Help! English literature degree

[MissJimmysjumpers]

if you had an English literature degree and were really good at languages what could you do next?

DD is looking at A levels in English Lit, history, psychology and french. She recently had a careers chat which involved an English teacher who wanted to look at Russel group universities for English literature with her but no thoughts about what she might do with her degree or career inspiration

this has left DD, who is good at most things but particularly good at English even more confused, any thoughts welcome

I have an English degree. I worked for a while in theatre then agenting / negotiating for the BBC.

Others I know went a variety of directions, including into Law (tho that was more popular with the History students) publishing, teaching, writing (technical as well as creative), etc.

Bristol, York, Exeter, Durham, Edinburgh are all prestigious choices.

DD has applied for English Lit to start in September. She has offers from York, Warwick, Birmingham, Loughborough and Leeds and really liked the sound of the courses at all.

I was amazed how much variation there was - DD is interested in the option to pursue creative writing, plus taking "non-English" modules so this has swayed her choice, along with the sort of specialisms within the faculty (which does vary!).

In terms of what use an English degree is ... an English degree will enable you to analyse large quantities of text, summarise key points and write well. My observation is that these skills are, sadly, lacking in an awful lot of people but needed in a huge range of careers.

If she has other interests I would think about those as the traditional English careers are very unstable at the moment eg journalism affected by the internet, writing could be obsolete via AI, teachers are leaving as too stressful and Michael Gove's english curriculum is designed to put children off, libraries are affected by underfunded local authorities, marketing affected by cost of living and Brexit, civil service is looking for STEM /minority ethnic groups and is demoralised, arts funding is in crisis, university English departments closing

Psychology covers some of the same issues as English but from a different perspective.

However if she is really set on English she should just enjoy the degree and hopefully things will improve in three years time... Universities do have careers departments to help

@Hullofromtheotherside Psychology is one of the most popular degrees now and unless you go into advanced study, Msc and Phd it's pretty limiting. There's so much competition for those PhD places that many who don't get in or get funding, are left with the choice of working in things like HR only.

This is quite good/ useful
https://universityenglish.ac.uk/englishcreates/

I have an English degree and have a very senior business leadership role

I have a BSc and an MSc and had a career as a physicist. I did a BA in English Literature for fun in my 50s. It wasn't too difficult to pass but not a doddle...
However I found the lack of depth, original thinking - digging down to find the origins of source material disappointing. Getting good marks sometimes seemed to require parroting the lecturer's POV which is difficult to comply with if you have a scientific background - I suppose I'm a bit of a polymath and made connections that distracted me from the "correct" interpretations.
For a career I reckon English is better combined with another subject such as politics or history to give context and weight to the subject you are studying.

@tiberseptim where did you take the English degree?

You might need a postgrad but information studies/librarian is a good option. You can work in a corporate environment or a university. She won't make a fortune but interesting work - and some very lovely people.

I fell into it by accident by a rather convoluted route, and I don't mean to imply I didn't take it seriously - but I have always loved learning new things and was very much into creative writing then. It was at Winchester - not one of the prestigious universities at the time, I don't know how it ranks now.

@tiberseptim Well I'm glad you enjoyed it, but you know this yourself, the higher ranking the academic institution, the more rigorous the courses. RG universities and O & C are going to be challenging intellectually, for English Literature, but the old polys, which are not traditionally "academic" will be less so.

@Wornoutlady As you say - and I sadly have no experience of the RG universities.

I have an English literature degree and work in higher education.

Totally disagree. Unless you want to work in a very specific field e.g. medicine, engineering etc then choosing something you love and a good uni is an excellent start. I’m a secondary school English Teacher - been doing it for 30 years and love it but wouldn’t have considered it when younger. I went to Cambridge and fellow students have gone on to an array odiferous successful careers in media m creative industries, academia, law etc etc.

English language and literature 2.1 degree from Durham. Been in publishing since 1986. Editorial secretary, then editorial assistant, now editor. Haven’t moved any further up the career ladder due to family commitments and lack of opportunities in my home town.

Records management?
Archives?

Yikes, that's more like something you'd do after a degree in librarianship.

Why yikes? My partner did that after his Eng Lit.

Then went into IT.

Why do think there is something wrong with archives?

No I am sorry - I really didn't mean to offend, I just think when you're first out of college you want to be in the thick of things, amongst interesting people, not amongst shelves and papers. But that is entirely subjective and a reflection on me, not the career.

Archives or Records Management these days isnt always (and increasingly less so) shelves and papers, it is digital rights management, classification of content to help surface it digitally, being an intermediary between IT and users in training search tools/AI, etc.

Unless your degree is obviously vocational, or you get accepted on a graduate scheme you are almost certainly going to need a Master's in something useful to get into jobs at entry level.

For publishing etc you will almost certainly need good contacts and possibly need to do more than one unpaid internship first. Plus, bluntly,vas someone who grew up in the north, almost all those kinds of opportunities are still in London and the south east.

I too had teachers in sixth form who'd not worked as anything else who encouraged me down a particular subject path. It took me eighteen months after graduation to get a job that paid enough to live on even in the northvand two years to find an employer that offered training. In the north.

What does your daughter enjoy doing? I wish we didn't specialise so young in the UK.

I have an English degree and went into the civil service. My dd has a degree in theology and is a project manager in an international firm and out earns many of her peers. Get a good degree from a reputable university. The subject ls largely irrelevant. Choose what interests and what you will do well in.

Agree with so many others on this thread - there are loads of graduate jobs out there which just require “a degree”, where the degree result and university will be more important than the subject taken. If your daughter loves English, gets into a good RG university and comes out with a 1st or 2.1 then she will have so many options.

I did English at Cambridge and am now a solicitor (after law conversion). My cohort now work in business, journalism, PR, law, teaching and classical music.

I absolutely loved my degree and can’t quite believe I got to spend 3 years reading, thinking and talking about books. I pity my colleagues who studied law which is so dry in comparison. It has made no difference at all careerwise - about 50% of lawyers in top firms don’t study law undergrad.

I absolutely loved my degree and can’t quite believe I got to spend 3 years reading, thinking and talking about books. I pity my colleagues who studied law which is so dry in comparison.

Save your pity. I hated Eng Lit so much I changed course. Law was great.

3 years of reading books at break neck speed to get through the courses and no time to savour. No thanks.

Masters degree in publishing. With a languages talent too she could specialise in finding the best international literature and commission it to be translated into english?