Hii guys!

I have a Master's in English lit. I picked this major because I genuinely loved writing and wanted to work as a freelance / remote writer, so I went for an English major at university thinking that it would bring me closer to my goal.

Over time I lost motivation even though I truly wanted this major. I simply do not feel fulfilled. I feel like it does not have much of an impact on the world or any jobs.

I am jobless now. I worked my butt off for the past years and I feel so hurt and angry that it got me NOWHERE. I am too burned out to start a new education in a STEM field now. I am also not passionate about such fields. I like creativity, reaearch, and self expression. I also want to see if there is something that can be done to save my efforts and not completely overthrow my previous degree.

I would like to opt for a funded PhD, but I would like to switch to linguistics though. I find it more useful and fun. The problem is that I don't have much knowledge in this field and I have no clue which topics are understudied and have strong research / job opportunities in the future.

I am completely lost and in dire need of honest advice. I would truly appreciate it.

Im currently in community college, wrapping up my last two semesters. I love writing and my goal is to be an author, but I’m aware that for the meantime I needed a job to sustain me. Ive always had a knack for science and thought “well I’m good at it and it’ll make money”, so I decided on nursing. I’ve take almost all the prereqs for it and did well but I was absolutely miserable taking the classes and decided that’s probably not a sign to go further into it.

Ive been thinking about becoming an secondary English teacher or even a professor (though I know the job market for that is not great). I love teaching and I know it’s more so about helping and watching the students grow versus English and writing, but I don’t mind. My main issue is the salary. I’m not saying I want to be a millionaire, but money does matter to me and I like nicer things and I want to be able to fully support myself. Also I’m afraid being a secondary teacher would put me in a box? I feel like if you teach kids you have to be careful about the stuff u do outside of the classroom, n i tend to write abt some crazy shit so idk lol

I also don’t mind making career pivots, I don’t see myself doing any job forever as I don’t like to sit still lol. Is education the way to go for someone like me?

This might have been a point of discussion across several scattered posts in the group, but as I face this point myself, I thought a comprehensive sharing of views and suggestions would serve better as a guide even for the future of this sub.
Given our clarification of intent, I would want everyone coming across this to share something (resources) that helped them sharpen their very fundamental skills (detailed below) to pursue a research journey in this discipline. This might be coming from your college education or beyond it.

Keeping it short, let me specify the exact fundamentals I am pointing towards (again, relearning at the level of research or PhD):
Reading stage

1. How to read a book and observe better, towards something that might become an original insight.
   

Making a research topic stage

1. How to turn observations and tie some strands together to make a topic (again, original).
2. How to facilitate a better search process for theoretical dialogue partners that you can situate your topic, without overwriting it through mechanical application.
   

Structuring and Drafting an Article stage (gets more complicated)

1. Having an argumentative structure throughout an article [- an issue is feeling like your main claim might repeat and can't be broken down into parts throughout, to let the mini argument(s) / claims lead].
   
2. How to make theory intricate to the text and topic (so that it comes through a natural gap created by the discussion, contributes something without being a mechanical application of concepts, and then is maybe, just maybe even complicated by the text and extended by it).

I hope this turns out to be a holistic discussion. Thank you for your inputs.

I’m 2 semesters away from graduating with my BA in English, May 2027. I have yet to be able to receive an internship (Located in Las Vegas) and I’m really worried!

Originally I pursued an English degree to become a teacher so I wasn’t worried about getting internship experience, but as of the last month or two i’ve been having a little quarter life crisis and am questioning what I actually want to do career wise amongst other unrelated things.

I have been applying like crazy for Fall internships in publishing and journalism type internships for the past month, but I realize I may be too late for the options left for the Fall. My last hope is the Spring semester, but even so I am a little lost on what type of internships to pursue since I am no longer sure what career I want to pursue.

If worst comes to worst and I graduate with no internship is it going to be a horrible experience for my job search?

Any advice or recommendations related to internships
would be fantastic, or even words of encouragement since the rejection pressure is high right now! thank you all.

I'm about to start A levels in pakistan. I'm so lost tbh. Idk what subjects to take and what to do. I took all sciences in o levels and barely passed. It wasn't my thing. I'm not good at computer either. What do I do? I suppose if I must go to a "professional" field, I could take business, go into HR. However, I've heard it barely pays enough to escape middle class. I'm so passionate about literature, art, the human mind, society. This is all humanities. Do I have a future here? I dont run after wealth but I wanna be comfortable enough that I have the privilege of seeing places and doing things. Please I need some guidance. What do I do? I need to choose my A levels subjects by this week which will basically start my career journey. I'm rather stressed.

I wanna move out of pakistan, I wanna go to Europe when im older but everyone's saying I can't do that easily unless I'm a doctor..help a girl out.

Anybody currently pursuing Masters in english literature?

Hey! I'm a English major student from West Bengal, India.I want further educational advice and career advice.I feel so uncertain about my future.Can anyone help me to find out what should I study next to meet a fast employment 😭( the teacher recruitment is terrible in my state)

I was looking for online options for master as I can't attend college rn. I'm looking to enroll in MA english, can someone help me with the atmosphere here, like what are your experiences or how does the system work. Would like to connect with other MA english peers too.

Hey, I’m currently in an engineering-related program and planning to transfer into Accounting. One of the transfer requirements I need is Comparative World Literature.

Literature is definitely one of my weakest subjects. I can read something and still struggle to understand the deeper meaning, themes, symbolism, or what I’m supposed to write about in an essay.

I’m not trying to become amazing at literature. I mainly need to get through the course with at least a B-C.

