So, for a little bit of a preface, I have worked with Computer Science for 3 years prior to college. I worked for my school as a help desk technician and software developer. I absolutely despised every moment of the job. Now that I have entered college, I also realize that I despise the classes as well. I can’t stand the people in this department and I can’t stand the subject as a whole, i’m miserable doing it. On top of this, I am absolutely terrible at math so I fear that I will not manage to survive through Calculus 1 and 2. However, English is something that I can do in my sleep. It’s something that i’ve always been passionate about and something that I have been able to do without getting bored of it. The obvious decision is to switch, since I have asked around the campus with most of them telling me an English major has a pretty broad selection of careers to get into. My parents, although, do not see it this way. They seem completely hell bent on the fact that if I major in English I will end up working at a Wal-Mart. If I am completely in the wrong here and English is a terrible major to go into, feel free to inform me. Though otherwise, I am looking for a way to convince my parents English is a viable choice. They won’t see reason without blatant trustworthy numbers and statistics.
Convey to them your disinterest in Computer Science and Math. Explain how you understand their point. Say how you don’t want to get into a career where you hate waking up every morning for it.
Try to research WITH your parents about the different careers you could get into with an English degree. Go over pros and cons of different degrees.
Also, are you paying for school? If you are, you could use that as an arguing point, but don’t use the point too hard. It could really damage your relationship with your parents.
My husband has two degrees from Stanford, one in math and the other in computer science. When he was working in IT, he frequently hired English majors because they could communicate and were more than capable of learning the technical stuff on the job.
I think English is one of the more versatile majors. If you end up working at Wal-Mart, you’ll be in management in the corporate headquarters.
your parents care about you and have lived in the real world. cut them some slack. you will not work at Wal-Mart as a English major you will end up at Starbucks.
look you are thinking of college and your major as a new phase in your life of personnel growth and discovery (which it is) your parents understand that but they are being more practical, it is your life but I assume it is their money. I can not tell you they are right or that you are…but do not allow this to ruin your relationship with your parents.
Try to figure out what it is in English that you are passionate about. After all, software code uses language, too.
With your existing background in computers you may be very successful in product management, technical communications and technical writing. However, these professionals mostly work in the same environment as programmers. They just get paid less and are often (unjustly) considered less important for the business.
One of my children, midway through her college career, switched from engineering to English, and it was the best decision for her. BUT… she is also very strategic and tenacious, and put much thought and research into her decision. She set up a plan (and revised it when necessary), created a team of mentors, sought out jobs, extracurricular activities, and volunteer work that would make her resume stand out in a post college job search, worked hard to avoid having any debt, and made many, many sacrifices in order to achieve her goals, sometimes working three jobs in the summer (all of her jobs were professional office-type jobs). And she added a STEM minor. She presented us with this “plan of attack” when she decided to change her major, and we were very impressed with her research, maturity, and overall plan. She’s now in grad school in a program that brings together her English and tech background, and has made a name for herself due to her work ethic, knowledge, and tenacity. And, she loves what she does and the people she works with.
She also postponed changing her major until she felt that she was going toward something, not running from something else. She continued to go to office hours for her engineering classes, and didn’t give up. This gave her time to research and create/start implementing a plan. She was strong in her STEM classes, but knew it wasn’t a career she wanted. And, being an English major at her university isn’t easy. It is demanding with lots of expectations, time commitments, and little sleep, but it was a major that she wanted desperately to pursue. So, my advice is… you can’t convince parents with words and hopes, but with a mature and strategic plan that you are excited about and willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve.
@Fish125 your post offers great advice on how an English major can still be an attractive job applicant. I’ve seen English majors in high management positions at huge companies; in HR, communications departments and marketing. It’s a terrific major if you think law school could be in your future. Combine it with some finance and/or statistics classes, some general tech courses, some well-chosen internships - and you should do well in the marketplace. Just be smart about how you present yourself and sell your skills. But rest assured: you will have skills.
What industry are you interested in? That might tell you whether or not an English major might get you in door. If not, think about a Business major with an English minor or a double major. That coupled with your IT experience would take you further than English alone. kataliamom also offered some suggestions for combining English. English and Spanish is smart these days as another example of doubling down on the English major. My son did business and English as a double major.
I love @Fish125 's post. My daughter was an English major from the start, and she did many of those things as well (not the STEM minor, though). She is currently a program officer with a foundation in New York City, focusing on grants to organizations addressing the problems of children and youth in poverty. It’s a very satisfying job, and pays much better than Walmart.
Here’s a link to one of the excellent annual reports put out by the University of Pennsylvania career services office:
http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/files/FINAL_REPORT_COMBINED.pdf
It covers the class of 2015, and includes a section that has people’s initial jobs by their major. Only 3% of the English majors went into retail – far fewer than went into management consulting. There wasn’t really any one field that dominated, although about a third if them got characterized as “communications.”
