:37pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote: I have to say likewise. Being a former A-level English Language student who was at one point going to major in English, it is a tough subject, but biology like what I'm doing now is far more complex in the end.

Thankfully, more people are doing what I did and learning English to a decent level of study and then doing science. There is a lack of scientists who can do complex sums and understand new theories as well as convey their ideas well enough in English.

Indeed. For scientists, it's probably more important that we should have the ability to think outside of the box. That is why reading and reading is very important. Not just science textbooks, because in fact.. a lot of it does stiffle the imagination because you're becoming too ingrained into one system of thinking. But you have to read a wide variety of subjects so you can bring a wealth of different viewpoints to the table.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2003-10-06 08:50pm

Trytostaydead wrote:People who become English majors are really the source pool for all sorts of professions. A number actually become doctors (thanks to a better GPA.. rat bastards), a lot become teachers, lawyers.. etc etc.

Yup, no doubt about that. When the person doing the English major is the motivated directed type, the degree often serves as a springboard to many career choices, law being quite popular among the english majors I know. Of course if the person's taking English just to get an easy degree, he or she is likely to end up serving fries at Smelly McRottens. If you don't have a clear set of goals going into the program and you don't actively persue them, chances of that degree getting you places are not that great.

Post by **haas mark** » 2003-10-06 08:57pm

Master of Ossus wrote:<snip>

K cool, that explained *a lot.* I was just curious.. I mean, I'm going into either Music Education or Psychiatry, but I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to have something to fall back on (which could be a million things, for me). I don't want something that's easy to do.. but I also don't want something that will make me want to not take the courses.

~ver

BrYaN19kc · Post by **BrYaN19kc** » 2003-10-06 11:53pm

My B.A. is in English with minors in IT and Research. My M.A., which I'm in my third semester, is also in English Literature/Research Archivist/Database Administrator DBA.

I've had three solid job offers already. Mostly because my degree isn't centered around IT and computers. English/Literature doesn't just mean reading and writing. There are many other skills involved as well.

One example is that there are more lawyers with English/Literature degrees as their B.A. than there are lawyers with MBA's or other undergraduate degrees.

I'll match my reading list for a semester against any other major. Not only are there the core materials, but there are also the major critics and scholarly works to be covered as well.

An English undergraduate degree is a great thing to have, especially if you are picking up a Master's.