I’m a homeschooled high school senior interested in a double major of English and Art History with maybe a minor in Spanish.
I am completely fluent in Spanish (first language and its what we speak at home) and had a spanish teacher who basically conviced me to take Spanish in college.
I am also an avid reader and writer and absolutely love the English language and I admit, I highly dislike having to read through many mistakes when it comes to grammar and punctuation.
Also, art has always drawn me in a way I cant possibly explain and would love to spend my days in museums and galleries when I’m not at the library.
What I’m trying to set up here is if those majors (and minor) are something that would benefit me and my strengths? It would also be great to get some info on what i could do with them in the future.
I don’t necessarily know much about jobs with an English or Spanish degree that don’t include teaching (something that I am not interested in) and the same goes for Art History and being a curator.
English degree is something that you can do many things with. You could be a writer, editor, public relations, you could even go into business. As for Spanish, that’s something many government jobs look for and also the FBI.
With many majors, you have to think broadly and creatively about careers. Majors like English, art history, physics, math, political science, etc. don’t necessarily feed directly into a specific career like engineering or nursing, but there are still lots of careers that don’t require a specific major and/or can benefit directly from the skills you’d develop in an English and art history major - skills like writing/communication and analysis of large amounts of information. You can pick up additional skills by taking classes (no reason an English major can’t learn to code or do statistical analysis) and by doing internships (learn some business savvy and make connections!)
However…do note that an English major at most American colleges is not really about grammar and punctuation (although you do have to take that into consideration - but you would in any major that’s heavy on writing). There will be some language study, but the heaviest emphasis on many campuses is likely to be English literature - novels for sure (fiction, non-fiction, different genres), but also potentially poetry, essays, film, plays/drama, and other types of media. Now of course, a lot of the literature classes will involve examining the way the English language is used and manipulated to greatest effect to communicate within those literary works, so you will still be studying the language indirectly (and directly through some language coursework). There may also be specific writing courses within your English major where you will learn the use of the language to communicate yourself.
Art history is a super-interesting field that will also impart the skill of cultural and social analysis. Art history is, superficially, about understanding works of art - but it’s also about understanding the cultural, social, and historical factors that influenced the production of art and the progression of art through the ages. You can understand the shaping of the world through the art that we’ve produced and the ways in which we’ve produced it. Curation is a really difficult field to enter, btw, but there are lots of other positions necessary in the arts world - arts administration and management, development and donor relationship work (raising money for art museums and nonprofits that preserve art), management, marketing (which could use that English major in writing copy!), special programs administration (maybe artists in residence or a special student or kids’ program), etc.