And here’s a link to a resume of a friend. Check out his college major. https://bcs.mit.edu/users/gabrielimitedu
Do some research of tech companies that hire computer sciences majors. Look at the positions they have available for English major types. Present this to your parents. They need those with a good command of the language as well as programmers/developers. You can also point out other industries’ use of English majors. Your own school’s English department should have information available for where their grads get jobs.
Plus- it is better to graduate, and with a good gpa, rather than to flounder in something you are not suited for. Use your skills to inform your parents of options outside the CS major. While you are at it research majors where your command of English is useful. You may not want the literature aspect of using language as your focus. Go to your school’s career advising center They offer testing (likely free) for aptitude and interest to help students figure what to do.
English majors are valued for their proven ability to write and research. Posts like this make me sad. PlI hope you can find a way to convince them. You will, as others have suggested, have higher level management options with this degree and major. Also try to do internships, volunteering or jobs along the way, including summers.
For some reason most of my kids’ friends majored in English and they all have great jobs.
Find your parents attitudes about English or possibly other humanities/social science majors to be quite interesting.
Especially considering one of my past supervisors in the IS/IT field and a hardcore techie was an English major from an SWA LAC, an older college classmate and English major from my LAC(Oberlin) is currently the head of IT/IS systems for a large long established national non-profit organization, and I’ve been working in the IT/IS field with experience working and communicating with engineering/CS/IT majors for 2+ decades(since HS).
On the flipside, I’ve known of many engineering/CS grads who endured long periods of unemployment/underemployment, within my extended family*, among their friends/neighbors, and among friends/people I’ve met.
Couple of standouts in the last are a friend who ended up spending a few years working as a “sales associate” at a bigbox store(think Costco, Bestbuy, Target, Microcenter, etc) despite having majored in CS for undergrad and grad school at a well-respected engineering/CS program after the dotcom bust of 2001 and finding a car rental sales rep I chatted up in the course of arranging a car rental was a former CS major who never entered a CS related profession after college as he graduated right into the dotcom bust and endured around a decade of un/underemployment in various retail/service sector jobs before getting hired as a car rental sales rep for one of the national car rental chains a decade after graduation. And yes, the car rental sales rep position was his first “real job” post-college by his own admission.
- Majored in History, not English.
** One side of my extended family is heavily populated by engineers/engineering majors…some of whom ended up being SAHDs in an era when that wasn’t very common or accepted because of cyclical downturns in their respective engineering fields.
Oh hey, I have a friend who was an English major and is working at Starbucks…but I also have several friends who ended up at IBM, at management consulting companies, own their own marketing business, work at universities as professors (one is the Provost at a good LAC!), are high school teachers, are published authors, a couple are lawyers and one is a DA, one is a mayor, etc. I myself became a business writer/editor with my English degree. The person who is at Starbucks has not progressed because she has other problems. She’d be at Starbucks even with a computer science degree. It’s really up to the person.
It sounds like your parents need to hear a specific plan. Where do you want to go after college?
A recent article (I forget where I saw it, sorry) talked about how tech companies liked to hire people who can communicate. They can teach coding, if needed: communicating is a different skill, and English mjors are far from pariahs.
I know two English majors. Sisters. Both were my D’s babysitters many years ago. One is now a tenured professor at one of the best LACs in the country. The other has a great job in Big Law in LA after scoring a good scholarship to UCLA law school.
College should be an opportunity to explore. I know that makes some parents nervous, and given the cost, and the burden of loans, it is understandable. Still, I believe, and have read, that premature planning actually impedes opportunities. Go with what you like to study and what you are good at, do some internships, see what happens. Watch for opportunities as they come along.
compmom with all due respect it is her parent’s money that is spent not yours. if the student is paying for her own college and is over 18, than yes your advice is awesome. while I am sure the student is 18+ I doubt the parents $$$$ is not the source of college tuition.
I was an English major and have worked in tech marketing for many years and make a high salary (around $200K) with lots of flexibility. Being a strong writer who also understands technology is a very marketable skill.
I’m sorry to hear that your parents are not open minded enough to allow you the flexibility you need to begin your professional life by choosing your own major.
Best of luck!
You will have to somehow convince your parents that being a lousy computer programmer is not the road to employment. While some of the English majors I’ve known have been underemployed or had trouble figuring out what to do with the degree that was partly a function of their personalities and some of their circumstances.
Among the jobs they’ve had between them (that actually used the English degree to some extent), journalist for a local paper, children’s librarian in a small town, pre-school teacher, cookbook author, real estate developer, state representative, campaign organizer, the person who writes the music notes for a choir, children’s book author, priest.
I started as a Comp Science major and the switched to English. I really like computers and technology but I love reading, discussing literary works, and writing. My first job out of college was a Technical Writer. The job was a great balance of tech and writing. You should look into the Tech Writing field!