The question eats away at no small number of arts and humanities students, and quite a few science students, too. After you've done all that work, you wind up with a major in...what? What have you: demography, paleo-anthropology, environmental studies, physics, classics, liberal studies, organizational psychology and...not English lit? You didn't do a major in English lit, did you?
Well, don't fret about it. It's all water under the bridge, now. The fact is you did do all that hard work; put in those long, long nights of cramming for your exams, parties passed on to hit the books, and now here you are. Finally, a light bulb goes off in your head: Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Admittedly, this can be a daunting revelation. The real world is suddenly posed right outside your dorm room door. But there's no reason to panic; I'm here to help. And, no, you haven't just flushed the last four years of your life down the drain.
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. First, figure out what major would interest you. If you haven't done that, do it immediately. Peruse the offerings at your college of choice and write yourself a list in hierarchical priority.
2. When you do know what major(s) are most of interest, ask around for those with experience in the same fields. Don't be surprised to learn that you are, or someone you know is, acquainted with someone or maybe a few people who have taken the same major. What have they done with it?
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.
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.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
For instance, check this out all you English majors. You can pull in an average salary of $43,589. (That'll buy you a whole lot of Canterbury Tales.) Even better, have a gander at your career options. They include opportunities to work as an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...you're going to want to sit down for this...a college adviser! Yes, my friends, that's right: you too can lean back with an air of bemusement, while you rest your feet on the desktop, and fold your hands behind your head, smiling to yourself with each new glaze-eyed grad that wanders into your office, stammering the question: uh, what can I do with this major?
So heads up all you grads, regardless of your major. There is hope and even a future. Possibly even a pay check!
Well, don't fret about it. It's all water under the bridge, now. The fact is you did do all that hard work; put in those long, long nights of cramming for your exams, parties passed on to hit the books, and now here you are. Finally, a light bulb goes off in your head: Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Admittedly, this can be a daunting revelation. The real world is suddenly posed right outside your dorm room door. But there's no reason to panic; I'm here to help. And, no, you haven't just flushed the last four years of your life down the drain.
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. First, figure out what major would interest you. If you haven't done that, do it immediately. Peruse the offerings at your college of choice and write yourself a list in hierarchical priority.
2. When you do know what major(s) are most of interest, ask around for those with experience in the same fields. Don't be surprised to learn that you are, or someone you know is, acquainted with someone or maybe a few people who have taken the same major. What have they done with it?
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.
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.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
For instance, check this out all you English majors. You can pull in an average salary of $43,589. (That'll buy you a whole lot of Canterbury Tales.) Even better, have a gander at your career options. They include opportunities to work as an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...you're going to want to sit down for this...a college adviser! Yes, my friends, that's right: you too can lean back with an air of bemusement, while you rest your feet on the desktop, and fold your hands behind your head, smiling to yourself with each new glaze-eyed grad that wanders into your office, stammering the question: uh, what can I do with this major?
So heads up all you grads, regardless of your major. There is hope and even a future. Possibly even a pay check!
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If you're thinking of undertaking a bachelor in business, you have to check out Thomas Ryerson's insightful take on Looking behind the undergraduate business school rankings
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