I’m a 10th grader who’s beginning to consider college and career prospects. I’ve always had a keen interest in politics and debate- whenever my class is assigned a debate project, I usually “take the lead” and end up writing my friends’ speeches for them. Recently it occurred to me that I could write speeches for politicians as a career. It’s certainly a job that pays good money and capitalizes on a talent I already have.
What should I major in if I want to be a speech writer? And which colleges are known for these majors (preferably a college in the Northeast United States)?
Do a double major or major/minor in Political Science and Communication (or Rhetoric).
Several schools offer majors in Political Communication; others offer a track in political communication within their communication majors. You can do a Google search for these schools.
There are a lot of majors you can select for that - political science, communications, English, public relations. Most colleges offer political science and English.
Syracuse is pretty well-known for their communications-related programs - they have a major in communication and rhetorical studies as well as one in public relations. Penn is also really well known for its communication school and has a major in communication. American has communications and a major called public relations & strategic communications; they also have a variety of political and policy-related majors and are located in DC. Boston University has a College of Communication, and they have a major in communications with a specialization in public relations.
Other colleges to check out are Emerson (a small liberal arts college focused on communications), Fordham, Northeastern, NYU (in Steinhardt), Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY New Paltz, Oswego, and Fredonia, the University of Vermont, and Marymount Manhattan.
But…keep an open mind. I cycled through a lot of interests when I was in high school and early in college - most people change their minds a couple of times. And even my husband, who had wanted to be an aerospace engineer and astronaut since he was three years old, changed his mind mid-college and changed his major to math and then to statistics later. So don’t get too married to the idea of anything too specific yet, either major-wise or college-wise. And select a college not just for the major but because of the wide range of opportunities they offer. Syracuse, Penn, BU and American are all great choices for a variety of reasons - and they all have a wide range of majors to choose from (as do Fordham, Northeastern, RIT, the SUNYs and Vermont).
I know Hunter College – part of CUNY – has Linguistics and Rhetoric.
If it were me in this position, I would definitely do a double major. One of them would have to be political sciences an obvious choice for someone interested in politics. Then I’d have to think what else would be good for me to show I have what it takes to communicate and write speeches. Then I’d see well if I’m really good at writing papers, have aced my way through English classes and have an extreme talent I would say well can I do better at English or could I learn more with communication skills? I’d also consider what politicians look for in a speech writer, well most look for candidates with English degrees. So they look for English degrees, I’m very strong at English but I can always improve anyone can improve on English. So I’d pick a double major in political science and English.
I’d also look at English and political science, and possibly history, as your majors. Obama’s primary speech writer through his campaign and first term was a young guy, in his 20s, who graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
Here is wiki with a short bio of him. He was a poli-sci major:
And here’s a great article about his experience as a speechwriter and his future goals. Also states that he double majored in political science and sociology.