Why English?

WHAT ENGLISH MAJORS LEARN TO DO:

  • Analyze the language and text that surrounds us everywhere, every day.
  • Read with joy, curiosity and deep understanding, all at the same time.
  • Appreciate different points of view in a diverse, multimedia, collaborative world.
  • Understand the stories that people tell about themselves and others, their histories and their real effects in the world.
  • Understand multiple types of facts that aren’t numbers and how to gauge their validity.
  • Build strong, compelling arguments that change how people think (useful in countless contexts and professions).

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH AN ENGLISH MAJOR?

If you have a passion for words — reading, writing, talking, digital composing — Ohio State English is for you. English gives you “power skills” that employers can’t teach but want employees to have:

  • Finding the right words
  • Thinking fast
  • Expressing ideas
  • Grasping complexity
  • Seeing through others’ eyes 
  • Getting to the point
  • Telling the story
  • Identifying patterns
  • Making inferences
  • Appreciating diversity
  • Thinking creatively 
  • Managing ambiguity
  • Re-framing the problem

English prepares you to embrace career changes when they come your way; “hard skills” are what you learn on the job. Many of the jobs you might do over your lifetime have not even been invented yet. College is your chance to become a flexible, original thinker while pursuing the subjects that bring you joy.
Contrary to popular belief, not many English majors end up waiting tables. In fact, only 0.72% of all English majors end up with long-term careers in food service, including executive chefs. Altogether, 1.2% of English majors become physicians and surgeons. Point of fact: You have a better chance of having a career as a doctor than as a food server with a bachelor's degree in English.

*Statistics from "The Myth of the English Major Barista" from Inside Higher Ed (2016)

WHERE DATA AND STORYTELLING MEET

The Departments of English and Mathematics offer a unique undergraduate Integrated Major in Math and English. Math, too, builds many of the skills listed above. IMME graduates are fluent in the worlds of data and of words: they know what to do with numbers, plus they know how to explain what they are doing and why.