11:15 AM
Unknown
It's the eternal question. After you do all that work in the end you have your shiny new major in...what? Pick your poison: sociology, anthropology, post-colonial studies, pre-Socratic philosophy, classics, women's studies, Austrian economics and...not English literature. Don't tell me you did English literature as you major. Did you?
Anyway, it's all done and there you are with that degree that you worked so hard to get; all those late nights cramming and hours upon hours in the library, and then it hits you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Okay, it is a scary prospect to suddenly be faced with the real world, but all is not lost. No you haven't wasted the last three or four years of your life.
However, let's start with some precautionary advice. If by chance you've had the foresight to consider this question before registering for your major, there are some steps to take to make sure you're going in the right direction.
1. At the risk of stating the obvious, you have to figure out what actually interests you.If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One smart step is to carefully examine options for majors provided by your college of choice. Rank them in order of priority.
2. If you've already decided what major you're interested in pursuing, or at least, once you've decided, start asking around. You probably know people who at least know people who've gone down precisely the path you're considering. Find out what they did with their major.
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. Or, like, if you want to go totally crazy, why not have a shot at a focused Google search: something like, what in blazes can I do with this English literature major? (You might actually find something.)
If it's too late for preventative action, don't despair, remedial action is possible. In fact all points 2 through 4 above remain perfectly relevant, even if you already have your degree. What are others with that major doing? Your college adviser has heard it all before. Don't squander a valuable resource. And it's quite common these days for larger universities to have career centers. You're not the first major in Renaissance poetry to wander in looking for a few career tips.
But whatever else you do, don't miss out on your Google search - the fount of all info, good and true! But we've already done some of the work for you. It turns out that many universities have resources to look up just this sort of stuff. For instance, you can check out the University of California career center.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
Groove on this all you English majors out there. It turns out with that wildly impractical English major you can still score an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Chaucer for those smackeroos.) And, better still, consider the actual occupations open to you: you can be an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! Just imagine the poetic justice, as you get to lean back in your chair, with an air of confident bemusement, feet perched on your desk, with hands folded behind your head and smile knowingly each time another petrified grad comes stumbling 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!
Anyway, it's all done and there you are with that degree that you worked so hard to get; all those late nights cramming and hours upon hours in the library, and then it hits you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Okay, it is a scary prospect to suddenly be faced with the real world, but all is not lost. No you haven't wasted the last three or four years of your life.
However, let's start with some precautionary advice. If by chance you've had the foresight to consider this question before registering for your major, there are some steps to take to make sure you're going in the right direction.
1. At the risk of stating the obvious, you have to figure out what actually interests you.If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One smart step is to carefully examine options for majors provided by your college of choice. Rank them in order of priority.
2. If you've already decided what major you're interested in pursuing, or at least, once you've decided, start asking around. You probably know people who at least know people who've gone down precisely the path you're considering. Find out what they did with their major.
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. Or, like, if you want to go totally crazy, why not have a shot at a focused Google search: something like, what in blazes can I do with this English literature major? (You might actually find something.)
If it's too late for preventative action, don't despair, remedial action is possible. In fact all points 2 through 4 above remain perfectly relevant, even if you already have your degree. What are others with that major doing? Your college adviser has heard it all before. Don't squander a valuable resource. And it's quite common these days for larger universities to have career centers. You're not the first major in Renaissance poetry to wander in looking for a few career tips.
But whatever else you do, don't miss out on your Google search - the fount of all info, good and true! But we've already done some of the work for you. It turns out that many universities have resources to look up just this sort of stuff. For instance, you can check out the University of California career center.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
Groove on this all you English majors out there. It turns out with that wildly impractical English major you can still score an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Chaucer for those smackeroos.) And, better still, consider the actual occupations open to you: you can be an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! Just imagine the poetic justice, as you get to lean back in your chair, with an air of confident bemusement, feet perched on your desk, with hands folded behind your head and smile knowingly each time another petrified grad comes stumbling 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!
0 comments:
Post a Comment