Why I love my English major

English majors are always the punchline of someone’s joke about becoming a professional bum after college. Although, after my second year at Florida State, I have never been happier with my major.

Being an English major has made me realize what I truly love in life, and that is literature. I have decided to do what makes me happy, and you can be successful after college with an English degree.

Any Potterheads know what this is?

English majors can hold a conversation

When you study English and are required to write 12-page plus papers, you learn how to articulate your ideas and have them sound interesting. There is nothing I love more than to explain Mark Twain’s satire about the traveling class in the late 19th century.

You learn to give life to outdated words and overplayed plots. You’re able to create intelligent conversations with adults and impress people by reciting a poem by memory. You will also always have an answer for the interview question: “What’s you favorite book,” because let’s be honest… Fifty Shades of Grey is so NSFW.

English majors have so many opportunities

Like most other English majors, I will go on to graduate or doctorate school to get a higher level degree, but out of college, English degrees open the door to so many job fields. You could work for companies as a Social Media Manager and promote companies through social media. These jobs require you to be able to create witty and concise blurbs that promote companies.

These positions also require that you have editorial experience, which is right up our alley. For all of you fans of House of Cards, you could work for government agencies and become a lobbyist. These people are required to use their mastery of language and rhetoric to lay out a position and influence an audience. It is not about what you say, it is how you say it.

I personally want to enter the publishing industry and become an editor. There is no better place to start than an English major.

You can write an email

Writing an email requires a certain kind of art. Any job where you have to relay information or delegate tasks through email would benefit from an English major. An email can make or break a relationship between business professionals.

Books

I like big books and I cannot lie. Seriously, literature is such an important part of my life and has transformed the way I look at the world and interact with it. Literature courses allow you to enter the minds of people from different generations. Literature is a primary source, and it highlights a lot of issues not focused on in society. Literature helps you become a more understanding person because it allows you to experience things through the perspective of someone new. Books give the opportunity to change lives, and being able to create a career out of that would be truly rewarding.

Be wary

Being an English major is something you need to be passionate about. It requires patience and time. I would not recommend settling on an English major if you do not have an idea about what you want to do with it. To make the most out of an English major you need to have a plan of action. Once you know the direction you want to go, an English degree can open the doors to an exciting and fruitful career.