Majoring in Comp Lit?

VeryHappy
Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:16:57 +0000

This is just one person’s story; YMMV.

About a hundred years ago, I majored in Comp Lit. I did so because, though I actually wanted to major in Biology (wha . . . ?), I thought it was too hard for me. (It required Calculus and Physics in college, and I went to a college that had a large technical school filled with aspiring engineers. I didn’t do well in Calc and was afraid of the other hard sciences.)

So I majored in Comp Lit. It was easy: I got to spend four years reading some good books and writing some not-too-bad papers.

I was able to get a job as an editor after college, because my father was a printer and he had connections. So what I did had some relation to what I had majored in.

After 10 years of not earning very much money, I also realized I was not creative enough to be a great editor. By that point I also wanted to learn about business and use the other side of my brain. So I got an MBA, went to work in corporations, and earned more money.

In retrospect, I should have stayed with Biology, sucked it up, gotten tutors, and done what I really wanted to do. Comp Lit was pleasant, but I don’t think I really learned much by majoring in it. If I had it to do over again, I’d major in something that lead to a career.