Anonymous wrote:English major here, worked out great for me. I read fiction in college and wrote essays about the stories. For that they gave me a degree, which is the minimum requirement for the job I've held for the past 30 years. If I had to do it over I wouldn't change a thing.

Yes a bachelor's to find a job. But what job is it? It employed you, but was the English major part necessary to get this particular job?

Anonymous wrote:Most people are thinking about their experiences studying English in college 20-30 years ago, which is when parents of current students were in college. It's not the same world. It's not the same English departments. Even if the course has innocent titles like Shakespeare, how it is taught is very different. Worth reading this substack by a recent Columbia graduate with a degree in English.

https://www.pensandpoison.org/p/i-thought-i-was-going-to-study-literature

She may only be one person but what she says is corraborated by several old friends who are professors. Not every school is quite like Columbia but this ideological approach to teaching English (and history) is pervasive in many places. This kind of shift is certainly one of the multiple factors behind the dramatic collapse in students majoring in the humanities.

"You can imagine my astonishment, then, when I learned that by some twisted perversion of fate, literature had become virtually synonymous with radical leftism in the contemporary literary academy." Ha! That was already true at GMU 30 years ago. Everything was "problematic". Just read about half the books, try to attend as many classes as you can (more important than the reading), and breeze through with Cs. My parents paid for this!!!

English major here, worked out great for me. I read fiction in college and wrote essays about the stories. For that they gave me a degree, which is the minimum requirement for the job I've held for the past 30 years. If I had to do it over I wouldn't change a thing.

English majors at DC's ivy:

Harvard Law
Yale Law
Mckinsey
JP Morgan

Most people are thinking about their experiences studying English in college 20-30 years ago, which is when parents of current students were in college. It's not the same world. It's not the same English departments. Even if the course has innocent titles like Shakespeare, how it is taught is very different. Worth reading this substack by a recent Columbia graduate with a degree in English.

https://www.pensandpoison.org/p/i-thought-i-was-going-to-study-literature

She may only be one person but what she says is corraborated by several old friends who are professors. Not every school is quite like Columbia but this ideological approach to teaching English (and history) is pervasive in many places. This kind of shift is certainly one of the multiple factors behind the dramatic collapse in students majoring in the humanities.

Until a few years ago, and could still be true, English was the # 1 major for "Pre-Med" (don't think that is an actual major at most universities)

Anonymous wrote:s/o from 13-year-old thread
What do expert parents and English students or grads say re: English major?

If you like reading and writing and can handle it, philosophy is a better major.

Spouse and I both have English undergrad degrees, and one of our kids is majoring in English (all double majors with second majors in humanities/social sciences).

It’s a great degree for learning to research, analyze, synthesize, and build and support an argument. We all enjoyed our studies and have felt well-equipped to navigate the world. I also have a grad English degree, and spouse has a professional degree, but I make significantly more money. We are very comfortable financially.

So I’m a big fan. It was intellectually engaging and gave me life skills. Hearing my kid talk about their experience majoring in English now indicates that that hasn’t changed.

Anonymous wrote:I know successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, business owners, and bankers who were all English majors. It's a very versatile degree.

I agree. My English major got me into multiple grad programs.

I teach now. By choice. I turned down programs that would have taken me to higher salaries.

I know successful doctors, lawyers, teachers, business owners, and bankers who were all English majors. It's a very versatile degree.

I have a grad degree in English. People who can write are very much in demand. I haven't gotten rich off of it, but I've never wanted for a job either. I have made 6 figures working as an editor, and I now make $50 an hour part time as an independent contractor assisting IMGs with US residency applications.

AI may change all of that, though, and soon.

I think people should study what they are interested in studying. But I'm of the mind that college shouldn't be seen as trade school, and most people disagree with that these days. But from what I've seen, given a modicum of intelligence and motivation, people who are going to succeed, succeed. People who are going to prioritize making a lot of money, make money. Whatever they studied in college.

Anonymous wrote:Waste of time and money.

Thinking and critical analysis are underappreciated.

Waste of time and money.

Copying my comment from that thread (I wasn't the one who revived it but somehow my comment posted before it got locked):

I tried to quote part of the old thread and wasn't able to do so, so I'll just say that the poster who was saying the death of the English major went hand in hand with the demand for luxury was spot-on. In the never-ending campus arms race for the best facilities and the shiniest toys, a lot got lost. Give me my shitty facilities and A++ education and community from the 90s any day over "the best" today. Oh, and I was an English major.

s/o from 13-year-old thread
What do expert parents and English students or grads say re: English major?