Now that I am almost done with my third year at Ohio State, I’ve learned not to take people’s reactions to telling them that I am an English major personally.
The raised eyebrows; the slow nod; the lack of immediate response. They are confused. After three years, I am prepared to hear their question, laced with doubt:
“Oh… what are you going to do with that?”
When I asked Elizabeth Falter, the Undergraduate Studies Program Manager in the Department of English here at Ohio State, why she believes there are so many misconceptions surrounding the usefulness of an English degree, she let out a sigh.
“The easiest answer is that it doesn’t sound like a job title,” Falter says. “If you major in engineering, if you major in nursing, if you major in accounting, if you major in even just business, it’s very easy to see the straight line from that major to a specific job that has a very similar name.”
After being surrounded mostly by undergraduate students who are pre-med, pre-dent, pre-law, or business throughout my college experience, I can attest to this. Take a biology major, for example. They take very specific courses during undergrad, they do the research, the clinicals, take the MCAT, go to med school, complete a residency, and eventually, become a doctor. By the time they step foot on campus as a freshman, they can see the straight line that leads to their career. They are in school to learn how to succeed in a specific profession. As an English major, our experience is very different.
“If you’re not in there seeing exactly what’s being done, you might not automatically take that extra step to make the connection between the complex writing that you’re doing in a class about medieval literature or a class about post-modern literature and the complex writing you might do in a corporate communications role,” Falter says.
English majors are learning how to succeed in necessary skills. They can refine these skills and market themselves to the jobs they want from there. Falter lists some of these skills: writing, communication, critical thinking, organization, giving and receiving feedback, and career and self-development.
“You’re probably not going to see a job ad where it says ‘qualifications: ability to write a ten-page literary analysis’ or a ‘20-page short story.’ Even if those specific things aren’t required, having done that in your classes is giving you skills that are applicable,” Falter says.
During my time at OSU, I’ve been taught to write in so many different forms and genres, including creatively in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, academically doing literature analysis, or journalistically in AP style. I’ve built the confidence to take on any type of writing project, no matter the genre or style. This is not only valuable when it comes to careers in writing, but being able to take on challenges even if they are new is a skill that will be helpful at any job.
Because of everything I’ve learned in my major, I explained to Falter that I’ve always felt excited about the career opportunities when I graduate. There is no straight path to a specific job, and this doesn’t scare me– it makes me so excited to see what’s out there.
“I loved hearing you say that you can do anything with an English major, because we tell students that all of the time, but I think there is a real perception that all you can do with an English major is teach or that the English major is giving you skills that are ‘easy to learn’ in other ways, and I think that it is incredibly valuable for students to hear and to know that the skills that you develop in the English major, like communication and being able to think deeply and critically about big issues and big ideas are skills that are real skills. They are not easy things, they are not things that come innately or naturally. They are things that you are learning and strengthening and they are incredibly valuable in a whole host of workplaces. And they are in demand in workplaces,” Falter says.
Falter mentioned that The National Association for Colleges and Employers gives surveys to employers to find out what they’re looking for in new hires. They’ve distilled it down to eight competencies, and Falter said that English majors get them all across their coursework.
The English major consists of four specializations.
- Literature, Film, Folklore, and Pop Culture Studies
- Creative Writing
- Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy
- Pre-education
My specialization is creative writing (and I have loved every second of it), but that doesn’t mean creative writing is the only thing I do.
“What I really love about our English major is that anyone in any specialization gets a really broad base of English education. Everyone has to take classes outside of their specialization,” Falter says.
With this expansive base of English education and wide range of in-demand competencies, why does English get a bad rep? Why is enrollment going down? Along with seeing these reasons first-hand over the years, Falter explained something I hadn’t yet heard. She said traditionally, people have thought of the skills students gain in the humanities as “soft skills.” The term comes from a time when “soft skills” just meant skills that you didn’t need a machine for.
“For better or for worse, sometimes when people hear the term ‘soft skills,’ they think that soft skills means ‘easy skills’ or skills that aren’t as important or, again like I said earlier, skills that everyone has or that you can very easily develop,” Falter says.
Rather than using the term “soft skills,” Falter instead calls them “durable skills.”
“The skills that you learn in communication, in leadership, in teamwork, in self-development–those are skills that you are going to maintain and that you are going to strengthen and grow, and that are going to last and be enduringly applicable to a wide range of jobs, including the jobs that don’t exist yet,” Falter says.
Some recent examples of careers that English majors have gone into include a communications specialist for a national law firm, a behavioral health tech at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and an SEO (search engine optimization) writer. In addition, many graduates become communication specialists in medical fields, program managers, technical writers, go into training roles, administrative roles, and more.
Falter explained that many times, a job listing will say something along the lines of “looking for a bachelor’s degree in marketing, communications, journalism, or related field.” She says that even though English isn’t listed there, it absolutely counts as a related field.
“If you are seeing the matchup between your skills and experience and what they’re asking for, you should always apply. Oftentimes, people are putting those job ads out there assuming that a certain major encompasses a certain set of skills, but they’re really looking for the skills more than the major,” Falter says.
Because there are so many different varieties of careers English majors can go into, it can seem a little overwhelming to try and find the right one. Luckily, OSU’s English department specifically has incredible resources to help. Falter plays a huge role in creating these career resources for students. This year, she helped put on the first ever Humanities Career Exploration Fair.
“We were able to host an event where we brought 19 local employers to campus to talk to students about the value of humanities majors. It gave our students a chance to connect with local employers and not only get to know them, but also hear from the people, who are actually hiring and who are actually in the working world, why the skills they are gaining and the major are important,” Falter says.
I went to the Humanities Career Exploration Fair, and thought it was a great opportunity to talk to employers about what kind of jobs were out there. Along with this, I landed two of my three internships using career fairs and the English job board, and I plan to schedule a meeting with Falter next semester to talk about career opportunities.
With all of that being said, it doesn’t matter what you major in if you don’t take the initiative to do something with it. I’ve always believed that if you love what you are studying, and you are passionate about building your career around it, there’s nothing in the way of you succeeding except yourself. Honestly, the people who have questioned my choice in my major have only made me want to work harder.
Even though being an English major is not a linear path to your career, the world doesn’t work like that, anyway.
“The humanities gives you an excellent foundation to exist in that uncertainty, be able to see things from multiple perspectives, and have the skills that are going to endure and help you pivot and help you adapt to all of the changes and all of the things that are coming,” Falter says.
It’s hard to believe how much I’ve grown and changed since declaring an English major at OSU. As ready as I am to graduate, I am going to miss my classes and the community so much. I can’t recommend this major enough!
