Careers

Heard the one about the English major who got a job as a café barista?

That’s a joke, however, not an accurate picture of what life with an English degree looks like.

An English major may start with a salary below the national average right after the BA degree, but by mid-career decently prepared English majors commonly run $20,000-$60,000 above the national average:

“Contrary to popular belief, English majors ages 25 to 29 had a lower unemployment rate in 2017 than math and computer science majors.” — Heather Long in an Oct. 19 article from "The Washington Post". (October 19, 2019). “The world’s top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors.” 

What English majors bring to their professions:

• Writing, editing for professionalism
• Understanding media and media forms
• Reaching out to audiences; teaching, training
• Understanding cultural differences and perspectives
• Ability to read at length with comprehension of the whole
• Interpretation, ability to work with text
• Ability to recognize problems that are based in language
• Facilitating conversations, the advancement of ideas
• Understanding of human motivations, relationships, personalities, scenarios, point of view
• Problem solving
• Project management
• Critical reasoning
• Creativity
• Collaboration

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Why study English at St. Cloud State? 

• Every organization, business, industry, or company needs writers
• 100% job placement rate for our 2019 cohort of Communication Arts and Literature graduates
• Internships are encouraged
• You can coach at the Writing Place, one of the country’s longest-standing, with its strong tradition and placement record
• Study abroad opportunities worldwide, including Alnwick Castle (England) and Mary Immaculate College (Ireland)
• Student editing and publication opportunities in The Upper Mississippi Harvest, Kaleidoscope, University Chronicle, and Linguistic Portfolios

St. Cloud State English majors succeed in these fields:

• Editing and publishing
• Journalism
• Arts management
• Teaching – and teaching beyond the classroom: training, management
• Social media communications; web communications and web directorship
• Technical writing
• Grant writing
• Public relations
• Marketing
• Software sales and design
• Nonprofit and government work
• Administration
• Management
• Directorships