The age old dilemma, you do all that work and wind up with a major in...what? Take your choice: sociology, psychology, ethnic studies, physics, classics, women's studies, organizational behavior and...not English lit. You didn't do a major in English lit, did you?
Well, whatever, don't worry about it: what's done is done. So there you stand, proud graduate, nervously grasping that diploma which consumed so much of your life, with late nights, burning the midnight oil, as you crammed for exams, losing yourself for hours in the library, all stretching back behind you like a trail of shattered dreams. It suddenly strikes you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Ah, yes, the proverbial real world is suddenly knocking at the window of your dorm room. But don't panic, help is here.
Before diving right into the help for our readers and friends suddenly awaken from the eternal dream of undergrad life, a little precautionary advice might be helpful to those getting ahead of the curve. If you've had the foresight to consider this question in advance of registering for your major, you are a clever cookie. And, as it happens, there are some measures to point you in the right direction.
1. At the risk of stating the obvious, you have to figure out what actually interests you.If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One smart step is to carefully examine options for majors provided by your college of choice. Rank them in order of priority.
2. If you've already decided what major you're interested in pursuing, or at least, once you've decided, start asking around. You probably know people who at least know people who've gone down precisely the path you're considering. Find out what they did with their major.
3. Talk to someone whose job is to know the ropes of just such matters. If you're still in high school, or even colleges to which you've been accepted (or even those you are considering for application), they have counselors and advisers. Providing you advice on just such matters is what they're paid to do. Make the best use of the resources at your disposal.
4. Heck, just try a focused Google search: what in darn can I do with this English lit major? (You might actually find something.)
Now, back to all you grads cowering in fear in your soon to be vacated dorm rooms: Don't worry, even if you didn't think of any of this before majoring, it's cool. In fact, all those points 2 through 4 above are still perfectly good options for you. What are acquaintances with the same major doing with it now? I assure you, however lost you may feel, your college adviser has heard it all before. Additionally, it's common these days for universities to provide career centers. You can be absolutely certain you won't be the first major in Renaissance poetry to stumble in with a dazed expression mumbling something about career options.
However, whatever else you do, make sure to dedicate some serious time to that Google search. You can find some pretty groovy stuff. For instance, it turns out that lots of colleges have publicly available online resources for researching just this sort of thing. As an example, check out the University of California career center online resources.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
Groove on this all you English majors out there. It turns out with that wildly impractical English major you can still score an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Chaucer for those smackeroos.) And, better still, consider the actual occupations open to you: you can be an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! Just imagine the poetic justice, as you get to lean back in your chair, with an air of confident bemusement, feet perched on your desk, with hands folded behind your head and smile knowingly each time another petrified grad comes stumbling into your office and nervously asks: uh, what can I do with this major?
So, hold your heads high all you grads, even if you did major in the Victorian novel or the mating customs of the Australian Aborigine. Hope springs eternal for a real future. And, who knows, maybe even a pay check!
Well, whatever, don't worry about it: what's done is done. So there you stand, proud graduate, nervously grasping that diploma which consumed so much of your life, with late nights, burning the midnight oil, as you crammed for exams, losing yourself for hours in the library, all stretching back behind you like a trail of shattered dreams. It suddenly strikes you. Heck, what am I going to do now? What can I do with this major? Ah, yes, the proverbial real world is suddenly knocking at the window of your dorm room. But don't panic, help is here.
Before diving right into the help for our readers and friends suddenly awaken from the eternal dream of undergrad life, a little precautionary advice might be helpful to those getting ahead of the curve. If you've had the foresight to consider this question in advance of registering for your major, you are a clever cookie. And, as it happens, there are some measures to point you in the right direction.
1. At the risk of stating the obvious, you have to figure out what actually interests you.If you haven't done that, do it immediately. One smart step is to carefully examine options for majors provided by your college of choice. Rank them in order of priority.
2. If you've already decided what major you're interested in pursuing, or at least, once you've decided, start asking around. You probably know people who at least know people who've gone down precisely the path you're considering. Find out what they did with their major.
3. Talk to someone whose job is to know the ropes of just such matters. If you're still in high school, or even colleges to which you've been accepted (or even those you are considering for application), they have counselors and advisers. Providing you advice on just such matters is what they're paid to do. Make the best use of the resources at your disposal.
4. Heck, just try a focused Google search: what in darn can I do with this English lit major? (You might actually find something.)
Now, back to all you grads cowering in fear in your soon to be vacated dorm rooms: Don't worry, even if you didn't think of any of this before majoring, it's cool. In fact, all those points 2 through 4 above are still perfectly good options for you. What are acquaintances with the same major doing with it now? I assure you, however lost you may feel, your college adviser has heard it all before. Additionally, it's common these days for universities to provide career centers. You can be absolutely certain you won't be the first major in Renaissance poetry to stumble in with a dazed expression mumbling something about career options.
However, whatever else you do, make sure to dedicate some serious time to that Google search. You can find some pretty groovy stuff. For instance, it turns out that lots of colleges have publicly available online resources for researching just this sort of thing. As an example, check out the University of California career center online resources.
There you can find data on career possibilities for dozens of majors. They have some fairly obscure ones. Heck, they might even have yours!
Groove on this all you English majors out there. It turns out with that wildly impractical English major you can still score an average salary of $43,589. (You can buy a lot of copies of Chaucer for those smackeroos.) And, better still, consider the actual occupations open to you: you can be an analyst, an editorial assistant, a product development coordinator or even...wait for it...a college adviser! Just imagine the poetic justice, as you get to lean back in your chair, with an air of confident bemusement, feet perched on your desk, with hands folded behind your head and smile knowingly each time another petrified grad comes stumbling into your office and nervously asks: uh, what can I do with this major?
So, hold your heads high all you grads, even if you did major in the Victorian novel or the mating customs of the Australian Aborigine. Hope springs eternal for a real future. And, who knows, maybe even a pay check!
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Thomas Ryerson has recently offered some great insight into what one should consider when consulting the Business Week MBA Rankings
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