After four years I finally graduated with an English Degree from Valdosta State University. It was far from easy but very rewarding in the end. Here are some of the best and worst aspects of being an English Major.
Being forced to write essays every week comes with its own benefits. Just like practicing any other art form or sport, you’re guaranteed to improve at your craft. It may take a few semesters for some but when your entire purpose is to churn out academic papers, you can’t help but improve on your skills.
All of your professors may work in the same department but that doesn’t necessarily mean they share the same criteria. For instance, one professor may expect their students to focus on the concrete details while another maybe expecting more abstract concepts. Ultimately, each semester as an English Major is spent learning the expectations of each professor.
Depending on how lucky you are, you’re bound to have a few professors that will introduce you to some weird classics. These books will often be ones that you’ve never heard of and they may make you groan and sigh at the beginning. But after a certain point, you’ll become engrossed into whatever strange tale your professor has assigned to you. Pretty soon you’ll read the entire book in a few sittings like you’re binge-watching the latest season of Stranger Things.
Nothing is worse than being forced to read a certain genre you hate. Sometimes it’ll be a classic book that your professor will expect the entire class to love, but the opposite will happen. Either the entire class will hate the book or a few of you will understand it. Regardless, reading the book will feel like pulling teeth the entire time. And unlike watching a bad Netflix show, you can’t stop reading the book because your grade is on the line.
Another plus to being an English Major is that everyone will be expected to share their opinions on various topics. If you’re lucky enough to have a decent professor, then everyone in your class will be comfortable discussing the different themes within your assigned readings. Eventually, your confidence and public speaking skills will improve profoundly. You’ll be able to transfer these social skills into many other as aspects of your life.
There are many opportunities for an English Major to pursue. You may choose a path in journalism, marketing, or even teaching. But actually deciding on which path to take may be overwhelming for the average undergrad. The biggest struggle is deciding on what you wanna use your hard earned degree for after graduating. To ease the burden of this transitional period, I highly advised that you find multiple internships to help with your decision making.
As to be expected, you’ll be amongst similarly minded individuals that will also share your love for writing. Their skills may vary between each other but all of you will encourage each other to improve at your crafts. They may not become your comrades per se, but after seeing them throughout your college career, a certain fellowship will form between you and your classmates.
This can be seen as either a positive or negative, but you will start to view all movies, shows, and games through a new lens. By overanalyzing books on a daily basis, your brain will start to transfer these skills to other forms of entertainment. You’ll start to realize why your favorite heroes and villains behave the way they do as well as their motivations. Ultimately, your perception of literature as a whole will change and you’ll experience content on a deeper level.
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