Pros and Cons of being an English major?

>pre-med
>science

major in something more specific

like, a certain countries lit, or lit from a certain time period

his career would be pursuing english
most people don't have careers, they have jobs.
maybe about 2% of the population have careers.
jobs are activies you do that you get paid for.

What if my passion is mathematics?

>Not sure where you get this from. Most doctors have no time.

Then you were born lucky and you get to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars while simultaneously enjoying your job.

Meanwhile the rest of us peons have to force ourselves out of bed every day.

Thanks, tell us more what Scrubs have taught you about the medical profession.

>most people don't have careers, they have jobs.
>maybe about 2% of the population have careers.
>this is what lit majors unironically believe
Thanks for the kek.

same. burden of proof lies on you

youtube.com/watch?v=sofR6gCCbRI

>How are the job prospects?
Stick with pre-med, stupid. Work for five years and retire in comfort to get more reading done than you ever would have as a middle school english teacher.

You're the one that claimed they have no time pre-retirement, so it's really on you, autismo. Absolute majority of doctors aren't working on-call or in emergency response. Private practices, research, nearly all specialists in hospitals have completely normal hours.

>youtube video as an argument
>it's a jordan memerson video
Okay, go play in the meme thread now, kiddo.

not the same poster

Career options are actually better than most humanities majors.

On the low-soul end you can be a technical writer pretty much anywhere. I'm using my major to work on a political campaign right now, which is common, and it also sets you up well for grad school, which contrary to popular belief is not a waste of time and easy to find funding for.

Obviously not a good major if you care about making a lot of money, but for me I just need to be able to sleep at night, so its been good for me.

wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324503204578318763513170222
wire.ama-assn.org/life-career/how-many-hours-are-average-physician-workweek

You guys are fucking idiots.

you can look up the definition if you want. im not arguing im telling you something

Not the same guy, but everything he says in this video is absolutely true.

>stats including residents
Wew. If you include the med school as work time it can be even more impressive! We're talking about actual doctors, not in-training grads.

First is residents, second is fully employed doctors. Fucking read.

Take it as a minor. I took neurosci as an undergrad and lit as a minor. Now in premed, much wider career opportunities, but if you can write well, a lot more will consider you

So it tells us 75% of doctors work less than 60 hours a week. And 50% work less than 50 hours a week. Thanks for confirming my point.

If it makes you feel better about yourself, then believe whatever you have to.

Okay, but why the fuck would you want to be a doctor? You have to work long hours, study like a slave, work in a high pressure environment, and deal not just with the public but the sick public.

My dad is a doctor within a group with their own practice and he gets 12 weeks off a year and works normal hours. (Radiologist)

How long did it take him to get there? How hard did he work in that building phase?

I'm currently an English education major, and it both terrifies and excites me. I'm very concerned about finding a job teaching (I live in Wisconsin which at the moment seems to be anti-education for some reason), but I love the idea of teaching literature and film to high school kids and hopefully making a difference on at least one life. To me personally, it really isn't about the money, my family never really had money so I never have really lived a lifestyle that requires a lot of money.

I think being an English major has value if you're willing to accept the fact that the money is really not there, but if you're content with that, why not. I don't regret it yet, but I'm sure once I graduate and can't find a decent gig I'll regret it. We'll see, I'm optimistic for the future but ready for the worst.

I'm currently undeclared, and about to finish my first year at college

is the "If you don't major in STEM you're fucked" meme true?

No, but you should seriously research career paths before majoring in anything.

It is unlikely that it will work out well for you. I majored in English and Education so I would come out of college after student teaching. I figured that my love of literature would outweigh my indifference towards young people. Now I'm trapped in a profession I don't enjoy because I don't have any marketable skills.

Since teaching is one of the only reliable options after studying English, my advice is to find something else (unless you live in a magical land that has meaningful jobs for people who study literature).

Try hotel/hospitality management. Work your way up to management, make 100k a year in a small to mid-sized city. That's my advice.

What about Law?

>working more than 40 hours a week

If you study English, you will regret it; if you study medicine, you will also regret it; if you study English or medicine, you will regret both.

Trips of truth. Why don't you get some more marketable skills? English is a great degree, imo. Join the Marine Corps or something. You're still young, and no doubt could benefit from loan repayment. Get a life experience outside of books that will greatly increase the value of the education you got, is all I'm saying.

>Major in English
>Minor in something marketable like advertising
If you care about doing something you love, do it. If you care about making money, don't even go to school. There are plenty of ways to make money without going to college. If you want a career in a field that's relevant to your interests, do the above two steps.

