bachelors in english?

<p>Hi! </p>

<p>I am currently an english education major and am going to school to teach at the high school level. However, my goal is to get a masters in english and be a college instructor. I am thinking of switching my major right now to just english so I do not have to go through all of the education courses when I would not plan on teaching high school for very long. The bachelors in english would be much quicker. However, I would need to work for a couple of years before starting my masters. My question is...what kind of OBTAINABLE jobs are out there for english majors with only a bachelors? I would need to be making at least 30-35000 a year. I am not even sure where I would look for jobs with just a bachelors. Any opinions/insights, ect would be great!</p>

<p>1) most college teaching jobs require a PhD, not a master’s degree. This is a commitment of at least 5-6 years and sometimes stretches into a decade. Also, you need to be a talented student to get into a PhD program. On the bright side, most good programs will give you fellowships to cover many of your expenses.</p>

<p>2) after you’ve finished that PhD, full-time college teaching jobs are very, very, VERY difficult to get. In most specialties there are fewer than 20 tenure-track jobs in the nation per year. Even if you are lucky enough to get one, you need to be willing to move just about anywhere to take the position. Most people do not get tenure-track jobs right off the bat and end up bouncing around the country for a number of years as instructors with no job security. A lot of basic courses are taught by adjunct faculty who are paid only a few thousand dollars per course, who do not get benefits, and who have no job security either. It would be hard to make $30-$35K per year as an adjunct.</p>

<p>In short, you need to do more research before you decide what to do.</p>

<p>Thank you for the reply. However, in case someone later uses this thread for informative purposes, it needs to be corrected. I am QUITE familiar with what it takes to teach at a college level. I said I want to be a college INSTRUCTOR, not an adjunct or a professor. An instructor typically has a Masters degree and works part or full-time at a community college or other 2 year school. Universities will also sometimes hire an experienced instructor to teach part-time and often offers benefits. That can be a great way to make some extra cash or for some people, it can be a good experience to see if they want to take that next step, educationally. There are big differences between an adjunct, an instructor, and a professor. Let’s not forget the assistant professor either. </p>

<p>If it helps, not only have I done my own research and spoken with those in the field, my father teaches at the college level and my husband is working towards his PhD so he can be a math professor. I could go on. However, I believe that while you may or may not have had good intentions, you completely misunderstood my question and instead gave me a wealth of incorrect information. My question was, “…what kind of OBTAINABLE jobs are out there for english majors with only a bachelors?”</p>

<p>At my school there was a professor with only an MFA in theater arts. He mostly taught the public speaking and special topics courses, and is titled a visiting assistant professor and has been there a few years. Sure, you might not teach at an ivy league, but many smaller private schools and public schools will employ you with a masters. </p>

<p>Many of the purely English majors (no ed. focus) had a hard time finding jobs, but not all. The hardest workers were able to find some work…one in particular is a publishing assistant and seems very happy with her job and gets to travel a bit. I believe she found the job shortly after graduating as well. But she was exceptional as a student. </p>

<p>Most do the teacher certification route, and even they have difficulty finding jobs since many schools are downsizing and there are so many education majors. </p>

<p>Journalism is a possibility. But no matter what you do, you want to start building up a very strong portfolio and clippings of articles/stories you’ve written for publication in your school newspaper, magazines, online blogs, where ever.</p>

<p>You will get a better idea when you start looking into internships as well, which are usually required of English majors. Talk to your professors and get feedback from them on what to realistically expect. Many keep in touch with some of their students and know where they ended up finding jobs.</p>

<p>If you don’t want advice, then why are you asking for it?</p>

<p>Yes, some community colleges hire people with master’s degrees. However, in the humanities many ccs are taking advantage of the glut of PhDs looking for jobs, and upgrading their requirements. And others rely very, very heavily on adjuncts, especially to teach basic writing courses. So don’t count on being able to get a decently-paying college-level teaching job with only an MA–doubtless a few people manage to do it, but that doesn’t make it a secure career path. English MAs are, however, employable in private high schools, where you don’t necessarily need to have the education courses required by the public school systems. That’s where a lot of the MAs that go through our program end up. </p>

<p>Assistant professor is a rank, not a job description. The term refers to a full-time, tenure-track person who’s not yet received tenure. </p>

<p>Novalynx, the MFA is different from the MA, in that it is a terminal degree in creative fields. Many creative writers and theater arts professionals, even at the most prestigious universities, have MFAs.</p>

<p>For jobs after just a BA, check with your college’s career center. People get jobs working in fundraising, for nonprofits, in publishing, as paralegals, and so on. I’m not sure you would be making 30-35K a year, at least right off the bat.</p>