The age old dilemma, you do all that work and wind up with a major in...what? Take your choice: sociology, psychology, ethnic studies, physics, classics, women's studies, organizational behavior and...not English lit. You didn't do a major in English lit, did you?
Well, whatever, don't worry about it: what's done is done. So there you stand, proud graduate, nervously grasping that diploma which consumed so much of your life, with late nights, burning the midnight oil, as you crammed for exams, losing yourself for hours in the library, all stretching back behind you like a trail of shattered dreams. It suddenly strikes you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Ah, yes, the proverbial real world is suddenly knocking at the window of your dorm room. But don't panic, help is here.
Before diving right into the help for our readers and friends suddenly awaken from the eternal dream of undergrad life, a little precautionary advice might be helpful to those getting ahead of the curve. If you've had the foresight to consider this question in advance of registering for your major, you are a clever cookie. And, as it happens, there are some measures to point you in the right direction.
1. To start, it's a good idea to figure out what area of study would interest you. If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One good approach is to look over the course offerings at your preferred college. You could try to rank them by hierarchical preference.
2. Once you've decided, talk to people. Ask around for connections who studied the same major. What are they doing, now?
3. Talk to someone whose job is to know the ropes of just such matters. If you're still in high school, or even colleges to which you've been accepted (or even those you are considering for application), they have counselors and advisers. Providing you advice on just such matters is what they're paid to do. Make the best use of the resources at your disposal.
4. Heck, just try a focused Google search: what in darn can I do with this English lit major? (You might actually find something.)
Now, back to all you grads cowering in fear in your soon to be vacated dorm rooms: Don't worry, even if you didn't think of any of this before majoring, it's cool. In fact, all those points 2 through 4 above are still perfectly good options for you. What are acquaintances with the same major doing with it now? I assure you, however lost you may feel, your college adviser has heard it all before. Additionally, it's common these days for universities to provide career centers. You can be absolutely certain you won't be the first major in Renaissance poetry to stumble in with a dazed expression mumbling something about career options.
However, whatever else you do, make sure to dedicate some serious time to that Google search. You can find some pretty groovy stuff. For instance, it turns out that lots of colleges have publicly available online resources for researching just this sort of thing. As an example, check out the University of California career center online resources.
By doing so, I was able to learn about the career options for dozens of majors. Even some pretty esoteric ones were listed. Heck, they might even have yours!
Get this you English majors; you can pull in an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Canterbury Tales for that moolah.) And among your career options, you can get work as an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! So you can lean back with an air of confident whimsy, put your feet up on the desk, hands behind your head and smile knowingly every time a new terrified grad stumbles into your office and nervously asks: uh, what can I do with this major?
So, hold your heads high all you grads, even if you did major in the Victorian novel or the mating customs of the Australian Aborigine. Hope springs eternal for a real future. And, who knows, maybe even a pay check!
Well, whatever, don't worry about it: what's done is done. So there you stand, proud graduate, nervously grasping that diploma which consumed so much of your life, with late nights, burning the midnight oil, as you crammed for exams, losing yourself for hours in the library, all stretching back behind you like a trail of shattered dreams. It suddenly strikes you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Ah, yes, the proverbial real world is suddenly knocking at the window of your dorm room. But don't panic, help is here.
Before diving right into the help for our readers and friends suddenly awaken from the eternal dream of undergrad life, a little precautionary advice might be helpful to those getting ahead of the curve. If you've had the foresight to consider this question in advance of registering for your major, you are a clever cookie. And, as it happens, there are some measures to point you in the right direction.
1. To start, it's a good idea to figure out what area of study would interest you. If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One good approach is to look over the course offerings at your preferred college. You could try to rank them by hierarchical preference.
2. Once you've decided, talk to people. Ask around for connections who studied the same major. What are they doing, now?
3. Talk to someone whose job is to know the ropes of just such matters. If you're still in high school, or even colleges to which you've been accepted (or even those you are considering for application), they have counselors and advisers. Providing you advice on just such matters is what they're paid to do. Make the best use of the resources at your disposal.
4. Heck, just try a focused Google search: what in darn can I do with this English lit major? (You might actually find something.)
Now, back to all you grads cowering in fear in your soon to be vacated dorm rooms: Don't worry, even if you didn't think of any of this before majoring, it's cool. In fact, all those points 2 through 4 above are still perfectly good options for you. What are acquaintances with the same major doing with it now? I assure you, however lost you may feel, your college adviser has heard it all before. Additionally, it's common these days for universities to provide career centers. You can be absolutely certain you won't be the first major in Renaissance poetry to stumble in with a dazed expression mumbling something about career options.
However, whatever else you do, make sure to dedicate some serious time to that Google search. You can find some pretty groovy stuff. For instance, it turns out that lots of colleges have publicly available online resources for researching just this sort of thing. As an example, check out the University of California career center online resources.
By doing so, I was able to learn about the career options for dozens of majors. Even some pretty esoteric ones were listed. Heck, they might even have yours!
Get this you English majors; you can pull in an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Canterbury Tales for that moolah.) And among your career options, you can get work as an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! So you can lean back with an air of confident whimsy, put your feet up on the desk, hands behind your head and smile knowingly every time a new terrified grad stumbles into your office and nervously asks: uh, what can I do with this major?
So, hold your heads high all you grads, even if you did major in the Victorian novel or the mating customs of the Australian Aborigine. Hope springs eternal for a real future. And, who knows, maybe even a pay check!
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