Hi, I’m looking for a career writing professionally, perhaps writing copy, PR, speeches, technical material, journalism, ghostwriting, anything really. I’m looking for a major that can help me to hone my writing skills, but not creative writing, as I’d like a career a bit more stable than writing novels or poetry. Does anyone know of a major that fits the bill, providing me with opportunity to sharpen my writing for a variety of potential jobs, and a college that does a good job teaching it? Please help me! Thanks everybody.
I think with this endeavor that marketing yourself will be a challenge decidedly bigger than that entailed in learning writing skills. Have you done the SAT? If so, if I may ask, what was your verbal score?
I haven’t yet, sorry. However, I imagine I’d do somewhat well, as that portion of the test plays to my strengths.
One option is to major in a field in which you want to write and them minor in writing and hone your writing skills. For example, if you wanted to do technical writing, you could major in computer science or physics and minor in writing. If you wanted to be a journalist writing about political issues, you could major in political science, minor in writing, and do some internships in journalism.
You don’t need to major in writing to get a job in writing and be a good writer; you just need to develop a program of study that has you writing often and can help you hone your skills. Then you need to write a lot - for the school paper, in an advertising internship, freelance for blogs, whatever. You need to develop a portfolio of writing samples that you can use when it’s time to apply for jobs.
A college well-known for its writing-intensiveness is Hamilton College. Middlebury is also known for its writing programs. (And in general, smaller liberal arts colleges tend to have programs focusing on writing, or have lots of writing-intensive classes - because professors have more time to grade those papers.)
@juillet Thanks so much! That was very helpful, I have a couple questions though. When you say to minor in “writing”, do you mean creative writing or English or what? Also, I’m looking at attending a public college, do any of those have a reputation for strong writing?
I agree with juillet. Given strong verbal aptitude, you don’t need a whole major in writing. I notice that (at least) three of the University of California campuses have University Writing Programs. At Davis it’s a minor (I don’t know about the others), and it emphasizes writing for various technical disciplines.
There is value in reading what people advertising for writers say they’re looking for and probably even more value in reading the resumes of writers. Indeed.com has a lot of resumes of writers seeking work or better work. I looked at them somewhat and recommend you do it. The backgrounds of people who have been successful as writers I found split between English/journalism and the technical field they go on to write about, with occasional marketing majors. I saw a LOT of mention of proficiency with software packages.
Thanks @jjwinkle
Some colleges just have a minor in writing, no preface. My college had a minor in writing, and had several different tracks you could pick - creative, professional, or technical. So you can check that out. If your college doesn’t have a minor in writing, one option is to select whichever one seems to appeal to you most. You seem most interested in professional writing, so a creative writing minor might not help you much. However, many English minors (and majors) are more focused on literature than writing. So it depends on the school. An alternative is simply to take some writing-oriented classes instead of minoring; this is especially important if your college’s English minor is mostly literature.
Sure, there are plenty of public universities with reputations for good writing programs - University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, University of Texas, Florida State, UC-Irvine. However, these programs are typically known for their creative writing programs, mostly in literary fiction-type writing. I’m not sure whether they have great professional writing programs. And of course, the schools well-known for journalism are quite different.
In the meantime, I would start to build a portfolio.
I’m a math teacher. During my years home with my kids, and quite a lot since then, I’ve done LOTS of freelance writing. A little has been on parenting, some odds and ends, and a LOT on teaching-- since that’s what I know. I’ve made some good money, and would have a decent portfolio if I wished to put one together.
Think about the topics you’re qualified to write on, then Google “freelance writing opportunities for teens” or anything of the sort. Think of the magazines you would like to write for, and google their “submissions guidelines.”