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Breaking the Stereotypes of English Majors

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UH chapter.

We can be more than teachers.

People often think just because we major in English that we’re going to become teachers or professors. Not all of us want to teach. If that were the case, we would also be in the School of Education, not just in the Cullen building. This major is actually very flexible because once we get our degree, we can also get jobs in journalism, sales and technology, for example. So think about that the next time you ask an English major if they’re going to be a teacher.

We often have the upper hand just because we write well.

There are times where people have gotten jobs over other people just because they have amazing grammar and writing in their cover letter. You may be thinking, “I don’t need to know how to spell correctly to get this job,” or “Spellcheck will do it for me,” when both of these statements are incorrect. Writing is the basis of everything, and if you can’t spell, your potential employer will think that you can’t do your job well.

Not all of us are shy or introverted.

There are tons of us who are extroverted and love talking to people, but somehow people think we are all introverted. Some love to hold a conversation, some don’t. Some love to go out and meet people, some love to stay in and read a book cuddled up with their cat. It all depends on the person. The only thing we all have in common is our love for writing and the English language.

Not all of us like Harry Potter.

Not all of us have read every single book out there, so don’t be surprised if you find out we haven’t read books like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Not all of us like books of these genres, and when we get questioned about it people are surprised. I haven’t even read half of the literary books that we were assigned in high school, so don’t think that we know these books like the back of our hands.

You will see our writing one day.

Whether it is in the Huffington Post, a novel, or a personal blog, you will see our writing at some point in your life. Our goal is to become writers and authors, so you will see our posts or books either on a website or a magazine even if you “just so happen” to stumble upon it. In twenty years, you will definitely have seen our writing whether you have bought our books or read our posts online, so we’re accomplishing our dreams and making good money, don’t worry.

Jazmin Washington is currently a Senior at the University of Houston who loves writing as much as she does eating. She is an aspiring cat lady and loves everything New York.
"Writing means sharing. It's part of the human condition to want to share things - thoughts, ideas, opinions."