Why Major in English?

Because it's fun. You might want to major in English if you love stories, if you enjoy arguing about the meaning of movies with your friends, if you write poetry or love thinking about the complexity and richness of language. 

Because it’s useful. We live in the Communication Age. English majors understand how messages shape the world around us; they know how to craft their own messages to have an effect. Those skills are needed in business, law, medicine, advertising, technical writing, public relations, computer gaming, journalism, publishing, government and public-sector work.

Because it’s meaningful. Literature makes human lives significant. Poems, novels, plays, and other forms express human emotion, enhancing our capacity for sympathy. Literary forms create order out of chaos, helping us make sense of confusing or opaque experience. Literature brings marginal people to the center, allowing us to travel to places far away in space and time. 

Literature is the study of who we are, where we came from, and how we got here. To think hard about works of literature is to think hard about what we believe and what we value and, above all, allows us to reflect on those things in our writing. 

Join the English major and immerse yourself in the world of words!

Group photo of English majors in colorful masks