I’m not sure why everyone is being so negative here. I have had no issue marketing my skillset from my English degree and getting multiple job offers. If you know how to show a job that your skills from your degree align with the job requirements, you’ll get pretty far!

I make six figures with an English undergrad degree and a History MA.

I work in industry.

It depends on how you market yourself, connections, etc.

I think it was really great for me, it really rounded out my critical reading skills ans technical communication skills, which was how I got a couple of short term jobs after graduation. 6 months later I've finally nailed a pretty good admin salaried job (which ill stick with until i finish applying for law school), unlike almost all my other friends (CS, engineering, physics, journalism) who have been forced to go back to retail/ food service jobs.

I also feel like its worth a lot as im going to be heading to law school, and critical reading is such an essential skill. I stand by English and Philosophy being the best undergrad degrees for Law, and honestly as long as you are really active w courting professors-- you can end up with a serious shot at academia too if youre dedicated.

Beyond job/advancements outlook though, I am really thankful for my major. Critical Theory is in such supply these days and is continuing to shrink more and more due to AI and literacy rates falling. I am extremely happy for all of the perspectives and books I got to read and study, and my writing improved exponentially (both rhetorically and creatively) during my undergrad.

I mean -- if you want to be an engineer or a doctor, you should probably do a STEM degree. English is not a direct undergrad to high paying job degree, but as far as humanities degrees go, I feel like its really versatile undergrad degree. For example, if I wanted too I could easily go into Journalism (just make sure you join the school paper), or if I wanted to get into Publishing you could definetly do an internship with it. You could also do foreign service, MPA in public administration, teaching (which depending on the state can be a pretty decent job) or law..hell, take some community college classes after and you could even do med school or architecture.

Its truly a degree that you can mold into whatever you want it to be assuming you dont want to work in a highly specialized STEM field.

A lot of people though go into this degree with 0 plan, or just assume they can get a job doing "writing" afterwards. Terrible idea. Copywriting is dying, and Technical Writing you need to really internship for in undergrad or youre gonna be struggling --- plus that industry is in a bad spot.

Have a plan, network heavily w professors, and you'll be just fine.

The english majors ik out of college are doing a lot better than those in other fields lol. But they also had a plan.

Good luck!!

Honestly no. It’s pretty versatile. People will tell you it isn’t, but look up the most underemployed majors and it’s rife with degrees that people swear are sure bets for a great career like software engineering and computer science. Furthermore, I don’t blame anyone for majoring in something they love, but majoring in the arts in something specific like theater or dance or art history is way more “useless” than English.

I don't think this is a question with a definitive yes or no answer. Your success after getting an English degree will depend on a variety of factors. If you are truly looking for something that will 100% land you a career immediately upon graduation, then maybe another field is best. However, I've found that I've been able to utilize my skills from my English degree in jobs relating to public health, peer tutoring, libraries, and more. I think people underestimate what you can do the writing, close reading, and interpretation skills that are often cultivated while earning an English degree.

Depending on which school you pick, you might be able to minor in English or Writing or something similar. That could be a good option if you truly want to study English in some capacity but are apprehensive about committing to it as a major. Many people earn degrees that have nothing to do with their careers, but English is broad enough of a subject that can be applied almost anywhere.

The only useless degree is the degree you don't use, and if you don't use the skills you develop while earning a degree, that makes you useless, not the degree.

As an English teacher that would love to leave the education field, yes. It’s been very difficult to find alternative jobs I qualify for.

An English degree is a great stepping stone to teaching HS English or working as a Librarian, and you'll need an MEd (for teaching) or an MLS/MLIS to be a Librarian.

I definitely wouldn’t say the degree is useless. If you’re looking to stay in education then there are plenty of positions where an English degree would be beneficial. In my personal experience, the market can be a bit tough for English majors outside of education. Jobs do exist, but I wouldn’t count on the degree alone to get you one. I did well in my major, but I neglected to build up a strong portfolio outside of college and I’ve missed out on several opportunities because of it.

Damn are things really this bleak for English majors?

It's useless if your intention is to leverage it into a higher earning profession. It's also useless for everything else. (I kid, sorta). I graduated over 15 years ago now and I couldn't land a white collar job in any field, so I ended up going back to school for a teaching certification. A lot of the advice back then was to get a degree in anything and some company will train you, which wasn't true then (for me at least), but most certainly isn't true now. I heard a lot of "no one can write or communicate any more, you'll do great." Spoiler: I did not do great.

