University courses that suit someone with good creative and essay writing skills

[Yumyi]

I ask this as both myself and husband did stem subjects. But one of my children is excelling in English much more so than any other subject and I just don’t know what to suggest for him. He hasn’t any idea either. I wonder if studying English at university could be the best route for him.

He should study what he loves. English is a solid degree.

My son was good at English and essay writing but prefers history so that's what he is studying.

Why wouldn't he study Eng Lit at university, if that's what he loves?

Yeh Eng lit is a great degree. Dd did it and was able to really tailor her work to her interests (Austen and also Victorian gothic); there’s so much of a range of offer. You can pair it with creative writing as joint honours at lots of unis.

Is he year 12? Which A levels?

What do you mean by his 'creative skills'? Is he interested in a specific arts subject like art/ film/drama/ theatre etc? If so, he might find a joint honours degree a better choice to be able to flex his creative side, as I've studied English Literature and at the end of the day it is quite analytical rather than creative per se.

Options could be:
English and Creative Writing
English and Drama
English and Film
or another humanity like History or Classics etc

Not really a subject idea, more of a tactic that might help

My eldest was similar (in not really knowing what they wanted to do), probably the most useful thing we did was go to a bunch of uni open days, the ones with all the subjects on one hall were great for this

We then got to talk to loads of folks about different courses / subjects, what they did, how they did it - it was also useful because we got a sense of what sorts of unis she like and didn't like

so All his written work is getting more praise than anything else. Creative writing. Story writing. Essay writing. This all seems to come naturally to him. He doesn’t do drama or art. English or history were my only thoughts I could suggest . But wondered if anything else . He is not sure about English as worries what job he would do with that. But I do want to encourage him down the route that he is obviously skilled at and worry about jobs later

what does he want to do? it's not for you to suggest something for him. it's for him to look into different courses and decide what he wants to do. let him be an adult and choose his own future.

Why not look at a combined honours of some sort? English and history, English and business studies, English and communication studies etc. all of which would give him a broader base of knowledge when applying for work afterwards?

If he’s good at it and passionate then he is also more likely to work hard and come out with a good degree at the end. My DH and I are also STEM graduates but our DD loves writing prose and is in her 2nd year of an English Lit and creative writing course which she absolutely loves and is getting great results on her assessments. English was actually my passion but my parents encouraged me to follow science as I was good at that too, funnily enough after spending several years in laboratories I ended up in a project management role which involved lots of writing and editorial skills - no science and I was much happier!

Of course he should study English. Or History or possibly a Joint Honours degree in the two together.

Whyever not?

English is an excellent discipline to study at a high level. Just as useful as any STEMM subject.

There are plenty of other things you can study with English language skills. Does he have any other languages? Is he interested in any specific area of History? It’s a pity he isn’t studying Drama - does he have any extra-curricular involvement? What about debating? Has he considered Law? Linguistics? Theology? Philosophy? Classics? Archaeology and Anthropology?

Nothing wrong with studying English - Language or Literature- but it’s sensible to consider every possible option.

My son is doing politics and international relations. At school he excelled at English, history, politics, classics, art and science. I think the thing about creative people is they often have wide interests and are naturally curious and enjoy learning and keep learning / experimenting throughout their lives. I would have put money on him doing art or architecture when he was younger - he’s recently got into music. He doesn’t like the idea of his hobbies being his career. He could go in many different directions he’s very articulate, persuasive and writes beautifully. Law or teaching are other options for this skill set - although I think my son will end up working for himself as he doesn’t like authority or having his creative side restricted! He’s never been interested in drama. There are liberal arts or humanities degrees where you get to do a mix.

Thanks . Lovely to hear of others routes in to interesting subjects. No real interest outside of school. He has considered law. Enjoys geography

I think philosophy would be great for him. But we are in Scotland and it isn’t a standard subject provided by school

Hi @Yumyi I see you are in Scotland so my query about A levels and what year was a bit irrelevant.

I don't see btw that it matters that he doesn;t take drama - presume he was not interested in it? But history and law and geography and English are all great subjects to study at uni.

There is a strong narrative on MN and in the wider world that we should all study STEM but in fact most people I know are not engineers and they seem to be doing OK. With a degree in any of the subjects above he could go on to work in

• Teaching
• HR
• Graduate scheme for many major firms
• NHS admin
• Project management
• Many roles in service industries
• PR or journalism

Loads of opportunities and I am sure there are lots more. Yes, he won't become a research chemist but I am guessing that would not be of interest anyway.

An English degree is way more versatile than STEM people realise. It trains in analytical and critical thinking. It is a gateway to a wide rangevof interesting careers. The obvious ones like publishing, editing, copywriting, ghostwriting, journalism, academia, teaching, but also marketing, publicity and PR, advertising, political speech writing, think tank advisory, business writing (very well paid) as well as creative jobs such as feature film screenwriter, tv drama scriptwriter or soap storyliner, documentary writer, gaming storyliner, dramatist. These are all big industries that need talented writers with very strong analytical editorial skills.

It's also a reasonably good first degree for Law, though I'd go for History if that's his plan. A PP suggested Philosophy but DS did that and it seems way more aligned to maths and STEM than humanities. Philosophy is quite abstract and uses math formulae a lot.

My youngest was similar. Agree with other posters about going to subject talks and looking at courses in detail.

My DD fell out of love of studying English by the end of AH (but still loves reading/writing). She ended up choosing a social science degree (politics has always been a thing). Has switched subjects 3 times (flexible 4 year degree) but has finally settled. She has found her English abilities useful in the graduate scheme testing - scores well on analysis and reasoning. Two friends who were similar at school did Film and TV Studies and English/Drama. One on BBC scheme and other teaching (and playwriting on the side).

History of Art?

You don't have to study philosophy at school to study it at university. I would say all the humanities subjects are going to be essay heavy:

English Lit
History
Politics
PPE
Nordic Studies
Philosophy
History of Art
Journalism
Creative Writing

As you say English in a uni that can offer creative writing too. He may also want to combine it with history, politics, philosophy, classics anything to broaden knowledge of the world, culture, society so that his writing whether creative or critical has some depth and knowledge behind it.

I would just add that doing CW on its own is a dead loss. I would only suggest CW at one of the top places it's offered and in combination with something else. OR as an MA after English Lit degree. (And I say this as someone with several CW degrees myself)

Was coming back to say what @BubbaHorovitzhas said about Philosophy. Like Law, it’s completely unnecessary to have studied the subject at school. You start it at university.

I would say it’s far better to find out what sort of writing you want to do - poetry, playwriting, opera, musical theatre, novels, film, essays, etc - and find the best place to study that at postgraduate level. More focused than competing against the other fifteen billion people with generic CW degrees.

To help get your head around typical career routes by degree subject, take a look at the 'What graduates do' report (link below). Over a third of English Literature grads secure jobs in creative, business and marketing type roles, for example.

Underemployment is a big issue; over 10% of maths grads not pursuing post-grad study are in non-grad retail or hospitality roles 15 months after graduating; the proportions jump to 25-33% for humanities subjects. So, to avoid that problem, graduates need to build up a portfolio of experiences whilst at university to give them an added dimension; maintaining numerical analytical skills can be useful and the Scottish Highers system and university structure can help here.

luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do

What about a liberal arts degree? These are becoming more popular in the UK.