The On-Going Struggles of an English Major

By Taylor Dashiell on April 1, 2016

Courtesy: The Odyssey Online

“Oh so you’re studying English. What are you going  to do after school, teach?”

Ask anyone earning or possessing an English degree, everyone they know asked them this question. More than once.  Don’t misunderstand, teaching is a rewarding and respectable profession, but it is not the only option for an English major. The same way a Math major can delve into multiple fields of science and math, people who study English have their pick of some amazing careers.

The key to not falling into the high school English teacher rabbit hole is to know how versatile your degree actually is. Think about it: everything that’s printed was written and edited by at least one person. And this isn’t just books or articles in hard-copy or online. Every instruction manual, every phrase on a commercial or billboard had to be thought about, written down and then edited, multiple times.  English is everywhere, therefore English majors can get a job just about anywhere. Some careers include: Copy Editing, Technical Writing and Social Media Management, but the list goes on forever because something always needs to be written.

Courtesy: sites.up.edu

Communicating effectively in writing is just as important as verbal communication these days, putting people who can write well in high demand.  And because we use our lovely, but often confusing language so frequently it’s assumed by other fields of study that their undergraduates and subsequently their graduates know how to use the language effectively. This is not the case. Just because they said all the right things in the interview, doesn’t mean they can write a cohesive memorandum. If you’re an English major you’ve been approached by a non-English major to proofread something. My roommate is majoring in Dietetics and I can’t tell you how many lab reports, PowerPoint presentations, and now drafts of personal statements I’ve looked at in the last semester alone. We’ve been roommates for three years, do the math.

Again don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind proofreading her assignments or helping her rephrase awkward sentences, I quite enjoy it actually. But there are just as many people who hate being asked to proofread. Just because they’re an English major doesn’t mean they use punctuation and grammar correctly all the time. It’s a lot of pressure. In the same vein, we’re not living dictionaries or thesauruses. It’s similar to how bilingual people hate doing Google Translate’s job; English majors aren’t your personal Dictionary.com.

Being an English major can seem bleak at times, and it depends what your emphasis is. As a creative writing person, I can’t tell you how many people look worried for me when I tell them my emphasis. Like I’m going to spend the rest of my life living in a cardboard box in some alley of a major city, working at a diner while I  try to get my novel published or my screenplay picked up. Those are the long term goals, for me at least. But first, start from the bottom. Be an editorial assistant or a freelance writer, and then find a day job, like waitressing or administrative assistance. It’s like being a superhero; find your Daily Planet so you can pay rent and buy groceries, and be Superman when the call is made.  Because one thing English majors learn to handle well is rejection, and we learn it quickly. So we end up unnaturally patient sometimes, content with grinding until we find that dream gig.

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