<p>So after doing some research, I'm not sure if I want to go into academia. However, I still really enjoy my area of interest and would love to get a PhD in it. </p>
<p>What else can I do with a PhD in English? I would like a job with a decent to good salary, and some stability. Besides publishing--which at the beginning, has menial salaries--what else is there?</p>
<p>Like I've always said, the default is to become a high-school/middle-school teacher. Granted, you will usually need to also earn a teaching certificate. You may also have to end up teaching at some undesirable locations (i.e. inner cities) for at least the first few years of your career. </p>
<p>But teaching school is still a pretty good job. Granted, you'll never become rich. But the salaries are decent, you get the whole summer off (a very big plus), and the jobs are relatively stable, especially if you qualify for tenure.</p>
<p>As I pointed out in another thread, English is not an alternative certification area, so to get a teacher certificate involves, for most states, approximately 1 1/2-2 years more of education classes and teaching experiences, including student teaching. Just be aware of that before you choose that path.</p>
<p>sunkissed - you should absolutely give it a shot if that's what you want. I shouldn't cost you anything but your time (and possibly sanity). </p>
<p>If you are still young and willing to travel, Japan and other Asian countries have a huge need for English teachers. Do it for a couple years or however long you can stand it. (But go into that carefully, as there are many less than perfectly honest companies in that business.)</p>
<p>Even if you don't get a job that "uses" your degree, you'll have accomplished something very few people manage, learned a heck of a lot, met tons of really smart people, and probably had some really good times.</p>
<p>Plus, when you fill out forms you can select the "Doctor" title!</p>
<p>As someone who loves literature and considered the English route I'll pass along an idea or two that I found. You will have excellent writing skills when you are done. This is true to some level of all Ph.D.'s, but is particularly true of English Ph.D.'s. There are a great number of English Ph.D.'s who go on to work in businesses or non-profits as document/grant writers. You could also use the knowledge as William said to teach English as a second language. I know an Asian Studies Major who is currently teaching English in China while waiting to start her grad program. These are in addition to the more obvious alternatives such as author, journalist, teacher, etc. If you did a "what could I do with a degree in English" type search you'll find lots of possibilities.</p>
<p>Have you considered teaching at a community college? That doesn't require a teaching certificate. It generally requires at least a master's degree, though I would guess having a PhD wouldn't hurt.</p>
<p>Community college positions are considered academia. The competition is the same, and the people applying to the 4-year schools often apply to the CCs as well.</p>
<p>If you do go down the secondary education route I would suggest looking into employment at some private schools. I imagine you would have to spend some time working your way up to land a job at somewhere like Detroit Country Day. They require if a Ph.D. of almost all of their instructors and you would be serving mostly high ability kids. Granted that some of them will simply be rich and not necessarily intelligent. However, you have to deal with less politics if you go into private school teaching. You will also have a higher chance of teaching one specific ability level.Moreover, getting a Ph.D. in something you really enjoy will be an excellent experience as was noted above.</p>
<p>Perhaps look in the direction of Washington D.C. at the big grant-giving agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Humanities. Contact someone in human resources there and ask what a PhD in English might apply for.</p>
<p>There might also be work in such places as the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institutes, etc. for someone with a scholarly degree in English. </p>
<p>Perhaps if you had an "end game" in mind, such as working for a grants agency or non-profit, you could couple your graduate school courses in English with some other courses in grants-writing, or museum studies...</p>
<p>FInally, contact your closest university and make some appointments with English professors to ask them what else they know their peers are doing, aside from teaching at colleges/unis. Always ask the people in the field!</p>
<p>Perhaps there are programs with double-degrees (I'm just imagining..) with some work in an English PhD and other graduate work in Education/Curriculum writing. Wouldn't it be great to rewrite the English curriculum for your state's high schools ;)</p>
<p>If you know anyone in the corporate world, find out how they train their foreign/international executives to deal with the English language. Perhaps they all take these English Second Language courses, but I'm wondering if sophisticated companies have consultants or whole departments to help their foreign professionals rewrite their presentations so the English is beautiful. That would be at some top level, so why not write a letter in the direction of some Fortune 500 companies to ask how they do this task? I have no idea; I'm just guessing that they don't burden top executives with rinky-dink ESL courses, above a certain level. Perhaps you could get into corporate training, in other words.</p>
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Community college positions are considered academia. The competition is the same, and the people applying to the 4-year schools often apply to the CCs as well.
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<p>The competition for these positions are just as hard as the 4-year schools?</p>
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The competition for these positions are just as hard as the 4-year schools?
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<p>Yeah, I also strongly question this notion. It is almost certainly false, if for no other reason, than because a lot of newly minted PhD's, particularly in the disciplines that are highly marketable in industry (i.e. engineering, computer science, natural sciences, economics, business, statistics, applied mathematics, and some others) will simply not consider working at a community college.</p>
<p>In the words of one guy I know who is finishing his PhD from MIT in EECS this year, specializing in complexity theory: while he prefers to work in academia, he will not only not consider placement in a community college, he won't even consider placement outside of a top 20 CS department. Why? Because if he can't get that, fine, he'll just take a research job at Google, for which he already has a standing offer.</p>
<p>So if nothing else, this guy (and guys like him, of which there are many) are not going to be competing for any community college jobs.</p>
<p>Actually, having talked to one of the professors in charge of deciding who is hired in a CC English department the competition is quite stiff. It's gotten to the point where they don't even consider non-PhD's in most cases and still have hundreds of applicants each year. It may not be "just as hard", but at least in English it sure as heck isn't much easier.</p>
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Actually, having talked to one of the professors in charge of deciding who is hired in a CC English department the competition is quite stiff. It's gotten to the point where they don't even consider non-PhD's in most cases and still have hundreds of applicants each year. It may not be "just as hard", but at least in English it sure as heck isn't much easier.
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To be fair to sakky's point, though--there's an overabundance of people with doctorates in the humanities, and in most cases the social sciences. The same cannot be said of those in engineering and computer science.</p>
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To be fair to sakky's point, though--there's an overabundance of people with doctorates in the humanities, and in most cases the social sciences. The same cannot be said of those in engineering and computer science.
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<p>To clarify, I don't know that it's a matter of abundance on an absolute numbers standpoint. Rather, it's about the marketability of the degree. Certain PhD's, like the technical disciplines, are highly marketable to the private sector. In some cases, you can even start your own company around your research. For example, Google is basically an outgrowth of Brin's and Page's Stanford computer science PhD project. Broadcom is a chip company that was started by UCLA EE PhD student Henry Nicholas along with his professor and advisor Henry Samueli. They're billionaires now. Similarly, I know a couple guys who are finishing their PhD's in biology at MIT and have already snagged millions in venture capital funding to launch their own biotech startup around their research. Obviously these guys have no interest in trying to place at a community college.</p>
<p>Now I agree that humanities and some social sciences is tougher. But that's why I think it's important to work on your marketability. If it is possible to mold your research into something marketable, then you may be better off. Furthermore, you should be looking to constantly build your network, as most jobs are obtained through social networks. That way, if you can't get an academic placement, you may still be able to get a decent industry job.</p>