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What Can You Do With an English Major?

If you think that teaching is the only career for an English major, and it is a great career choice, you might be surprised to know that most English majors choose other lines of work.  Many employers are looking for the kinds of articulate and thoughtful job candidates who come out of English programs.  Did you know, for instance, that Stephen King, Renee Zellweger, Vin Diesel, Sting, Clarence Thomas, and Joe Paterno were English majors? Careers such as ministry, law enforcement, business and media communications, advertising and marketing in order to compete in our "age of information" rely on electronic, written, spoken, and personal communication.  Success in today's marketplace depends to a large degree on a person's ability to understand and to use language.  These are the skills an English major masters.

English graduates pursue graduate study in English, theory, education, political science, government, library science, public administration, psychology, and religious studies.  The American Bar Association lists English as an important major for preparing students for the study of law.  Law School deans often cite the study of writing and literature as excellent preparation for the cirtical thinking and textual analysis required for the practice of law.  And finally, according to the Association of Medical Colleges, students majoring in Humanities, such as English, score above the mean on all three parts of the MCAT exam, and score higher than any other majors on the Verbal Reasoning section of the exam.

Check out some of these resources:

     Career Advice from Monster.com

     Guide to College Majors in English

     Ten Most Popular Careers for English Majors

     Famous English Majors

     EnglishDegree

     aa_englishmaj

     http://finance.yahoo.com/news/16-wildly-successful-people-who-majored-in-english-134415857.html

Interested in … ?

• ministry
• counseling
• teaching
• literary scholarship
• theory
• philosophy
• law
• law enforcement
• film
• journalism and telecommunications
• public relations
• marketing
• business

Then BPC’s English program is the place for you!

Just look at what some of our recent graduates have accomplished:

Julie Gregory '94: After taking a second BA degree--and then an MA degree--in Spanish from the U of Mississippi, Ms. Gregory became a Baptist missionary in Latin America.

Brandi J. Walker '94: Ms. Walker obtained an MA degree in English from Appalachian State U, Boone, NC. After teaching at a women's school in Japan for two years, she moved to Istanbul, Turkey, to teach at a university there. An enthusiastic world traveler, Brandi spent part of this past autumn in the high altitudes of the Himalayas, where she visited with Buddhist monks. Her life-long dream to live in Africa will come true later this year, when she begins a Peace Corps tour of duty in Namibia. (She has promised to visit in March.)

Tammy D. Harvey '95: After completing her MA in English at Clemson U, Ms. Harvey entered the doctoral program at Georgia State U. Currently she is on the faculty at the State U of West Georgia, Carrollton.

Doy W. Cave III '95: Mr. Cave taught for a year at Robert Toombs Christian Academy in Lyons before taking a position at the Vidalia Advance-Progress, rising finally to the rank of news editor. In 1998, he resigned, moved to New Orleans, and began serving in the public relations office at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also a part-time seminary student.

Thomas Kenneth "Kenny" Fountain '95: After earning an MA degree in English at the University of Memphis, Mr. Fountain moved to Turkey, securing a TESOL post at a university in Ankara. He later headed that institution's writing-across-the-curriculum program. Last summer he began teaching at Yeshiva U in New York. Currently he is contemplating further graduate study. He lives in Brooklyn.

Janean Gray '95: Ms. Gray wasted no time in returning to her beautiful native Bermuda. There she edits a visually dazzling tourist magazine, Island.

Tamee Bowers Livingston '95: Mrs. Livingston took her MA degree in English at Georgia Southern U. After a short stint as copy editor at the Advance-Progress, she was a Brewton-Parker adjunct, teaching English classes in Hazlehurst. Now serving in the U.S. military, Mrs. Livingston lives in Alaska with her husband, Jimmy '96, also a graduate in English.

Jeffery L. Dickerson '98: Since earning his JD degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer U, Mr. Dickerson has become an assistant district attorney in Macon.

Steven Hurwitz '98: Mr. Hurwitz, an honor graduate of the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer U, is a member of a law firm in Macon. (It is interesting to note that Mr. Hurwitz had obtained an AA degree in General Studies at Brewton-Parker in the 1970s. Thereafter he worked in journalism, becoming editor-in-chief of the Advance-Progress. In the early 1990s he returned to BPC to take a degree in English.)