Do you have an English Lit degree?

[Goshitstricky]

Can you tell me what you've done with it, has it lead you directly to a career or need of benefit?

I don't but loads of my Uni friends do, and they are

• Barrister (commercial - did law conversion)
• Lawyers (loads via law conversion)
• Several journalists/ TV production etc.
• Actor
• Teachers (PGCE after graduation)
• Investment bankers
• Diplomats/ Foreign Office/ Embassy staff

It's a stepping stone for a lot of professions.

And great fun to do - lots of reading and critical thinking.

My first degree is Eng Lit. It got me onto a large graduate scheme and I subsequently went off sideways and did a psychology conversion and psychology master's.

It very rarely leads 'directly' to a career, unless you want to be in publishing or academia.

This is a controversial opinion on MN but for arts/ humanities degrees, I believe that the university you attend also has quite a significant bearing on the careers you'll be able to access. If you do English Lit at Oxbridge you'll be considered for jobs that you wouldn't be with an English degree from University of Buckinghamshire. A lot of grad schemes in particular basically want a blank slate candidate with proven academic capability, It may not be fair, but it's how it is.

ps there will always be exceptions!

I do - am now a lawyer. Did an MA after my BA but ultimately wanted out of academia as I found it rather stifling and wanted to be of use in the real world so to speak.

I do, English Lit and Politics
Not sure it’s ever been much use to be honest other than as “a degree”

I worked as a copy-editor for a FTSE-100 company. And now I use it to help me home educate my children.

I do, and I went into journalism. It has helped in the sense of fostering critical thinking, reading and extracting information at speed, putting information into context and constructing an argument. I imagine quite a lot of degrees would offer that as well though, history for example.

Others I know with Eng lit degrees have gone into publishing, nursing, speech and language therapy, marketing, management consultancy, acting, some obviously with further study, a wide range of careers.

I have a joint honours degree in English Literature and Performing Arts.
I worked for 6 years as a journalist, and then moved into PR and Marketing for charities.
Now that I have my 2 daughters I am a freelance copywriter, which is great as I can work from home around my girls.

Yes, my BA is in English lit. Can't say it led me directly into a particular job (but then nor did I intend for it to), but has enabled me to apply for roles which require you to be a graduate more generally. I'm now a Data Protection Officer.

Yes, I have a BA in English Language & Literature. I have worked in retail, as an English teacher (did a PGCE as a mature student) and now work in the care sector.

Why do you ask, Goshitstricky?

Are you weighing up alternative routes, or …? Would English Lit be your first choice? Are you leaning towards another subject that might seem to be of more immediate, practical use? The responses here show it opens doors into professional training in pretty much anything involving words.

Mine hasn't led directly into a degree but for all my post grad jobs I've needed "a" degree and the benefits of eng lit specifically mean I can write well, analyse a text and present information clearly and succinctly which has been useful, but skills I probably would have obtained with a different humanities degree.

I've worked as an archivist for a while then switched careers and am now mid level civil service.

The main advantage of English for me was it was only 6 hours contact time so I could work at least 15 hours a week and still get a high grade - meant when I graduated I had a lot of savings and managed to put a deposit down on a house a lot earlier than my contemporaries.

Yep. Solicitor here. My peers at university are now journalists, teachers, in publishing, advertising, PR and communications, acting and few other lawyers. I’d say all of those careers make use of skills from an English lit degree. Oxbridge which obviously helped. Agree with pp who said the uni attended makes a big difference with arts subjects.

Yes I do and I ended up in finance. I loved studying English and the skills are transferable so I wasn’t worried about not studying something “lucrative” at uni

English lot degree. Teach in a secondary school after lots of jobs at various universities. Really love my job and talking about books every day

@EdmontinaTiresofNameFlipping - I ask because I'm at a cross roads.

I need to get my UCAS a application together for December.

I'm currently studying access to Humanities, Psychology and English Lit.

I was all set (before starting) to go onto uni to do psychology, but I've reached half term and so far it's interesting but doesn't give me the same joy that I get from English.

The thing is I have always had a fierce passion for English but didn't see it as an option because I didn't know where it would lead me, I saw no obviously pathway apart from teaching but every teacher I've ever met has warned me not to do it and that it's horribly demanding on families etc for little pay.

End goal earnings aren't much of an issue as DH earns well and as long as I earn something then it's fine.

I think I'll have to go for it with English though, I feel like I can't ignore how much I get out of it.

I'm limited for choice of Uni because of family commitments.

I’d certainly say English opens the door to more (varied) possibilities than Psychology. (I mean from the point of view of employers.) All the major institutions in the land are stuffed with English Lit graduates; you definitely don’t have to become an English teacher!

And, honestly, if you’re on the Mature Study board, you’ll need all your spare brain power for life management; don’t shackle yourself to three years of a degree you’re not interested in - it’ll only make life miserable.

Do the thing that brings you joy - so the studying won’t feel like (or quite so much like) work.

I do and I am SLT in a secondary school, having been head of English and main scale teacher beforehand.