I do value and credit my English degree for widening and shaping my world view, and I certainly would love it if someday I could look back and say that my choice of degree changed my life in some dramatically positive way, but at this point I don't see things working out that way.

One piece of unsolicited advice: I started out taking a few literature classes at my local community college, and the professors were on par with my 4 year state college. Could be a good way to get your fix for a lot cheaper, while pursuing a degree that will put more food on the table.

Definitely worth it.

The key in choosing your college major is to choose what you are most passionate about, and that will keep you engaged and moving forward, even if you’re not wild about some of your general education courses.

The better you are at critical thinking, reading complex material, writing, constructing analytical research papers, understanding the various writing traditions that have brought us from the beginning of Modern English up to today, the better equipped you will be for any future that uses these skills.

In a bachelors definitely program, it’s better to build a fearsome skill set than it is to attempt to prepare for a specific career field, especially if you’re not sure what field you want to work in.

An English degree is a fantastic preparation for any masters degree in the humanities, and some beyond. You don’t have to go to graduate school in the same field as your bachelors program.

You can also minor or double-major in something else you’re interested—art, music, philosophy, linguistics, dance, history, psychology, political science, sociology—really anything you want. Each field you choose will inform the other, as well as lead in its own direction.

Your goal is to best equip yourself and your mind for whatever career paths will be available and interesting to you when you graduate. And at the rate the economy is changing, and the role of government, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, finance… all these things are changing so fast that in your first year of college we can’t begin to prepare you for a particular job. Many of the jobs available this year will not be relevant in four years. By the same token, there will be excellent new jobs and career opportunities in four years that we don’t know anything about right now.

If you can think on your feet, analyze what you read and observe, know yourself well, understand your skills and aptitudes, and have deep knowledge in your favorite subject, about which you are passionate, you will be prepared for the opportunities that are before you when you graduate.

I graduated almost 3 years ago and I haven’t managed to land ANYTHING. Go with something that teaches a super marketable skill. (To be clear, I think there’s a lot of good things about majoring in English, but employers don’t seem to think very highly of it)

What would you like to do after you got the degree?

I have an English degree, and I ended up being a paraprofessional lol. I loved studying English but didn’t like any of the career choices it came with. I love my job now :)

Career counselor and "double" English major here (Lit BA and Fiction MFA.)

If you're going back to school for a second degree or MA to pursue better work, consider it a vocational degree--meaning, let the work you want to do dictate the kind of degree you get.

I read in another comment you're interested in technical writing or copyediting. What kind of research have you done about that work? Have you done the work and know you'll like it? Have you tried conducting informational interviews with people doing that work? They may have tips about how to get into it without devoting years and tens of thousands of dollars to a second degree.

I wouldn't say my BA was useless. It taught me how to read, write, and think critically--totally undervalued skills in society nowadays. But it was not at all a direct path to lucrative work.

My MFA was pretty worthless lol

Pursuing what you love is not a waste of time. You'd be trading time and money for the opportunity and privilege of studying and learning.

If it is the linguistic side of the language that interests you, have you looked into digital humanities?

Critical thinking skills and the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively are necessary in every field. I have a child with 2 English degrees and she had no problem getting a great job.

If you are studying any humanities subject thinking it's a job skills training program, you're lost. That was never what it was intended as.

As a BA or even an MA, no. I actually think it’s a pretty versatile degree, even if it doesn’t lead directly into a specific profession. The PhD is where is starts to get pretty silly, but that’s true of most fields.

It’s only worth if you can learn to be creative and figure things out on your own, meaning you do not rely on your english degree. If you want to be an educator, yes things will be difficult from now on

It had been a good second major to another degree that is more employable. In my case, a stem degree. They pretty much assume that stem folks can’t write, so the synergy works pretty well. English by itself, though? I haven’t earned a red cent from mine. Ymmv.

English is a super versatile degree. The important part is leveraging it in some way that leads to a field or type of job. Get internships. Get any experience you can. You’ll be fine.

