Career Paths

Career Paths

A major in English provides you with both the analytical and the communications skills you need to excel in virtually any profession. English majors learn:

• Creative problem solving
• Facility with the careful use of language, including close reading of complex material and the artful crafting of rhetoric
• The ability to handle complex and subtle rhetorical situations in a number of employment contexts

These skills are increasingly in demand for most professions in the global business environment of the 21st century, yet they are often neglected in a strictly training-based professional education.

Upon graduation, English majors succeed in satisfying careers in business, research organizations, educational settings, publishing companies, financial institutions, and in the cultural, entertainment, communications and health care industries. What can you do with a major in English? Anything you want.
Don't believe us? Check out "Why English?" for more evidence.

Really?

Really! A sample of our records of over 600 University of the Pacific alumni who have graduated with a major in English over the past 30 years show they have held or now hold the following jobs:

Architect Attorney Bank Officer Business Executive Business Owner College Professor Copy Writer Editor Filmmaker Financial Analyst Free-lance Writer

High School Teacher Journalist Novelist Photographer Physician Psychologist Screen Writer Software Designer Songwriter Theater Director

To hear from some of our recent alumni and how their English degree has affected their professional life, check out our Success Stories.

What if I want to go to law school?

The study of writing and literature gives students excellent training in the thinking processes used by lawyers and paralegals: critical thinking, logical reasoning and effective writing, according to The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools. The study of literature as an undergraduate is particularly helpful for law-school prospectives, since literary critics "read" literary texts in the same way that lawyers "read" legal texts. This is what makes the English major such a common and successful path into law school. Many of our English majors are part of the Pacific Legal Scholars program, and plan to parlay their undergraduate degree in English into a successful career in law.