I am an incoming college freshman who plans to study English as my second major. I’m very undecided on my career, so I’m hoping to explore throughout my college years. My primary major is Human and Organizational Development, which I plan to use for careers such as marketing/advertising, public relations, or publishing. However, I have also thought about being a high school English teacher or an English professor. Because I am interested in studying English (I would call it my “passion”), I would like to participate in something over the summer months that involves English in some way. Are there any opportunities for English majors to participate in over the summer? I have always been interested in undergraduate research, but I’m not sure how I would go about participating in something of this nature because I’m not in a STEM field. I have also thought about participating in an archaeological research project, but would I need to be involved with, for example, the Classics major?
I’m sorry if this sort of jumped around. As you can see, I’m interested in these kinds of opportunities, but I’m not really sure about the processes that are involved! Thank you for your help.
For summer, a good job would be an English tutor or interning at a bank or office (your school may be able to help you land an internship as well so I would check in there if I were you)
As for jobs after college, a perfect culmination of your interests would be traveling the world teaching English. The pay is livable wage and you can become nationalized in most countries after teaching a few years. Another bonus is that you get to see the world with little cost from your pocket if you get in with a teaching contractor. China and Russia are where some of the best paid teachers are.
How do those careers follow? I’d expect something like a marketing degree to make you a good candidate for the first two, and something else in business for publishing.
@Vctory This specific major involves choosing one of five different tracks, so my career options would vary widely depending on what track I choose to pursue. This major is also commonly used for things like consulting and HR, so it’s really versatile as far as employment. The reason I mentioned publishing as well was because of my interest in English.
“I would like to participate in something over the summer months that involves English in some way. Are there any opportunities for English majors to participate in over the summer?”
Some of these might involve participating in an existing organization/event; others are DIY—you’d have to initiate and organize it and obtain permission/gather support. It’s a little late for this summer for many of these suggestions.
Volunteering in literacy programs; volunteering in summer reading programs at your local library; organizing a reading group at your library; teaching English to non-English speakers; community theatre; volunteering/participating in local Shakespeare festivals; volunteering as a docent at a literary museum (e.g., the home/museum of a famous writer—if there are any in your locale); interning with a literary magazine; volunteering for a book festival; conducting oral histories with local authors; volunteering with local nonprofits for writing projects (e.g., newsletters); participating in local writing groups/workshops; organizing a library/museum exhibit on a local author(s) (would need to write a proposal); writing a local history; writing a travelogue; taking classes at a book arts studio; volunteering/interning at local archives/special collections library; starting a thematic book collection (and eventually participating in a student book collecting contest that many universities sponsor); volunteering with a Junior Great Books group; tutoring in English; etc.
As for an archaeological project, you need not be a Classics major to volunteer for a dig.
@zapfino I’m actually looking into opportunities for next summer-- it may be too early, but I didn’t want to miss any application deadlines if I’m able to find something that is already organized. Thank you for the long list of suggestions!
It’s good to know what you’re passionate about. However, it’s important to acknowledge that english isn’t a very good major choice if your aim is to enter the consulting or publishing industries. While it’s true that english majors at, say, Yale often enter those fields, don’t overlook the obvious reality of alum connections and family friends who work in the industry.
If you’re interested in management consulting and aren’t headed for a top ivy, opt for economics. It’s very possible to mix economics with english, and this will leave many, many options open and be a fantastic combination.
If you want to become an english teacher, recognize that you probably won’t have the time to take courses to fulfill the second major’s requirements. Reason: english teachers are required to take a lot of classes in curriculum development, do student teaching, etc. It’s usually not feasible to major in english, take the courses that will help you get certified to be a teacher, and add on, say, economics (or Human and Organizational Development).
English essentially pigeonholes you into teaching english, graduate school, or law school. And I’d only advise the latter two options if you’re an extremely high-achieving student who tests well.
Comments on majoring in organizational development:
I’d really investigate the legitimacy of this major. Unless you’re in management consulting, which requires you to be a high achiever from an ivy, the only consulting jobs are for computer science majors, actuaries, biostatisticians, etc. The “concepts” that major teaches are essentially oversimplifications unless you have a pre-existing technical background to supplement it. Wells Fargo doesn’t hire “consultants” touting oversimplifications; they want technicians well-versed in information systems technology.
Final thoughts:
But if you’re interested in becoming an english teacher, staying on this path is totally fine. Just make sure the organizational development stuff doesn’t cut into your teacher certifications.
If you’re interested in doing anything else, drop organizational development and pick up finance as a major. You can double-major in english, and the world will be your oyster.
First, to answer your question, OP - what you should do over the summer really depends on what you want to do in the future, or what your interests are. There are lots of options directly related English - teaching, writing, publishing are examples - and lots more that are more indirectly related. If you are interested in marketing or advertising or PR, an internship at one of those kinds of companies would be most useful (for example, interning at a market research firm could be really useful - I interned at one in graduate school. Guess what got me the most notice at work? My writing abilities. I was the best writer my boss had ever seen, and they put me on the task of writing a monthly newsletter for clients…that I was then able to use as a non-academic writing sample when applying for jobs 4 years later.)
If you want to teach English, you can do summer teaching in a variety of contexts. Lots of private schools have summer teaching fellowships for students (think Choate Rosemary Hall - actually, I think they are one of the schools). There’s a program called Breakthrough Collaborative that recruits college students to teach low-income middle school students in different cities. There are also summer enrichment programs like the Duke TIP and Johns Hopkins’ CTY programs that hire college students to work as teaching assistants in different fields, and they offer interesting classes. All of these options pay - often not a lot, though - and provide housing! (My husband did Breakthrough Collaborative one summer, and he stayed in the beautiful guest house of a wealthy couple who loved the program. Yes, he had the entire 2-bedroom GUEST HOUSE to himself. It was bigger than our apartment in NYC!)