The degree matters less than the experience, but it’s something you can use to make your case in interviews. English is a challenging, thoughtful degree full of critical thinking skills.

there is no such thing as a useless degree. an underwater basket weaving degree still wouldn’t be useless, if such a thing actually existed, because you learn something. knowledge is never useless.

even relative to capitalism, no, an english degree is not useless. you can learn things that are transferable to any job. the catch is the practical skills you acquire whilst completing your degree are completely on you. AND the job market wants you to spin what you’ve learned over the time you spent in school into some practical corporate mumbo jumbo.

but that being said, since you’re looking to study english, that might not be the most arduous task.

even still, the job market sucks for everyone right now. even an electrician apprenticeship is “useless” in terms of finding employment. when everyone talks about a lack of tradespeople, they do not mean folks training to become trades people. they want experienced workers - and we just don’t have em’ right now! no one can get experience because no one can get their foot in the door. the world sucks in general. it literally does not matter what you do.

It’s still worth studying, but maybe at a community college where you get the same benefit of having a professional read / critique your writing for a fraction of the cost.

If your plan is to spend money on a bachelors degree you should probably choose one that’s related to your work experience and can be leveraged for a promotion / raise.

Not useless at all.

I'd recommend it if you think you'll really engage with the coursework. The only downside I think is that you can shortchange yourself in your education because standards are so low nowadays; I had the (mis)fortune of a really circuitous route to a degree, began in 2008 and finished in 2017. At least based on my experiences at that university (midlevel state school) the quality of writing and the willingness of students to engage with a text fell off a cliff in the between.

It won't be a waste of time or money though, it's a very easy degree to parlay into a lot of careers. I work in industrial manufacturing and B2B sales in a non-technical role that I wouldn't have without my degree, it's a lower stress job with the most job security you'll find and I make somewhere from $90-105k based on bonuses (company performance, not mine).

I have an English degree and went onto get an MBA. I am now an exec at a tech company. The ability to write persuasively was a differentiator in my Ivy-league MBA program and continues to be an asset in my role.

I did an English major with a minor in HR management.

The HR minor is what has me employed, but the English part was my passion. I think it's not a bad idea to flip it and have the passion degree be the minor.

No. If you stack it with interesting summer work experiences and self-directed learning in your professional field of interest it's actually really conducive with a lot of professional work. I know McKinsey is basically major agnostic, and it's becoming a rare-ish degree outside of the legal field so it might even be an advantage in interviews. It makes you more interesting than a cookie cutter business, comp-sci, or econ character.

When I went to the senior philosophy majors meeting, they told a story. Supposedly at the English majors meeting, they said, "at least you're not philosophy majors." That's it.

I suppose one would need to think beyond the parameters of “usefulness” for a fair judgement of a field that is by nature not “vocational.” I have English degrees and I work in the field, but aside all that what my degree made me become personally, intellectually, etc. is invaluable in a way beyond the idea of a “usefulness” criteria 😊

any major is useless if you don’t use it for what it’s intended for. a lot of ppl expect to find unrelated jobs after getting an english degree, or think that a journalism or editing job will find them after even though the job market is bad. an english degree values academia and theory. i would say it’s most useful for either becoming a teacher, or pursuing further academia, or if you network well and do the right emphases, it can serve you in a job but you should know which one you’re going after well before you graduate.

I have an English degree, and work in finance. I definitely agree with others saying it’s versatile.

As someone who has a B.A and an M.A in English, I don’t think it’s a waste of time or money at all. I walked straight into a full time position in a library after I finished my MA and several of my colleagues are from English backgrounds as well. I chose to study English because it was my passion (still is) and I don’t regret it for one second.

I will say that the job market for many graduates, not just English, is not great at the moment. I think a lot of people have an entitlement about what a college education gives them, that if they earn a degree that they are guaranteed the positions they interview for and that’s unfortunately not the case.

Many jobs in sectors English graduates tend to gravitate towards, especially journalism, publishing and libraries, are highly competitive. An academic advisor told us in the first year of our undergraduate degree that graduating with your degree is the bare minimum, everyone in your class will finish with that, it’s what you decided to do alongside it which will make you stand out when applying for jobs. If you know you want to go into a certain line of work, your degree gives you a great baseline but it’s on you to boost up your cv and college experience alongside it. Internships, volunteering, clubs and societies, additional short courses, etc are great for this.

