WHAT CAN I DO WITH A MAJOR IN ENGLISH?

Overview
Explore Career Options
Career Preparation
Hopkins English Alumni
Graduate School
Honor Societies & Professional Associations
Links

Overview
English is the study of English language, composition and literature, and its cultural and historical significance.   The undergraduate English degree at Johns Hopkins provides a strong foundation in the humanities, including historical surveys of English and American literature, introductory courses in critical method and advanced seminars in specific periods, authors, genres and literary issues.1 Students are also required to study other courses in the humanities, such as history, philosophy, political science or history of science.  The English department is known for its small class sizes beyond the introductory level, and for providing students the opportunity to arrange independent research or reading studies with the consent of a faculty member.2

Graduates are extremely marketable to employers due to their mastery of grammar and mechanics of the English language, their ability to speak and write with clarity, precision and style for almost any audience, experience initiating and completing complex projects, and ability intelligently discuss multifaceted ideas.3 Their analytical and problem-solving abilities are assets in every profession, as well as in graduate study, law or business school.

Additionally, pre-med students often choose English as a secondary major or minor in order to improve their communication, writing and problem-solving skills.

Explore Career Options

An English degree is applicable to a wide variety of industries, and enables graduates to pursue careers in the field of their choosing.  A few of these industries include:

• Media and Publishing
• Advertising, Marketing and Sales
• Corporate Communications
• Education
• Government/Law

For more information on these industries, visit the Career Center’s industry profile section.  Below are a few of the positions held by English graduates within these fields:

Media/Publishing

• Copy editor – liaison between author, editor and proofreader that reviews manuscripts for grammar and style usage.
• Grant writer – writes and develops grant proposals, including needs assessments and matching product needs with funding. 4
• Writer/author – develops original written materials for books, magazines, trade journals, online publications, company newsletters, radio and television broadcasts, motion pictures, and advertisements.5
• Editor – conceptualizes, reviews, rewrites and edits the work of writers, in addition to planning and producing written content.6

Advertising, Marketing and Sales

• Copywriter – writes articles, bulletins, sales letters, speeches and marketing and promotional material to promote sales of goods and services.

Corporate Communications

• Public relations specialist – writes articles for internal publications, writes and distributes press releases and press kits, arranges speaking engagements and pitches client-related material to members of the media.
• Technical writer – writes technical materials, such as equipment manuals, appendices and operating and maintenance instructions.
• Human resources specialist – creates and executes human resource programs and policies including staffing, compensation, benefits, immigration, employee relations, training and health and safety programs.

Education

• Teacher/professor – teach students in public or private schools, colleges and universities.
• College admissions officer – evaluates freshman and transfer applicants; counsel and advises general public on admission-related issues; assists in production of college and university promotional materials.

Government/Law

• Legal assistant – assists lawyers by researching legal precedent, investigating facts or preparing legal documents.
• Legislative Analyst – performs quantitative and qualitative analysis of information needed by legislators and other government officials.
• Legislative Assistant – meets with lobbyists and constitutions, arranges committee and subcommittee hearings, assists in developing legislation and amendments, and responds to requests for information.
• Lobbyist – distributes information about a particular issue or organization, solicits funds, organizes and recruits volunteers.
• Political party staffer – works to advance the agenda of an elected official or political party by recruiting candidates and volunteers, preparing for conventions and planning fundraisers and publicity events.
• Foreign service officer – analyzes and reports on political and economic developments of foreign countries.
• Intelligence officer – specializes in the gathering, fusion and analysis of information and intelligence.7

These positions are just a sampling of the broad range of positions in which English graduates work.  It is important to not that recent graduates who pursue writing as a profession often work on a freelance basis, meaning that rather than being employed as a staff writer by a publication, they independently market their writing to various publications on an independent basis.  Most beginning writers start their careers as freelancers before moving on to staff positions at publications.

Career Preparation

The versatile and dynamic nature of an English degree qualifies graduates for innumerable types of jobs, but at the same time requires that they explore various industries and career paths as undergrads in order to accumulate specialized experience before graduating.  While the skills developed by studying English are invaluable and attractive to employers, it is crucial that students take these skills out of the academic context and use them in a real-world setting through internships and extra curricular activities.  Interning or volunteering their skills to an organization within their area of interest allows graduates to enter the job market with both professional experience and writing samples.8

Pursuing a double major or minor in another department is also an excellent way to demonstrate specialized knowledge.  English majors interested in politics, law or journalism might consider a double major or minor in political science, international relations or history.  Similarly, those interested in business should consider a double major or minor in business.  Many English undergraduates attend graduate school to further their studies in English literature, gain Master’s Degrees in Public Policy, International Relations or Education, or enroll in law or business school.

Hopkins Alumni

Hopkins Psychological and Brain Studies alumni go into a variety of career fields. Since 2003 the Career Center has surveyed recent graduates about their academic and career plans 6 months after graduation. Here is a summary of their responses.

Hopkins Alumni in English

Josh Orenstein, Director of Financial & Business Products, Associated Press
English, Class of 1990, M.B.A. Finance, 1995

inCircle - a professional and social networking site for Hopkins students and alumn where you can identify alumni by career field, major and orgnaization.

LinkedIn.com -a professional networking site where you can identify Hopkins alumni. Join the LinkedIn Johns Hopkins University Alumni Group to add over 4000+ alumni to your network.

Graduate School

The Career Center is here to help you navigate the graduate school search process. Click here for guidelines and preparing for Graduate School and Professional School.

For information on the specific programs, the best people to talk to are the experts in your field you wish to study, faculty members and graduate students in that specific discipline. We strongly encourage you to talk with your advisor and other faculty members with whom you have a good working relationship. This will also help when you request letters of recommendation. The Career Center has a handout to guide you in asking for letters of recommendation.

Professional Associations and Honor Societies

The international English honor society is Sigma Tau Delta, but it does not maintain a chapter at Johns Hopkins.9

However, many professional organizations, unions and guilds exist for writers in the professional world.

The Writer’s Guild of America is perhaps the best-known professional association for writers.  Writer’s Guild members are writers of all types, including screenplays and television shows, newspapers and magazines.  The guild estimates that 66% of its members work on a freelance basis, while only 33% work under staff contracts.  In order to join, professional writers must produce a certain number of paid-writing assignments to qualify.  The Guild then works to negotiate and enforce the contracts of its members, and ensure that their creative and legal rights are protected.10

Similarly, the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) is the nation’s leading organization of independent non-fiction writers, comprised of about 1,100 members.  The society requires a minimum of six full-length, bylined articles written on a freelance basis from major publications.11

Most established writers work with agents who negotiate with publishers on their behalf.

Links
General English Related Websites
American Society of Journalists and Authors
Journalism Jobs
Mediabistro
National Writers Union
Poets and Writers
The Write Jobs
Writers Guild of America
Writers Resource Center12

Endnotes:

1 Description of Undergraduate Programs in the English Department, Johns Hopkins University

3 What can I do with my Major in English?, Career Services, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

4 English and Rhethoric Writing (Booklet), Career Exploration Center, University of Texas - Austin

5 Career Resources (Communications and Media), Center for Career Education, Columbia University

6 ibid

7 English and Rhethoric Writing (Booklet), Career Exploration Center, University of Texas - Austin

8 Career Resources (Communications and Media), Center for Career Education, Columbia University

9 Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society

10 Who is Writers Guild East?, WGAE

11 How to join ASJA?, ASJA (The American Society of Journalists and Authors)

12 Career Resources (Communications and Media), Center for Career Education, Columbia University