<p>Right now my son is looking to major in English. The problem I see with this is he loves to write (he is a very gifted writer) but hates to read. My concern with the English major is the extensive amount of reading required. Other than English majors with a concentration in creative writing, are there any schools that offer some sort of writing major or minor? He eventually wants to go on to law school, but would really enjoy a college program where he could work on his writing without being in a broad english program where a lot of reading is required. He likes all sorts of writing, not just creative. He took a class at BU in persuasive writing and loved it. </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has a renown writing program -- it is highly selective and produces some excellent writers and journalists. But I second your hunch that being an english major would not be good for your son. The traditional English BA often requires a ridiculous amount of reading, especially at the top schools. The reading lists are so extensive to discourage people treating English as a 'mick' degree.</p>
<p>My daughter is looking for the same, along with a great art and psychology programs. She too is a gifted writer, but thinks she want to go to grad school for psych. Being a good writer is a great skill to have in almost any job market.</p>
<p>We used the Fastweb school search tool along with a few others to narrow down the focus. Creative Writng is one of the majors youcan search for, their is also a business writing major in there. </p>
<p>She want to stay near home which narrows it down to Iowa, Minn. or Wisconsin. We still have about 19 schools on her list ;-). </p>
<p>I dont know where you are from or your sons stats, but here are some of what we are looking at; Beloit College, Coe College (great art, and one of the best writing centers of small LAC's), Lawrence University, Iowa State, UW Madison. </p>
<p>There are quite a few more that of creative writng as a major, but the departments are smaller and not quite as strong - but they offer a lot in the way of art & psychology to balance it out.</p>
<p>My cousin went to the Honors program at Arizona State and was thrill with it. She got a "free ride" based mostly on her english/writing. She is now in Grad school at I believe UCLA for screen writing and loving it.</p>
<p>I know you probably don't want to hear this, but no writer can develop without being a reader as well. It's like expecting a brain surgeon to perform surgery without going to school for it first (and instead relying on general knowledge of the brain).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your input so far. We live in NY, and he is looking for urban, or close to urban medium to large sized schools. He has a 2080 on the SAT, looking to improve next month. His UW GPA is maybe 3.9 (a guess at this point.) Has taken mostly AP classes.</p>
<p>I have also heard that you need to read in order to write. Although writing is important in most professions, my son does not (at this point anyway) plan on writing for a career. He would like to attend law school. Writing is something he thoroughly enjoys, and would like to pursue in College. He was advised by an attorney friend of ours to pursue what he really enjoys as an undergrad, and this will in turn produce high grades with better odds of getting into a premiere law school. Although he also enjoys law, law schools do not require that you major in Law, Poly Sc,, etc. to get in. In fact, most prefer that you do not.</p>
<p>lottastrikes, I agree what the attorney says. </p>
<p>If your son wants to go into law, he could explore rhetoric. </p>
<p>Few writing majors will prepare him better to write well, to write persuasively, to write analytically than rhetoric. In fact, at the university I went to, several of the undergraduate classes in rhetoric were taught by professors from the school's famous law school (widely considered one of the best in the US.)</p>
<p>But the reading assignments in rhetoric can be tough both in volume and in subject matter (philosophy, logic etc.)</p>
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I have also heard that you need to read in order to write. Although writing is important in most professions, my son does not (at this point anyway) plan on writing for a career.
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<p>Well, I wasn't saying it for a career. As someone who has been an avid writer since age 6 or so, I can say that the number one rule that any writer will tell you is to read. It improves your vocabulary, your grammar sense, your facility with language, your ability to construct scenes, your skills in character and plot development, your awareness of cliches, your knowledge, etc. I can't stress how much reading plays a role in one's development as a writer.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. I agree that Rhetoric seems to be exactly what he's looking for. It seems in some schools it falls under English and some it's Communications. Any suggestions on schools that have good programs for this?</p>
<p>JHU is another school that has a well known (creative) writing program. </p>
<p>However, something for your son to think about: </p>
<p>As kyledavid says, many professionals think that reading is necissary for good writing, and that holds true for many professors as well. Therefore, many (most?) classes in creative writing will have some reading, and in some classes/programs there will be a LOT of reading. For example, the reading lists for some of the ficition writing class at my school are almost as extensive as a normal English class; the reading for the creative non-ficiton class I am taking at the moment, though not as much as a normal English class, is still nothing to sneeze at. This is true even in workshop intensive classes (which the class I am taking at the moment is--we spend about 2/3 of each class workshoping, and 1/3 discussing the readings).</p>
<p>Maybe this is not as true at other schools, but my guess is that it is.</p>
<p>ETA: Also, if your son truley hates to read, I'm a little puzzled by his choice of Law School, which requires immense amounts of reading. Or does he only hate to read ficiton/creative writing?</p>
<p>Thanks Weskid. I guess I need to rephrase this. He does not hate to read in general, he hates to read "literature from the 1800's", Shakespeare, etc. He loves reading about certain topics, i.e. philospohy, religon, law, world events, and even a really good novel. It's the classes associated with most English programs that I don't think he will enjoy.</p>
<p>lotta, most humanities and social sciences involve a good deal of reading and writing. This is not just true of English but also applies to history, political science, philosophy, religion -- I can't think of any discipline that's verbally centered that isn't learned by reading, writing and discussing. </p>
<p>Maybe your son just doesn't like to read fiction? In that case he should major in what he is interested in writing about -- e.g. history or political science. He'll get to do plenty of expository writing, believe me.</p>
<p>My son is also an excellent writer and an unenthusiastic reader. He found that art history was the perfect combination: You LOOK, then you write about it.</p>
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does not hate to read in general, he hates to read "literature from the 1800's", Shakespeare, etc. He loves reading about certain topics, i.e. philospohy, religon, law, world events, and even a really good novel. It's the classes associated with most English programs that I don't think he will enjoy.
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<p>Well that's fine. I'm still an avid writer and I tend not to like to read older literature either (many things before the 20th century). There are many older texts that I can read, but I tend to like modern lit much more, as well as nonfiction (mainly language-related subjects).</p>