<p>At 16 I dropped out of high school because of my depression and later got antidepressants. Then I went to community college for two years and got an associate's degree to transfer to a university and the entire plan through college was to major in accounting and become an accountant but that was until I discovered what accounting really was. After my first semester at university, and procrastinating on everything and failing two of my three classes, I realized I hated it. So I had three options: stick with it, switch to something similar, or go for a humanities degree. And figuring I had no respect for the humanities at the time (as I believed no one there would get a job), I decided to give the accounting major one more try.</p>
<p>During my first week into the second semester I kept telling myself, "I hate this! I hate this! Just keep sticking through it!” and I realized that if I majored in this that this is all I’d be doing for the rest of my life, so I knew I had to switch. I switched my major to English, as all I was doing at the time was reading and writing, and so afterwards I googled everything there was about the english major; and it was like going into WebMD and discovering thinking you had cancer when really you just had a cold. Even though all my idols were authors, novelists, screenwriters, or directors, and all who had majored in a humanities degree, I don’t know how I’m going to support myself with just an english degree, though, without having to go live with my mother like who my three 40-year old uncles are doing (one even trying to be a writer). If I go to major in accounting, or something like it, I know I'll want to quit and go start my own business, or that I’d regret majoring in it and wishing I had majored in something else. </p>
<p>I know I’ll want to start my own business eventually, I know I’ll never stop reading and writing, and I know I’ll never want to work for a business like as an accountant. But the whole bad-stigma of the english degree, which is what I feel is right for me - even though I was one of those kinds of people who were against it - is making me doubt myself. Can someone offer me some advice to a question I’m sure many humanities majors have? I feel I'm at a loss between doing what I want and having a terrible life or doing something I don't want and having an average one. I feel like just going back to the first sentence of this post and doing that but with life.</p>
<p>Though am not the perfect person to advise as I am still in high school but going to college next year. Anyways, to the point, so you think that with an english major your life would be hell in future but think for a second whether your life would be any better if you pursue something you hate so badly that you feel like crying half the time!</p>
<p>I know that accounting or business or science is something that if I do pursue, I’ll probably suicide because I am just not made for it. Indeed I think my logical part of brain is dead and only creative part is keeping me alive! So yeah in future, this year after I final go to college, I am planning to do major in english with romance language and a minor in classic… I also want to study journalism but lets see…</p>
<p>In short, do what you want… Who knows instead of staying with your mom, you decide to become a travel journalist (no am not talking about 5 year old dream) but seriously, who knows you might work for nat geo or history channel in future (well that’s my dream) but you will know one thing for sure, no matter what subject you choose… you won’t be as depressed as you will be if u do something you absolutely loathe!</p>
<p>Oh and one more thing to add in my rant… how do you know you won’t sit at home with an accounting major… are you sure to get a good job there?</p>
<p>As corny as it sound (yeah I am a writer so I have right to be corny), this is life… you are not sure what will become of future… so just do what you want now… atleast later you wont regret it and whatever decision that you make will be UR’s so alteast in the end you can be happy that you lived and governed your life yourself and not by society :)</p>
<p>You obviously are concerned most about enjoying your future job and having enough money from that job. So… why are you worrying so much about what you want to major in? College is a mere 4 years of your life. Whether you love or hate what you’re studying it’s not going to matter that much… meanwhile your job and what you do after college is basically the rest of your life. </p>
<p>Instead of figuring out if you want to major in English or Accounting, or something else. Figure out if you want to be a writer, accountant, own your own business, teacher, etc…</p>
<p>If you want to be a writer… it doesn’t matter if you major in accounting, biology, english, or skip out on college all together. If you aren’t writing and trying to get published you won’t get paid…and if you do get published it doesn’t matter what degree you have. Steven King was working as a janitor. </p>
<p>If you want to own your own business you don’t need a college degree either. Perhaps that money going to fund your college education could be put toward starting your own business instead?</p>
<p>I’m all for studying what you love but the thing is… you can read books without getting an english degree and you can write without getting an english degree. You can study anything you want for fun without getting a degree in that subject. And you can study what you want at a college while pursuing a degree that is directly relevant to your future career. That’s why electives exist.</p>
<p>In the end it’s all about finding a job that suits you. Something you don’t despise and can live with. You don’t have to love it. There’s a reason they call it work. You just have to be able to make money and not loathe it. As such you need to worry less about your major and what you’re studying and more about possible jobs and getting internships that actually give you first hand experience in that job. Unless you’re in a pre-professional program what you study probably isn’t going to be directly relevant to your future job anyway. Meanwhile internships and volunteering will not only give you the most valuable portion of your resume but also allow you to actually figure out if the career is right for you. </p>
<p>I’m also an English major, so I know exactly what you’re talking about when people tell you that English isn’t a practical major. The thing is, I respectfully disagree with them. Being an English major is about much more than just reading books and writing papers. What people fail to realize is that the foundation of English is learning how to gather and analyze information and present it effectively, while being cognizant of your audience. Being an English major might not guarantee you a job right out of college, but it provides you with a versatile and practical tool set that can be applied to a wide variety of professions.</p>
<p>Before switching my major to English, I was majoring science because I was told that job prospects were better if you majored in more practical areas than the humanities. During my first year of college, I had a job calling alumni of my university, and I found that many of them ended up working in areas that had nothing to do with their college majors. They all gave me the same advice: major in something that you enjoy and are passionate about, and get a college degree. You won’t actually know what jobs are going to be available when you graduate, and you may end up working in an area that you didn’t even know existed, but that suits you well.</p>
<p>As for finding employment as an English major, while jobs in the publishing industry can be hard to come by, and it is hard to provide for yourself as an author just starting out, there is a demand for English majors. Many businesses put out information pamphlets and employ adaptable English majors to write for them. English is different from an accounting degree, because with an accounting degree, you are basically taught how to be an accountant. An English degree at a university with a good English department should give you the tools you need to excel in just about any area you could want to go into.</p>
<p>This is getting rather lengthy, so I will try to wrap this up. Basically, if you enjoy English, I would say go for it. Especially with the rapid growth of internet publishing, it is a growing field, and most of the people who are telling you that it’s useless are ignorant. Try not to worry so much about what job you are going to find in the future and instead focus on using college as a way to develop the skills you will need to be appealing to perspective employers. You could pair a degree in English with a minor in another, more “practical” area if you wanted to increase the scope of your degree. But honestly, at least if you major in English, you will be able to prepare a professional looking and eloquent cover letter and resume that are free of typos and grammatical errors, which will make you more appealing than some of the business majors who never considered English important. </p>