English vs Communications major, which is more valuable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Nope, no “media studies” concentration for undergrads
https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/fields-concentration

[Anonymous]

I’m a communications executive, and I hire a wide range of majors; there are English and comms majors, but also folks with degrees in theater, religious studies, computer science, biology. I look for passion, curiosity, and maturity. Most importantly, I look for candidates who have thought about why they want the job they’re applying for and can explain how their experience has prepared them for it.

So here’s my advice: Your daughter should pick her major based on what interests her. She’s most likely to find success in college, career, and life if she’s highly engaged. She’ll make herself attractive to future employers is with a strong academic record and the ability to translate her college work to her career aspirations—ideally with some enthusiasm. If she feels the need, she can complement her major with internships, activities, and volunteer gigs that relate to her professional aspirations.

[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.

Well if you follow that thinking to its logical conclusion, why bother with college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a communications executive, and I hire a wide range of majors; there are English and comms majors, but also folks with degrees in theater, religious studies, computer science, biology. I look for passion, curiosity, and maturity. Most importantly, I look for candidates who have thought about why they want the job they’re applying for and can explain how their experience has prepared them for it.

[/b]So here’s my advice: Your daughter should pick her major based on what interests her. She’s most likely to find success in college, career, and life if she’s highly engaged. [b]She’ll make herself attractive to future employers is with a strong academic record and the ability to translate her college work to her career aspirations—ideally with some enthusiasm. If she feels the need, she can complement her major with internships, activities, and volunteer gigs that relate to her professional aspirations.

Newsflash. Most college kids aren't "highly engaged". And a CS or Accounting major doesn't have to do a darn thing other than graduate to land a good job after college. A Psych major who hopes to get a decent paying job upon graduating better be busting their butt in some way to show that they can offer something of value to an employer. And that just doesn't describe the vast majority of college kids who just go to class and maybe work in a restaurant while going through school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a communications executive, and I hire a wide range of majors; there are English and comms majors, but also folks with degrees in theater, religious studies, computer science, biology. I look for passion, curiosity, and maturity. Most importantly, I look for candidates who have thought about why they want the job they’re applying for and can explain how their experience has prepared them for it.

[/b]So here’s my advice: Your daughter should pick her major based on what interests her. She’s most likely to find success in college, career, and life if she’s highly engaged. [b]She’ll make herself attractive to future employers is with a strong academic record and the ability to translate her college work to her career aspirations—ideally with some enthusiasm. If she feels the need, she can complement her major with internships, activities, and volunteer gigs that relate to her professional aspirations.

Newsflash. Most college kids aren't "highly engaged". And a CS or Accounting major doesn't have to do a darn thing other than graduate to land a good job after college. A Psych major who hopes to get a decent paying job upon graduating better be busting their butt in some way to show that they can offer something of value to an employer. And that just doesn't describe the vast majority of college kids who just go to class and maybe work in a restaurant while going through school.

The OP asked if her daughter should major in Comms or English. As an experienced comms professional who hires for comms roles all the time, I gave her my advice. I wasn’t talking about any of the other majors you mention in your reply. So I’m not sure what your beef is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a communications executive, and I hire a wide range of majors; there are English and comms majors, but also folks with degrees in theater, religious studies, computer science, biology. I look for passion, curiosity, and maturity. Most importantly, I look for candidates who have thought about why they want the job they’re applying for and can explain how their experience has prepared them for it.

So here’s my advice: Your daughter should pick her major based on what interests her. She’s most likely to find success in college, career, and life if she’s highly engaged. She’ll make herself attractive to future employers is with a strong academic record and the ability to translate her college work to her career aspirations—ideally with some enthusiasm. If she feels the need, she can complement her major with internships, activities, and volunteer gigs that relate to her professional aspirations.

Excellent advice. I'm the head of an executive search firm.

[Anonymous]

Both a waste of money, but "communications" worse. Not even sure what that means, but at UVa it was considered the easy major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:English majors are generally serious students whilst communications majors are students looking for an easy major.....it’s a worthless degree.

They are both worthless.

Really? My DH is an English major who went on to go to med school and now makes 350k a year as an MD. I majored in Political Science because I felt forced to by my parents and then on to law school. I hate practicing law and never made much $.

Study the thing you love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my school all the athletes were communications majors. This should tell you everything you need to know.

That communications majors get jobs on Wall Street and become CEOs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both a waste of money, but "communications" worse. Not even sure what that means, but at UVa it was considered the easy major.

Why scoff? In an era, where every major company, and small companies as well, have communication departments, it’s odd that you dismiss it.
Marketing
Advertising
Public relations
Investor relations
Public affairs

...are all communications fields. You can make major money or not, depends on your ambition, but it’s a huge field and you can work in any industry that appeals to you: non profit, medicine, finance, entertainment, fashion, law, real estate, education and beyond.

[Anonymous]

I majored in English for undergrad and Comms for grad school. Now work in communications for the World Bank and travel the world. Most of my colleagues have journalism backgrounds but comms is acceptable too. What's more important is to think about what you want to do post-graduation, and go after these opportunities. Neither major is an automatic pipeline to a particular job the way engineering or computer science is, so personal factors become more important.

[Anonymous]

It's a matter of what interests the student. An English major is the study of literature and literary criticism. Communications is the study of how people communicate with an emphasis on mass communication, marketing, business, media, etc. An analogy might be studying theoretical math versus accounting. An English major can probably do the same jobs that a communications major can do, but not vice versa. Both can lead to fulfilling careers. My english major friends are professors, editors, journalists, web designers, etc. Two of my communications majors friends are in advertising or public relations. The latter make a lot of money--neither were good students but stuck with the communications field and were self starters. Another went on to grad school and now teaches.

[Anonymous]

There's also the issue of what a given school means by "Communications." At some schools (UMd for example), Comm is a program oriented toward PR or public information. At others, Comm programs focus on media studies from a social science perspective. The former type has the practical vocational element that lots of parents like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's also the issue of what a given school means by "Communications." At some schools (UMd for example), Comm is a program oriented toward PR or public information. At others, Comm programs focus on media studies from a social science perspective. The former type has the practical vocational element that lots of parents like.

At the state school I went to in the 80's it was both. Students themselves self-selected into either track.

[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.

as a security guard?