For people who are good at English/literature, what strategies would you recommend for understanding readings, analyzing them, and writing decent essays? Is there a method or structure you use that makes literary analysis easier?

I received my essay back, and my professor said that it was a great essay except that my grammar hindered me from properly expressing my arguments, specifically pointing my use of prepositions. It killed me. I am determined to get back on my feet, and spend some time learning prepositions. I finished the essay with having two hours left to submit the essay, and I somewhat skimmed over it. It definitely played a big factor, but a greater English Lit. major would have spend lesser time in correcting grammatical error, and would have spend it in just trimming their arguments down. I really aim to attain the degree with distinction; we have no Magna Cum Laude in my university. I don't even know how I'd come to my third-year in uni with bad grammar.

I guess, I want to hear a success story from a situation that is similar to this. I think I'll be getting a B/B- as a final grade in the course. Just seeing my schedule for the Winter term, I am currently now intimidated and somewhat riddled with anxiety. I am interested in knowing what kind of books, rules, tips--just anything. Thank you so much for reading this.

Doing Bachelor's in English from University of Calcutta. There are lots of queries,I have and genuine suggestions I am looking for.

There's a tiny bit of regret of joining C.U, especially in Art stream. The cutoff is ridiculous and honestly subtly bias .

Just personal experience.

Now if I think of Abroad in terms of higher studies, how much scope is there? Or should one think of buliding a different profile,for example: joining J.U or Presidency University for masters and then going for abroad for another master's degree ( a different program which is more career driven.

Any experience, advice, honest opinion or direction?

Hi, I am an Assistant Professor of English working in a college in India. The more time passes I realise that academia and higher education is not for me. I don't find meaning and purpose in what I'm doing. To make things worse, I am a temporary faculty. So there's no question of incentives or higher pay no matter how I work my ass off.

I really love literature. I love reading, writing and art. I'm thinking of shifting my career to something away from academia, but still closely related to literature, reading, writing and art. I love being creative.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Hello all. I am an English major just beginning my sophomore year of college. Recently, I’ve been feeling like I’ve plateaued at my senior year of high school writing/reading level, and I honestly just want to improve. Classes help, sure, but I currently attend cc which is not very rigorous at all, and I’ll transfer to a (hopefully) more intensive university by next year. I know that reading is what makes you a better writer (I think it’s where most of my skill comes from as someone who read like it was breathing my entire childhood), but I honestly don’t know specifically what to read. I’ve seen comments about peer-reviewed papers, but where do you get those? What are people reading that is making them get better when they are already “good“ at it?

Also, is doing a daily writing “challenge“ a good idea to improve writing as well? I’ve been so busy that reading and writing has been pushed to the side, but I know that it’s going to be instrumental to my career, so I need to make it a habit of getting better instead of coasting on what I’ve already got. I know that eventually I will fall short.

Any recommendations and advice are welcome! Thank you so much!

Hi,

I recently switched my major to English and CRW but I need 36-40 more credits to graduate. I want to take up a minor but don't know which one I should do. My goals are to be marketable in a corporate setting and broaden my knowledge on culture in a general sense to make this short.

My options are (from most interested to least):

Antropology

Political Science

Philosophy

Sales

My main goal is to become a screenwriter, but I grew up in poverty and would want that safety net of a corporate salary.

UPDATE: I went with sales, thank you for your responses.

During my college days, where I was often tasked with writing massive piles of text about text written before me, I had to write so furiously and aggressively that my pen caught fire and I had to call the fire department.

TL;DR: Feeling lost. I’m not sure if I want to follow my heart (English major - desire to teach or get into technical writing) or pursue accounting.

Hi all! I’m a 23 year old college student, starting my junior year at university this fall after finishing community college. I tried many different career paths after high school, and after struggling to find one I liked, I landed on accounting because it felt financially safe and I was at a point where I needed to pick something.

I’m in a rut because I grew a passion for English over the past year, and when I completed my final English class this spring, it felt like I was forever caging up a part of myself that finally felt like me. I thought maybe it would wear off, but that feeling has gotten stronger. Over summer I have been keeping up with my accounting studies, and it feels like I’m ignoring a fire in my heart.

I’m scared because accounting seems so stable and everybody in my life is proud that I chose it. And it brings me comfort knowing I should be stable financially as long as I put the work in with networking, internships, and getting my CPA.

Changing my major to English would be a riskier option, but I find myself wanting to be involved more with joining English clubs and finding internships in that realm. I have experience working at a K-12 school, and I think going into teaching would suit me well. But I think changing to English is scaring me financially. I don’t want to romanticize something and then ruin my life for not picking the more realistic option.

Hey I'm totally clueless about this exam. I've given the cuet ug before but it was just out of curiousity.

I'm currently doing B.A Eng hons, but I'm hoping to give the cuet pg next year, 2027.

So i just wanted to know what to do, where to start, from where to study and what to rely on.

Thankyou💗

I just graduated with my bachelor’s in English this May and I’m so, so proud of myself for finding the courage to major in what I’ve wanted to do since I was 10, but I also wish it was different. I wish other majors hadn’t made me miserable, I wish I knew what I was doing after this masters I’m applying for, I wish I could rely on a degree with a steady paycheck, but English is everything to me. It’s what I wake up thinking of and go to sleep dreaming of. I love writing. It’s all I am and the thought of doing something else for the rest of my life makes me physically sick. I’m just terrified I’m going to be poor forever because I was too busy chasing dreams. I want stability so badly, but it just doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me.

I can go abroad that's not a problem but I just wanna know which is better in india

My qualifications : just passed 12th with pcb stream