Pro: Reading lots of good books
Cons: Not eating

>pre-med
If your major is pre-med, you're not going to get into med school and you won't have any job prospects after that fizzles out.

Why? Does it offend you?
Bills don't exist.

>he fell for the university meme

What a disgusting ideologue

Pro: I know what synechdoche is and can recite the first fifteen lines of the Iliad in the Homeric Greek

Con: I will never have a proper job, all anybody wants to discuss is character "psychology" as if they existed as more than words on a page, every cent I make goes towards books and liquor. I haven't eaten in two days.

PRO: PATRICIAN AF

>caring about jobs

I know you watched the Peterson interview where he says no one has a career.

How bad is teaching english?

Eh. Hotel restaurant management is a bubble in the market. I work in the industry (to pay for my English degree) and all I notice are restaurants closing down left and right. Mind you i live in a mega-city so I don't think that's an aberration. Study English mate. What it really teaches you is solid analytical skills that can be applied to anything and can allow you to learn anything. Most businesses in major cities see that. They are in high demand.

By the way, off topic, but let me ask how best and faster to learn English? I know him, but not good enough, can you advise me something?

>the Iliad in the Homeric Greek
>Homeric Greek
>Greek
nice self-promotion in an english lit thread, fuck off

>every cent I make goes towards books and liquor
kys faggot

Radiology isn't that difficult to get into.

I love how people tell you to get a different degree if you want money. There are little good opportunities out there regardless of what degree you do.

But sure, studying something you hate just so you get a chance at a mediocre wageslave position sure is much better advice than doing what you want.

'follow your heart' is a spook. do the thing that society needs and you'll have money to pursue what you like.

pro-tip: no-one likes working

How about finding as many interships with publishers/writers/creators as possible to help find work the field?

>Pros
Well-read, but you can do that without majoring in English.
>Cons
Surrounded by SJW's and being fed SJW rhetoric for at least 4 years.

Good luck.

It actually seems like pretty good advice.

STEM jobs or whatever won't necessarily make you any happier than working in, say, a job that a bachelor of arts will give you a step up in (like marketing, or copywriting, or something).

If wouldn't study English in a country where you have to pay and arm and a leg though.

Is there any actually demonstrative evidence which suggests that STEM majors find higher paying jobs, earn more money and have more job opportunities on average during their lifetimes? Especially for STEM majors other than medicine or engineering?

I would imagine a physics, mathematics, or zoology major wouldn't have that many more opened up opportunities for work than an English major, if not even less.

>no-one likes working

This isn't true.

>If it makes you feel better about yourself, then believe whatever you have to.

Most of the people I have met in life haven't really had careers, so to speak. You must be some upper-middle class person who only associates with similar people.

okay kierkegaard

physics and math majors routinely get recruited by top consulting/finance/tech/etc. "prestige" companies at top dollar salaries, not because they want them to "make math" for their job but because they view those majors are equipping students with the tools to learn new things better than than other majors

Sad

What about a double major, math and english?

you're not smart enough retard

I majored in english lit in undergrad and got a master's in professional writing and editing. I work as a technical writer for an IT company. I made 87,000 last year.
There are jobs for english majors, but they are boring and undervalued. I don't recommend it. I've never once felt anything close to job satisfaction. Also, if you go to grad school, there's no money. You'll pay out of pocket or with loans. There aren't a lot of TA jobs.
What I do is better than a McJob and if you're good there's job security, but if you have options, use them.

this is only true for residency and fellowship. otherwise they have time.

It boggles my mind how you can be doing a preparatory Medicine course and then just switch to Literature in University in the US. Over here you just apply for a specific subject, and you're forced to do that for 3 years unless you can justify a change to your Uni.

Pro:
>Reading is fun

Con:
>Utterly useless degree with no job prospects
>debt
>you can study this for free very easily
>dumb cunt professors push their ideological agendas on you

I want to study philosophy but I'm a brainlet so I'm majoring in applied mathematics instead. Feels bad

This is a very nice collection of books. Assuming that they're yours, OP, have you ever considered reading a single one?

Fine collection. Beautiful editions. I envy you, and I say do it. I was studying painting because it's what I've always wanted to do. However, I felt it stifled my personal projects and that I wasn't being taught classically enough. By far the worst part was the constant soul-crushing examination of my self-worth, knowing that people may say I'm good, but not great. And, I know why. I switched to STEM because I need a career, but the more I suffer through the never-ending work, the more I realize this is all I'll ever have time to master in between the exhaustion, (if I can even do that). What little art I do now is always on borrowed time.

