ZipRecruiter surveyed 5,225 college graduates who were searching for jobs.
Among them, the major they most regretted spending four years studying was English.
Out there pounding the pavement (or the keyboard), what they came to realize was this: The problems with majoring in English were that it was impractical and unmarketable. Here are the results of that ZipRecruiter survey.
On the other hand, the majors with the least regrets were computer science, math, business, engineering, and various niches in the health field.
The problems with English aren't new. Even when good jobs were plentiful and stable, unless you were heading toward high school teaching, English was a hard sell.
To do anything with it, at least directly, graduate school was necessary. So off to doctoral programs we Baby Boomer English majors went. Then, in the early 1970s, the demand for college professors of English collapsed. Those few who did land jobs often couldn't hold onto them.
Those of us who didn't wandered in the employment wilderness until we could put together a way to make ourselves marketable and change our academic persona from nerdy to engaging. Five years into all that an oil corporation hired a bunch of former doctoral students, including me, to be ghostwriters/speechwriters. I was saved. But I was five years behind my peers in career progress.
Of course, I regret majoring in English. Members of iGen and their parents who come to me for guidance already recognize the major has to be marketable in a number of ways. For example, a business degree can be positioned and packaged for a variety of jobs.
Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.
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