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English
 Rowan Spring Equinox program covers the world | More The latest version of CLAS notes is available for download in the newsletters section. What can I do with this degree? Below are just some of the options you can pursue with a degree in English. Also, be sure to check the CAP Center's "What can you do with a major in English?" page.
What Can You Do With a Degree in English (Besides Teach)? About two-thirds of our majors are working towards certification in elementary or secondary education. The remaining third, our “Liberal Arts” majors, are interested in pursuing other career options. Some of these majors plan to attend graduate school, and we have a separate handout on grad school options. The majority of our liberal arts majors, however, go directly into the job market, where they find they have very valuable job skills in research, writing, and critical thinking. A double major, or a minor or an interdisciplinary concentration in an area of interest, can also be very helpful in preparing for your career of choice. Check Rowan’s on-line catalogue for our list of majors and concentrations. If you plan to be a writer, make sure to get involved in campus publications while you are at Rowan! If you’re interviewing with a newspaper, they’re not going to believe that you’re even interested in journalism if you never bothered to write for The Whit or Avant or Venue while you were here. Rowan University’s CAP Center, located on the ground floor in Savitz Hall, offers a wide array of resources for students and alumni. They provide individual career counseling, as well as series of workshops devoted to starting career searches, writing job letters and resumes, and interviewing effectively. The CAP Center has a reference library with books, internship and job listings, and vocational biographies, as well as access to on-line resources like Discover, My Road, JobDirect.com, and eCampusRecruiter. The CAP Center coordinates a year-long schedule of on-campus interviews, and hosts Career Fairs, Recruitment Weeks, Federal Government Day, and Teacher Job Fairs. Our majors have often done very well for themselves in careers we never could have foreseen. Oftentimes, remarkable opportunities come about through students’ outside interests. One graduate ended up working for the national chapter of his fraternity; another is working for a national rugby association. One very recent graduate, an English/Elementary Education major, an avid skydiver, ended up selling software that enables people to stream videos of themselves tandem skydiving on-line. She travels all over the country (and internationally) demonstrating the product at skydiving businesses. Other successful graduates are in more predictable but no less exciting and challenging fields. One graduate from the 1990s is now an executive editor for several medical publications (she said that after taking American English Grammar, their in-house grammar training was a breeze). A liberal arts graduate from the same period went off to teach at a private boarding school for boys with learning disabilities in northern New England. He started his search with location, because he was an avid skier. At this school, winter gym meant skiing all day on Fridays. After a few years he left to work elsewhere as a director of admissions, and then returned to the first school as Headmaster. As for current students, we have a graduating senior who plans to pursue graduate work in playwriting; he has been involved in countless plays during his years here and has written and co-written several productions. Another student has received a prestigious award to study Arabic abroad, and intends to go into diplomacy; another student has a double concentration in Asian Studies and International Studies, and hopes to work for the State Department.
List of resources: Useful books (some of which are available in the CAP Center’s library): Other Websites: Other English Major Career Advice Websites: |