Pro of being an English major:
Study literature, but consider becoming a technical writer as a career. 60k a year isn't bad. If you want to be a creative writer, most of the writing talent now is going to fuel the Television industry.
Cons:
Many English majors fail and end up doing something else. I know a lot that ended up becoming photo-journalist or freelance photographers. To put it crudely, no one cares about your master's degree in Russian literature. Beyond academia, literary criticism isn't worth much.

>is the "If you don't major in STEM you're fucked" meme true?

No but the "if you don't major in something you actually enjoy, you'll hate your job and probably won't be successful" meme is true. Find something that gives you a big ol "academic fulfillment" boner and do it till you die.

Really this.
My father is a doctor. Multiple docs in my family. Being a doctor is a very romanticized idea. Hospitals pay them well, but it's a stressful focus intense work. They enter the workforce much later than your average person, because of the schooling and experience required beforehand. They work, on average, about 60 hours a week, but often more.
These also aren't always normal hours, either. My entire life, I remember my dad, while on call, getting woken up at 3 am to drive to the hospital and operate on some car accident or stabbing victim. It always wore him out. I never understood how he did it, but he told me they conditioned him to work under any stress in residency. My dad says if he had to do it all over again, he would've much rather got an MBA in business.

Any other ways to "get a life experience outside of books" besides joining the military? (Mom would not allow it and I still have 3 more years of uni to do)

>much rather got an MBA in business
Yes, he would have had a much better time with 60-80 hours a week in consulting or 100 hours a week in IB. Well payed jobs are very demanding, no matter the sphere.

That's what I'm thinking. I'm just trying to get a little bit of money together before I do anything else.

There's a lot of bullshit associated with teaching that some people can't put up with forever. That being said, some people love it. More power to them, but it's just not for everyone.

>Any other ways to "get a life experience outside of books" besides joining the military?

Is this really a question my guy?
>Study abroad
>Just go somewhere and get a job for a couple months. It's a nice break.
>Teach english in a foreign country
>Go backpacking (noice)

Or for the less adventurous, these sound like memes but I'm being serious
>Go outside and just walk around a lot
>Join some clubs
>Get involved in some creative projects at your uni
>Go to some music shows and meet some cool people. The shittier the venue the more likely you'll be able to just start talking to some fools

wife is a doctor, she works 36-40 hours a week and tends to have strings of 3-4 days off.

>60 hours a week

sounds like he doesnt do shift work/isnt a hospital employee, or have partners that work together for a fair call schedule.

From a NEET perspective a paperboy is working himself to death

If you have to ask that question it's not for you.

There's a lot of bullshit teachers have to put up with. It's for those who are passionate about teaching. It's a shitty situation for everyone involved otherwise. You'll break sooner or later, and you're basically toying with your students.

It really is a selfless job that requires devotion to both the profession and students if you want to do it right.

Source: Taught literature in Euroland for 2 years and no one knows I'm a dog on the internet.

Society is a spook.

I wasn't aware teaching students glorified positivism somehow expands them.

>I switched to STEM because I need a career,
STEM isn't a career.

english must be inherently valuable because if you choose it, you chose it because you liked it. people could just as easily major in engineering which makes more money than english. the relative wages for both fields are commonly known. therefore the knowledge you gain in an english must have some sort of personal value to them over money.

i fully ignore anyone who says that english majors are not as intelligent as STEM major.

the hours get better as you move up the ladder though

at least at my school, English degrees are kind of like gender/racial studies with a literary focus. the curriculum is so bullshit. I thought about switching into english but man it's bad

teehee

Hi user
I'm in your same spot except I was thinking about switching from Lit to Philosophy.
I honestly find the sciences vastly interesting but the degree of difficulty far surpasses my primitive brain.
Nonetheless, I think you should (get ready) follow your heart.
In the end, you're going to die.
Reflect within, think; What is important to me?
Is it saving lives and treating illness? Despite the mountains of work and struggle? Do it.
Is it the literary arts? Novels and Poetry, accounts of great men and their thoughts and achievements? Go for it.
Want both? Do it.
The struggle is inevitable, stress a certainty, and suffering a given but at the very least you can look back and say "Despite it all, I lived it. I loved it".
Do it for you user.
I'm a bit biased and think you should stick to pre-med Eng Major. I live for brilliant people like you and the many others on this darkling plane.
Good Luck user, maybe I'll meet you in residency.

reading comprehension retard

You don't need to major in English to pretend you read.

>40-60 hours a week
I'm a masters student in a lab and I work well over 60 and I still have time for a social life, gym and reading

Why are you lying on the internet, user?