If you might be interested in consulting, try a summer internship in consulting.
Basically, your opportunities are only limited by your imagination (within reason…obviously you can’t become a nurse with an English degree, lol. Or rather, you can, but you’d need more training.)
Not true. First of all, English is a perfect major for the publishing industry. (The only problem is that publishing is in a bit of a crisis and extremely competitive - there are lots of English majors who want to be in publishing or book editors right now.)
And the top consulting companies don’t really care what you major in. They need people with a variety of skills, not just quant. If you’re an economics major at a lower-tier, non-target school, you’ll have a difficult time getting into the company no matter what. And if you’re an English major at a top school who’s done an internship, then you’ll have an easier time.
A quick search of the major “human and organizational development” turns up Vanderbilt as a top result (and no I was unable to find another school with the same major worded the same way), so if OP is headed to Vanderbilt, they have excellent prospects at getting into an MBB management consulting firm.
I lament the death of the liberal arts and sciences and the crushing literalism of the current world order. (That was tongue in cheek, and not directed at anyone in particular, lol).
I am willing to bet a lot of money that the majority of people in PR and advertising/marketing did not actually major in either of those fields in college - not the least because most colleges don’t HAVE those majors. Marketing and public relations are vocational fields; you can learn them on the job. Most people DO learn them on the job, and their principles are based upon concepts drawn from the liberal arts and sciences. You simply need a foundational knowledge from which to draw, and any liberal arts and science major can provide you with that.
If OP truly is doing the HOD major at Vanderbilt, they say “The Human and Organizational Development (HOD) major is designed to prepare you for a successful career focused on finding solutions to human problems in organizations and communities” and focus on communication, data-driven decision-making, using technology to aid organizations, collaborative work, group leadership, management, and organizational development. That sounds widely applicable in a variety of fields. The Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness track seems designed for future HR professionals. The other similar majors at other schools that popped up were designed similarly.
Management consulting does not require you to go to an Ivy. The very tippy-top firms recruit from top schools only, but those include a variety of places - Ivies, elite privates (a group in which Vanderbilt is), and top publics. BUT there are tons of management consulting firms out there, and a lot of the smaller or boutique firms - particularly regional ones - aren’t particularly concerned with your pedigree.
For other kinds of consulting, I know consultants who design and conduct research studies, write instruction manuals, do educational consulting, teach diversity workshops for businesses, teach health education classes for children and adolescents, help doctors connect with patients better, edit, recruit high-level executives, do resume and career counseling, design websites…the list goes on. Basically, if there’s a market for it, there’s probably someone out there who’s good at it doing some consulting for it. There are entire boutique consulting firms that focus on specific parts of the corporate sector: one does only healthcare consulting, focusing on hospitals and clinics. One does educational consulting. Etc. It’s patently untrue that you have to have some sort of quantitative major to do consulting because the world needs people to do things other than crunch numbers and write code. (For example…every technical advance needs a manual, right?)
I know several English majors who are doing none of those things. In fact, most of the English majors I know are doing something other than one of those three things. I only have one friend who’s taught English.
Currently it’s fashionable to tell students that finance, economics computer science, and engineering are the only majors that will provide career opportunities, but that’s simply untrue. The majors OP has selected are fine. What will determine career opportunities are the skills you develop, OP, and the experience you get via part-time jobs and internships. An English major who writes well, has interned at a PR firm and knows a bit of programming is far more useful than a computer science major who hasn’t done anything.
@TheEssayGuy I have no interest as of now in pursuing a career in consulting. I simply used that as an example of what many Human and Organizational majors choose to do. I believe the above poster explained the HOD program (I will be heading to Vanderbilt) and its versatility well so no need to repeat that, but I will say that I have done my research on this major, and I believe it will open up many opportunities for me. I’m not sure I want to be a teacher quite yet, but I’m certainly not opposed to the idea, so it is something I’m still interested in.
@Juillet-- Thank you for your suggestions and support of the English major. I wasn’t aware that certain summer programs hire college students for teaching, so I will definitely consider those! I’m finding that many summer programs and internships are for older students, so I’ll have to ask around when I arrive to school in the fall. If I’m not able to find anything, I’m considering perhaps volunteering to teach abroad during the summer, although that will require raising money.
If you have any interest in science and/or technology, look into whether your college has a minor/concentration in technical writing, which is pretty much communicating technical ideas to non-experts. I’m majoring in Technical Writing and love that it’s a great way to be able to take English classes and make use of my good writing skills while also having more of a practical ‘real world’ application. There are a ton of jobs in this field anywhere from public school systems to the software development field.
If you think this may be of interest to you and your school does NOT offer a minor or concentration like this, then you could try to take a few computer science and natural science courses, as well as something like professional writing and a class on web design.
@Elizabeth1315 - Yes, most internships are reserved for rising juniors and seniors. That’s fine - when I say you should do internships, I don’t mean you have to do them right now or even in the first summer after college. If you can, that’s fantastic, but I meant more that you need to do them at some point during college.
However, asking around is a great idea!
Also, Duke TIP’s TAs need to have two years under the belt, but their residential counselors (who supervise 10-16 students) only need to have had one year of college. CTY only requires college-level coursework for their teaching assistants, so presumably freshman can apply if they’ve taken courses in the area. And Breakthrough Collaborative hires high school and college students, so that’s something you can do in the first summer of college.