This paper was written my Senior year at The University of La Crosse, Wisconsin. It is a rationale explaining my choice of an English major and how I believe my English Degree has prepared me to succeed post-graduation.
When I tell people I’m an English major, they give me that look. The “Really? That’s what you’re going for?” look. Their next question is inevitably, “What do you plan on doing with that?!” When I tell them Public Relations, they more than often look at me more puzzled than they had before. “But, how does that have anything to do with English?”
I have to admit that when the idea of being an English major was suggested to me by a former Communication Studies advisor, I immediately shook my head no. Sure, I loved writing, but I wanted a career. I had fallen under the misconception that an English major leads to a job search hell after graduation. I had been through a handful of majors already, and was very eager to finish college and get on with life. I was putting too much pressure on myself to graduate quickly, and not enough on focusing on my passions in life and strengthening skills that would help me succeed after graduation.
But when I reflected on what I didn’t like about my Communication major, it was the memorizing of concepts. I had a love of language that wasn’t getting enough attention. My mind was always searching for more, and I couldn’t grasp being constrained to set concepts. Language – both written and spoken, is a powerful tool, especially in Public Relations. I thought back to my courses I had taken for my English minor, and a course in Rhetoric came to mind. Rhetoric, the art of effective of persuasive speaking or writing, giving me the opportunity, much like Public Relations would, to use my thoughts and words to persuade someone to feel something or do something. I realized a degree in English would be very adaptable to my future goals, and was welcomed into the English Department with excitement and open arms.
Once I began taking more English courses, I was excited that I was able to relate almost everything I was learning to Public Relations and to skills I had gained in the Communication Studies field. As I became more confident in my writing and research skills, I slowly found myself beginning to fall in love with my future career. I began spending time studying Public Relations and drawing even further connections between my English major and my future in PR.
My English major has taught me a lot about time management and organization. In the English department, a majority of the papers and projects I have had assigned are self-regulated as far as the pace in which progress can be made. There are final due dates, but it’s up to me to do the work between it’s assigned and when it’s due. I’ve had to set my own deadlines in order to make sure I finish assignments on time, and have the quality of the finished product at it’s best. In addition, keeping the various projects I’ve been assigned in multiple classes at one time has enhanced my ability to prioritize and plan effectively. These skills are all relatable to Public Relations, a career in which I could more than often find myself working with multiple clients or many projects. All these tasks would be considered important, so being able to keep track of deadlines and the priority level of each task is a very valuable skill.
My English courses have also helped me develop an eye for detail, another important skill required in the Public Relations field. Peer reviewing, repeated editing, constant revisions and multiple upon multiple drafts over my semesters in the English Department have all helped me to be more efficient in the first drafts of my writing. In a Public Relations setting, I could be asked to look over documents or facts for articles. Patience and paying attention will be very important, because if I glance over an incorrect fact, I could do serious harm to the company or client I’m working for. The importance of the focus on details emphasized in my English courses has made the skill second nature to me, enabling me to notice areas of improvement or errors easily within texts.
These and many more characteristics have been enhanced overtime by being an English major. The ability to choose which direction you take your English major enables the intellectual freedom of English studies students, allowing me to put the reins of my future in my own hands. Personally I have been able to take bits and pieces from courses of my former majors and mesh them with my English major to cater to my interests and career goals. The English major promotes independent thinking, rewarding personal inquiry, allowing majors to make unique connections between their courses and their professional and personal lives. Therefore, it could be said that English is more a study of humanities than it is of reading, writing, grammar, or any other assumptions used to limit the English major’s ability.
The idea that an English major will lead you to a job search struggle couldn’t be less true when you think about how much independent effort is put into each person’s creation of their English major. Someone with that much motivation and self-direction is determined to succeed, and in whatever field they’ve decided they are most passionate about. My journey to the English Department has been one that makes my English major that much more meaningful to me. I can graduate confident that I have a future, knowing that I am prepared and ready to succeed in my future career.