Careers for English Majors

Position: Fiction Writer

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Careers

English majors at Washington and Lee go on to pursue a wide variety of careers. Over the past century, W&L English majors have gone on to pursue professions in the following fields: business, including advertising, banking, human resources, marketing, and real estate (34%); education at all levels (18%); law and legal professions (10%); arts and architecture, including arts administration (5%); journalism (5%); government and public service (4%); and medicine and health professions (4%). Smaller proportions have pursued careers in publishing, real estate, the ministry, the armed services and law enforcement, agriculture, and the non-profit world. For information about planning for careers after W&L, please visit the website of Career Services.

As these statistics reveal, over a third of our graduates are in business, where writing and oral communication skills are prized; others have become literate lawyers and humane medical doctors. We are proud of our writers and literary editors, who participate in the creation of literature, and of our teachers and professors, who bring to their own students their sense of literature's variety and potential to enrich our lives. An English major opens up possibilities: within recent years our graduates have gone on to pursue careers in theater, film-making, exercise physiology, criminology, advertising, veterinary medicine, environmental activism, speech therapy, publishing, and politics. Our majors have won Fulbright scholarships and have served in the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Washington and Lee University English graduates have won places at some of the nation's top graduate programs in English.

Majoring in English qualifies you for many areas of postgraduate work, not only literature and law. With only 36 credits to complete, an English major can handily undertake a second major, or can fulfill requirements of one of Washington and Lee's interdisciplinary programs (African-American Studies , Medieval and Renaissance Studies; the Shepherd Poverty Program; Environmental Studies or Women's Studies). An English major can complete all the required courses for a medical school application or a career in the health professions; nationally, English majors have a very high acceptance rate to medical schools.

Certification for Secondary School Teaching in English

Students interested in certification for teaching should contact the Director of Teacher Education, Lenna Ojure.

Requirements in English

1. Content--the program shall:

develop an understanding of and expertise in the various means of communication (speaking, listening, reading, and writing);
develop the skills necessary to teach the various means of communication to diverse student populations;
provide an understanding of the nature and development of language;
provide background in major works from English, American, world and ethnic literature appropriate for adolescent instruction;
provide opportunities for experiences in communication arts, such as radio, television, and films.

2. Endorsement Requirements

The applicant seeking endorsement in English shall present a record of course experiences equivalent to a minimum of 36 semester hours, including at least one course from each of the four areas listed below:

Language—Study of the history and nature of the English language, of comparative English grammar, and of standard written English
Literature—Study of English, American, world, and ethnic literature;
Composition--Study of the teaching of writing, with emphasis upon advanced composition;
Speech—Study of oral expression and related listening skills

Recommendations for Graduate Study in English
(more specific Grad School Advice from Prof. Keen)

1. Courses:

Literary Theory

At least one course from each of the following fields:

Medieval Literature
Renaissance (Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century) Literature
Shakespeare
Eighteenth-Century Literature
Nineteenth-Century British Literature
Twentieth-Century British Literature
American Literature
Ethnic American Literature
Postcolonial Literature

2. A directed study or, better, an honors thesis in an area which you plan to study in graduate school.

3. Reading knowledge of at least one language and preferably two (including Latin if you wish to study pre-1900 literature). One of the best graduate programs requires that candidates pass reading examinations in one ancient and two modern languages; many of the finest programs require one ancient and one modern language. Most graduate programs require that two language exams be passed within the first two years.

4. A concentration of work in a field which bears on your interests in English literature: philosophy, history, psychology, literature in another language, art history, and so on.

5. Tutoring.