All The Things I Can Do With My English Degree | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

All The Things I Can Do With My English Degree

Choices don't help my indecisiveness

84
https://www.pexels.com/photo/pile-of-books-159866/
https://unsplash.com/photos/slItfWbhijc

Ever since I decided that I wanted to study English in college, I've constantly been asked: "what are you going to do with that?". And it's a valid question. English is a very broad subject, and with that comes the possibility of many different paths, just like any other major.

The beauty of an English degree, no matter what your concentration is, is that the skills you learn studying English can translate into so many different jobs outside of English. Writing is such a large part of language, and therefore as an English major, you have the ability to gain strong written communications skills, among many others.

And while English can help in many different professions, I still get asked what exactly I want to do with just an English degree. And the answer is, I have no clue what exact path I want to take with English, all I know is that I cannot spend the rest of my life not writing. So, here are just a few of the possible jobs someone with just an English major can find.

Author

I feel like this is one of the first things that people think of when they hear that someone is an English major. A person who wants to spend all their time writing, aspiring to be published, hopefully, one day getting there. For me, while I think it would be amazing to be amongst the brave people who are able to publish a novel, I don't think I have enough patience to stick with an idea long enough to finish one.

Teacher

I had one truly amazing English teacher in my life before coming to college. None of the others were actually bad, but my sophomore and junior year teacher pushed me to become a better writer. Teaching English, possibly as a second language, or just, in general, is something that I've actually been very drawn to. Whether or not it happens, we will have to wait and see.

Journalist/Editor

While these two things are very different, they are the two jobs that I am most currently interested in, so I decided to put them together. While I don't have the patience to stick with the same idea long enough to write a novel, I think that writing about different topics, doing research, looking at stories from different perspectives, would be incredible. Following those same lines, I also believe that being an editor is intriguing because you would have the ability to ensure that a story reaches its full potential.

Lawyer

While this requires more than just getting a degree in English, having an English major can be a good first step towards law school.

Public Relation Specialist

Having an English major in this field would be extremely useful, because of the story writing qualities necessary to be successful. This position would be useful in news outlets, magazines, television, or working for specific people.

Other options:

Librarian

Social media manager

Technical writer

Proposal manager

Copywriter

While these are just a few of the options that someone with an English major has for a job, there are hundreds more. I'm not sure what my path is exactly, but I'm certain that I will be writing in my future, all thanks to my English major.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
retail
Chor Ip / Flickr

I'm sure, like me, many of you received lots of gift cards over the holidays. After working retail seasonally, here are a few tips that I learned in order to make the employees at your favorite store just a little happier and not want to charge you extra on your purchase for being awful. Here are some times when you should be nicer to retail workers than you actually are!

Keep Reading...Show less
5 Untold Struggles Of The Short Friend

I'm the Short Friend. I've been the Short Friend since about the seventh grade. I'm the one who stands in the front of the photos, gets made fun of for their height, and still shops in the kids department.

This article is not for the Almost Short Friends, i.e. the 5'3" and 5'4" Friends. No no, this is for the Actually Short Friends, i.e. the Barely Scraping 5'1" and shorter Short Friends.

Keep Reading...Show less
fall
Pixabay

Myers/Briggs personalty types are a common psychological assessment that has gone mainstream in recent years and most people know theirs.

If you don’t, check it out

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Thoughts You Have When You're Late to Your 9 AM (Again)

It's a daily struggle to make it on time, but everyone has those days where they just...don't.

1037
man running down on desert

You tried your best to avoid it, but that one statistics class that you need to take in order to graduate was only offered at 9 AM. Sound familiar? Now it's a daily struggle to make it on time, but everyone has those days where they just...don't. If that sounds relatable, then you may have experienced some (or all) of these thoughts.

Keep Reading...Show less
11 Things All Call Center Workers Can Empathize With Better Than Anyone
Youtube

This semester I started my journey as a member of my University's Alumni Outreach Team. This means a lot of things, but primarily it means that I get to make phone calls to parents and alumni two nights a week to update contact information, collect things like business cards and volunteer hours, and even ask for money.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments