English vs Communications major, which is more valuable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]Just to be clear, the best schools — like, say, Harvard— don’t have communications or journalism majors.[/b] They have many different flavors of English major — English and American lit and language, comparative literature, history and literature. Enrollment in these majors has plummeted over time, but they remain the gold standard for smart word people who can go on to be whatever they want.

Harvard offers a major in a Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Would you seriously argue that this is a more rigorous and intellectual major than the study of Communications?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]Just to be clear, the best schools — like, say, Harvard— don’t have communications or journalism majors.[/b] They have many different flavors of English major — English and American lit and language, comparative literature, history and literature. Enrollment in these majors has plummeted over time, but they remain the gold standard for smart word people who can go on to be whatever they want.

Harvard offers a major in a Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Would you seriously argue that this is a more rigorous and intellectual major than the study of Communications?

Harvard also offers Art, Film, and Visual studies, as well as Theater, Dance, and Media. Not exactly your traditional Liberal Arts majors.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, why is this thread so weird and misogynistic?

I'm a journalist, and I agree completely that you can build a career in journalism/PR/content management, etc., with either an English degree or a communications degree. It's what you do while you're in college and immediately after that sets your course.

If you want to be a writer, then you must write. College newspaper, internships, freelance work, etc.

If you want to be a professor/teacher/scholar, an English degree would be better.

If you know you want to work in media, communications might be better. But it's not set in stone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.

English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.

+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.

English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.

+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.

Really?? There are no ‘socio-economic connotations’ associated with either degree....Ha!
So stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.



English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.



+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.



Really?? There are no ‘socio-economic connotations’ associated with either degree....Ha!
So stupid.

Psst....your ignorance is showing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.

English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.

+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.

But that's only because it's been a major for longer. There is really no reason for English to be considered more high brow than communications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, why is this thread so weird and misogynistic?

I'm a journalist, and I agree completely that you can build a career in journalism/PR/content management, etc., with either an English degree or a communications degree. It's what you do while you're in college and immediately after that sets your course.

If you want to be a writer, then you must write. College newspaper, internships, freelance work, etc.

If you want to be a professor/teacher/scholar, an English degree would be better.

If you know you want to work in media, communications might be better. But it's not set in stone.

How in the world is this thread "misogynistic"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.

English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.

+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.

Ok, so where does earning a Media Studies degree from Harvard (yes, they offer it) fit in in your world view? Is this high-brow or low-brow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to be clear, the best schools — like, say, Harvard— don’t have communications or journalism majors. They have many different flavors of English major — English and American lit and language, comparative literature, history and literature. Enrollment in these majors has plummeted over time, but they remain the gold standard for smart word people who can go on to be whatever they want.

Northwestern, Penn, Stanford, Berkeley...should I stop now or would you like to admit you are talking out of your a$$?

I can’t be bothered to check but I don’t think any of those schools offers a communications major.....that’s more of a state school degree.

https://comm.stanford.edu/major/

https://mediastudies.ugis.berkeley.edu/

https://admissions.cals.cornell.edu/academics/majors/communication/
https://as.vanderbilt.edu/communication/student-resources/major/
https://annenberg.usc.edu/current-students/usc-students-applying-annenberg/communication-major-admission-standards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Communications is basically a trade school degree.
Great if you’re an attractive female that wants to earn 18k in PR to fetch coffee.

Why would Communications be considered a trade school degree but not English? Communications majors have to take a lot of English classes and do lots of writing.



English is a classic liberal arts humanities major. Communications is a pre-professional trade degree.



+1. There are also socio-economic connotations associated with the majors. English lit is considered more high brow than communications.



Really?? There are no ‘socio-economic connotations’ associated with either degree....Ha!
So stupid.

Psst....your ignorance is showing.

I guess it is bc I have no idea what you’re talking about. Thank god!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, why is this thread so weird and misogynistic?

I'm a journalist, and I agree completely that you can build a career in journalism/PR/content management, etc., with either an English degree or a communications degree. It's what you do while you're in college and immediately after that sets your course.

If you want to be a writer, then you must write. College newspaper, internships, freelance work, etc.

If you want to be a professor/teacher/scholar, an English degree would be better.

If you know you want to work in media, communications might be better. But it's not set in stone.

How in the world is this thread "misogynistic"?

More than one comment about pretty women being ok with low-paying degrees.

[Anonymous]

My BIL has a communications degree, he works as a security guard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BIL has a communications degree, he works as a security guard.

My brother has a communications degree; he worked at the White House for years and now works for Disney.

It's not about the degree. It's about the person who earns it, how they network, and what they choose to do to build a resume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My BIL has a communications degree, he works as a security guard.

My brother has a communications degree; he worked at the White House for years and now works for Disney.

It's not about the degree. It's about the person who earns it, how they network, and what they choose to do to build a resume.

No post degree? Just a straight BA?