To be or not to be...an English Major?

[Amber McLain]

Hello everyone, I'm a college freshman. I'm doing well, getting all of my general education stuff out of the way, but that decision is hanging over my head. What major do I want to be? I'm leaning, quite heavily, towards English - I love reading and writing, and would love to go into the publishing business.

So my question to all of you nerdfighters out there: opinions? Are you an English major? If so, what do you say?

Just looking for a few little, or big, nudges towards what I hope will be the right decision. Thanks to all of you and DFTBA.

[April Gonzales]

I'm a college freshman as well, and wavering between an English major and a degree in Psychology.
I'm leaning toward English right now, because I thought about what kind of classes I want to be taking for the next 3 and a half years - and those are definitely literature and composition classes. If English is something you love, and could see yourself devoting your career to, then I say to go for it :)
Hope this has helped you!

[Chip, A Former Ningmaster]

I'm the wrong person to ask about this. I'm a sophomore and still undeclared, which isn't bad, I still have time, but now it's starting to run out :(

[Christopher Foster]

I have my BA in English, MSU class of 04, with my Secondary Education Certification. I taught 11th and 12th grade english(comp, britlit, amlit, and creative writing) but I could not make a living out of it at all, the lack of benefits coupled with low salary and forced vacations :( To wit, I ended up joining the Navy when they offered me a six-figure bonus=\

I say do what you love, but HAVE A BACKUP. It's tough out there right now. Minor in something marketable. It might be rough, might not be classes you want or enjoy, but at the end of the day, you have to be able to stand on your own two feet.

Godspeed to you, I sincerely hope it works out for you :)

[Tenley Nadine]

I think a lot of people have been in that situation, maybe even everyone who goes to college, but its really up to you. I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but its true. An English major might be a good idea, depending on what you want to do. In other circumstances there might be a more specific major that's kind of similar to English, but would fit better. It really depends. For publishing, um... I really don't know anything about publishing/what publisher's usually major in... so can't really help. It might be English, I'm not sure.

I just read that back and I literally told you nothing... I could just delete it, but what the hell, I'll post it anyway. lol

[Lucy]

I did my major in English, and I actually think it's a very marketable and versatile skill. I was going to do a concentration in literature, but I ended up switching to a "Cultural and Media Studies" concentration because it was more applicable to my career goals (I work in entertainment now).

People think English is just about literature, and that's where this idea that we're unemployable comes from. If all you take out of your major is the ability to list off a bunch of titles you have read, then sure, there are a limited number of careers that will help you with. So I would say to broaden out from just literature, and take classes on media, film, semiotics, culture studies, history of language, etymology and others, which, depending on your school, should fall under the "English" umbrella. But whatever kinds of classes you take, an English major will teach you important skills to do with the processing of information, speech, communication, argument and debate, and cultural awareness, and there is not a career on earth in which that is not helpful now and then.

If you're absolutely set on publishing, you might want to talk to a guidance councillor about the best tactic to get there. An English major is great, but you might also want a double major or a minor in business or economics or something. Remember, publishing is a business, and loving literature is not going to be enough to get you in there - you also have to show that you can be a productive and focussed worker.

So yeah, I would say absolutely go for English, but broaden your focus a bit. Not only will a wider array of topics provide you with a wider array of skills, but you'll probably find that classes you weren't expecting to love turn out to be absolutely fascinating.

[Amber McLain]

Thank you all! I'll definitely take this into account. I'm still unsure of my minor, so I'll look into those soon. I'm not *dead* set on publishing, it was just an idea. I just really would love to do something with English.

[motherchucker]

Amber, I'm in the exact same boat, and I've wavered so many times on whether or not I really wanted to do English or not. But I've decided to. We're only going to be freshman, so we can change if we realise that it's not for us. Plus, you don't go to university just to find a job. There has to be some element of just doing what you love, or the whole experience will be a waste, no matter what degree you come out at the end with. I agree with Christopher Foster, do what you love, but have a back up.
And if worst comes to worst, Maccas is always hiring.

[Jon Garcia]

Do it. I never had closure on my what-do-I-want-to-be thing until I decided on this major. If you're really worried about getting a job, take the education route. My friend Carla is an ed major and she's going into editing, so there you go.