English Literature

College Majors
1

<p>So!
The reason I came to my university was not because they had the major I wanted (they didn't) but because they had the ENVIRONMENT I wanted (large deaf AND hearing population). So, now I'm here majoring in Communications (it's a technical school, if you're feeling stalkerish you can probably figure out where I'm going just with all the criteria I've given thus far). The problem is, I really miss English literature as a major. It's really not offered here, for obvious reasons. I felt like I actually used my brain more when I majored in that, whereas now majoring in basic Communication courses I'm only learning to be nice to people in a social setting - which is all well and good but I miss learning new things by reading amazing literature I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise.</p>

<p>I planned to concentrate in a technical writing area, but eh...I don't know much about that. And yeah, I'm an idiot for not knowing much about my major. I just really, sometimes I don't know what I think I'm getting out of this major, to be honest. despite the fact that English Lit. has a bad rep, I miss it a lot and wish I hadn't given in to conventional wisdom and switched out of a major that I really enjoyed because I was actually learning things I could apply to what I want to do in life (write novels. And yeah, I know I don't have to major in literature or creative writing to get a novel published, but since I wanted a college experience and for certain reasons I probably wouldn't be able to get a job without a BS, I figured I may as well.)</p>

<p>If I transferred to another school because of the wrong major, I would have to give up being in just the right mix of deaf and hearing folks. I would have to go back to maybe being surrounded by a ton of hearing people who make me feel like an idiot because I can't understand them - whereas with Deafies, even if I don't understand them I don't freak out as much because...eh, I don't know why. I just like Deafies better I guess. It's funny because I actually don't know that much ASL and use a lot of PSE to communicate with Deafies, meaning I can't hop into their conversations just like I can't hop into hearie conversations. But eh...</p>

<p>Anyways! I don't know if I should transfer out back to a degree that people say 'goes nowhere.' I did enjoy it, but at the same time I feel like if I leave this school, I'll lose what progress I've made in becoming less of a hermit.</p>

<p>If I did transfer back to English Literature, I would have to figure out something to DO with it, I do need a job after all. I thought of being an English lit teacher...but I think I'm too immature for that. I still think of most of my kid years in school in terms of horror stories and not in terms of the good times I actually did have (not as often as I could have, but let's not make this into another 'my childhood sucked' story, eh?)</p>

<p>So...I guess I don't really know where this post is going, since I don't know if I want to transfer out again, and if I did, where the hell would I go where I could meet a lot of Deaf people (not Gallaudet, that's not going to work because I can't sign well AND I have a small issue of being legally blind. I'd be sooo isolated there since I can't just 'pick up' signs by watching or revert to English when I want.)</p>

2

<p>Hi readerdreamer! Picking up what I can from your message (calm down m’dear!)- stop me if I’m wrong:</p>

<p>You’re legally blind although you have some vision
You are deaf.
You want to transfer to a more ‘regular’ college but one with a strong deaf community.
It must have English Lit.</p>

<p>As for the career, there’s plenty to do with a degree in literature. Aside from teaching (and you could do anything from K-college), there’s retail, general business, starting your own business, maybe social work, journalism, non-profits. You’ll be a much better judge of the possible adjustments and support available to you in both practical and legal terms. </p>

<p>Is there any way you might be able to improve your ASL skills? I realise it would take time like any other language but might improve your communication with the rest of the deaf community. </p>

<p>As for schools with a deaf community, l don’t know if you’d looked into places such as the list generated below:</p>

<p>[Colleges</a> with Particular Sensitivity to Students with Hearing Loss | CollegeXpress](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-with-particular-sensitivity-to-students-with-hearing-loss/404/]Colleges”>Colleges With Particular Sensitivity to Students with Hearing Loss | CollegeXpress)</p>

3

<p>Technically I’m hard of hearing, and yes, I can improve my ASL skills. I can have basic conversation with someone who signs, as long as they’re patient with me and willing to fingerspell the meaning for signs I don’t know/don’t recognize. If I switched, I would like to transfer to a school with a Deaf Studies/ASL curriculum because then I could take the ASL courses and improve greatly! I did not take ASL this semester because I thought my workload would be too heavy (found out that wasn’t the case, but too late to do anything about it now.)</p>

<p>I’m just freaked out because it was such a pain to transfer in the first place, and I have no idea how to go through the paperwork for a new transfer, let alone WHERE I would transfer to. I have already ruled out the Big Three for Deaf students, which leaves me lost because I don’t have any idea where I want to go. I did try looking into one school in my home state when I was looking into transferring for the first time, but they were…shall we say, cagey about details of how they would make things accessible, and I didn’t feel entirely accepted there. They didn’t even have on-campus housing for all students, only freshmen and I’m definitely not a freshman by this point. My mom wanted me to go to my brother’s university (he’s still there), and it probably had some decent services, but it felt uncomfortable to even think about because my brother and I had been at the same schools for years and years and I really wanted my own experience.</p>

<p>Things haven’t been all bad where I am now, but I just feel like I’m in the wrong place as far as my major…and if I want to ever finish a Bachelor’s I would like to do it sooner rather than later, lol.</p>

<p>I just don’t know how anyone picks from so many different places to go! I struggled with just three choices.</p>

4

<p>Have you tried asking around any of the deaf community forums online about possible colleges? They could give you recent, practical feedback. </p>

<p>Unless your brother’s college is really small, you can definately have your own experience. No 2 students could claim identical experiences. </p>

<p>Don’t worry about the transfer process. That’s what your student advisor can help you with. There’s also tons of people here who have gone through it who can fill you in on the process. </p>

<p>Sorry not to be of more help. But just to say that your anxieties are normal and widespread. Try a search online and contact a couple of places. You might be surprised and find a really welcoming place. You won’t know unless you try.</p>

<p>Very best wishes in your search :)</p>

5

<p>I know this is quite late but I just wanted to say thank you for trying to help as much as you can. I am currently thinking of either going to my brother’s uni (which is huge, and they have a deaf club and the major I want). Plus it would be nice to have my brother around to bug when I feel like it and I can have him drive me places because he has a license and sometimes a car. haha</p>

<p>My other choice is to stay at my uni and stick it out. I am going to see how my social situation works out. If it does not improve by the end of the semester, I will transfer to my brother’s uni and try to improve my experience there. I don’t want my entire college experience to consist of did homework, ate, slept, did laundry, haha. My current uni is in the middle of nowhere and doing things on my own usually means I don’t do much fun stuff on my own. (except reading and watching TV, which I can’t really share with anyone else)</p>