9 Things To Do With An English Degree

By Madison White on February 9, 2016

Every English major knows it. The dreaded silence after disclosing your major, followed by the “Oh cool, what are you planning to do with that?”

Image via connectnigeria.com

English, surprisingly, isn’t just reciting poetry in the park. As a diverse, challenging, and unique discipline, there are many things to do with an English degree.

Here are nine of them.

1. Write

One of the best things about having an English degree is that you can write and write well. You can write almost anything: poems, short stories, novels, essays, proposals, memos, articles, captions, magazines, emails, reviews, critiques, and much, much more.

Writing will never be out of style. Even the most influential and scientific corporations need good writers to exude style and confidence to the outside world. Writing is definitely more accessible today than ever before. Writers consistently produce content online and even have the option to self-publish themselves.

2. Blog

There are thousands upon thousands of blogs out there and you can spot a poorly written one from a mile away. Why not create your own? If you have a creative and an entrepreneurial side, you may be able to pull off an entire career just from blogging.

With ad revenue, product promotion, website traffic, and partnerships with other blogs, it doesn’t have to be difficult to earn big bucks. Granted, you’ll put in a lot of time and effort yourself creating and developing said blog, but if it’s about something you truly love, is it even really work?

3. Edit/Copy-Write

You can recognize great writing, but producing it just isn’t your strong suit. That’s alright, there are many people in the complete opposite position. Many brilliant writers can have solid ideas and terrible punctuation.

Writers will ship their work off to editors to fix their mistakes and polish the overall presentation. This way, you still work with words even if you don’t meticulously place each one.

4. Literary Agents

Much like an editor who isn’t the next Shakespeare, agents read manuscript after manuscript and decide who is. Sifting through lots of work can seem tiresome, but there’s always gold to be found.

You get to decide which authors you want to represent and pitch their ideas to major publishing companies. Plus, you live on the cutting edge of new literature, and who knows, you might just uncover the next best-seller.

5. Publish

The literary agents will pitch to you what they think is great, but you get to decide what actually is. Rejecting books may be disheartening, but striking the perfect novel more than makes up for it.

And then comes the promotion. You’ll help distribute and sell said novels and know that when the author strikes it big, they owe much of their success to you.

6. Teach

Of course, one of the effects of a passion for words is wanting to share it with others. Whether high school or university level, instilling your excitement into future generations is a thing to be treasured.

Your teachings could inspire the next critics, authors, poets, and future English teachers as well. You’ll not only get to discuss literature all day long, but find new and improved ways of seeing those works every single day.

7. Teach English Abroad

Having an English degree, believe it or not, opens you up to the rest of the world. As one of the growing global languages, English speakers can go just about anywhere. If you have experience in another language, or even if you don’t, English teachers are in hot demand.

The options of countries are limitless and you’ll learn more about yourself and the English language just by traveling away from it.

8. Literary Critic

If reading and analyzing literature is your strong suit, you may want to consider becoming a literary critic. You really have to know your stuff, but you get to review the best of the best. You’ll write eloquent words and reviews of other eloquent works. You’re always on the cutting edge of new works and play an instrumental role in the discovery of talent.

9. Almost Anything

The brilliance of a literary degree is that it’s so ingrained in every other facet of life: history, art, philosophy, sociology, and more. Your knowledge of the world is much larger than you probably even know.

You spent your days discussing themes and human nature rather than just memorizing equations. You are adept to new situations and not many life events can shock you. Work hard enough, and you can pick up just about anything.

Despite its lofty appearance, an English degree can be a very solid basis on which to build your life. Limitless jobs exist for the creative English lover and finding them isn’t quite as unreasonable as it seems.

Devote yourself to the language and it’s sure to love you in return.

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