During my masters, I got a job working minimal hours in a library setting and while I recognise that my degree gave me a good foundation for the job I currently have, I would not have gotten my current role without that work experience (I was told after accepting the role that 150 people had applied for the position). The degree is not the issue, as many have stated English is a flexible degree that allows you to pivot into different sectors or further education if you want to (within reason) but do consider how dedicated you are to making an English degree work for you and your future career plans. I hope this helps!

It’s great if you don’t limit your options to “English” careers. I was an English/Philosophy double major and worker in a financial job and eventually became a lawyer. English majors are good at reading and understanding things and that’s a useful skill in any job you can imagine. The skills aren’t as concrete as someone learning to be an engineer or nurse but sometimes you have to believe in yourself and market yourself a little to get a foot in the door. Other majors sound more practical but there really isn’t a career you come out of college 100% prepared for a professional job. They all require a degree of on-the-job learning and English majors are positioned well to do that learning.

I did an English and history degree. I’ve worked in PR, HR and journalism. I taught English as a second language classes, primarily EAP and IELTS classes. Now I’m a literature teacher. I’m doing a masters with the intention of doing a PhD because it’s useful for my business credibility. I haven’t been out of work since I left university. In fact, I haven’t been out of work since I was 18, even living in places where job prospects were difficult — except the one year when I went to just private tutoring to get qualified as a teacher.

I have an English degree, earn a mid–six-figure salary as a marketing executive, and also work as an adjunct professor. Once you’re past your first entry-level role, most employers don’t care what your degree was in. It’s largely a ticket of admission that signals you can learn, commit, and see something through to completion. From there, experience and relevant certifications matter far more to employers. The main exceptions are professions that require formal accreditation, such as law, accounting, or medicine.

I don’t think it’s a waste and got a job right out of college and several job offers when I’ve applied places since. It’s all about what you do with it honestly. What are you wanting to do? Be an English teacher? A college professor? A technical writer? Copywriter?

I never think educating yourself is worthless. The idea that any form of education is a waste is one of the major problems leading to the issues we currently are facing as a society.

An English degree is not useless, but it is not vocational.

It does not lead to one job title. It builds skills in reading, writing, analysis, and communication that transfer across many fields. Those skills only pay off if you use them deliberately.

It is worth it if the cost is manageable and you pair it with concrete experience like teaching, editing, internships, or applied certificates. It is a mistake if you expect the degree alone to produce a job.

If you already work in education and genuinely like English, it can be an exceptionally strong foundation. Just be strategic, not passive.

P.S.: I was an English major, and I’ve done well

It won’t make you a shoe in for a reliably high paying career. But people are intrigued by it. I was offered jobs as varied as fraud investigator, logistics broker, legal assistant, permitting specialists, etc., all because someone doing the hiring wanted to major in English but chose something more practical or were interested in the fact that I was a published writer. That being said, there’s a bit of luck involved, and the kind of jobs that will hire an English major I think are going to be impacted by AI. If all else fails, you can go to law school. Which is what I eventually did lol.

I graduated a very long time ago, but I majored in a subject similar to English. It's a useful major and a great opportunity to read wonderful books, including difficult ones that you might not get around to on your own.

You can't, however, just do the minimum and expect to get a job. I tried to do work/study jobs that taught me things, I worked on undergraduate organizations that would help me develop skills valuable in the real world, and I did a summer internship at a company important in my field. In between, I did temp work as a secretary. After graduation I took short-term jobs until I found a decent full-time position. After about six years, I  applied to law school.

No, not useless. Someone has to pour my coffee!

I have a BA in English and am gearing up to go for the master's at some point, most likely in my late 20's to early 30's. The most valuable skills I have are exclusively because of my degree.

My degree alone qualified me for management roles in retail butchery and let me skip a lot of lines in that career. I pivoted into IT because the firm I work at needed someone for documentation and internal comms. I am currently mid-pivot into tutoring so I can work independently. It's one of the only degrees that applies to every career, because every industry will eventually need someone that can actually write.

Finance and comp sci majors bash liberal arts degrees because they either can't read or write anyway, or because they don't understand how valuable those skills are. Imo, a lot of those folks get lost in the sauce pursuing a really technical career. If you're thinking grad school, you can totally go into law and out-earn every techie that can't even get employed in this market within a year of graduation.

Incredibly versatile. Learning how to write lays a foundation for most every career path imaginable. You have the benefit of having professional experience already, something most new college students do not have. If you want to pivot careers be sure to look at internship opportunities in the field you want to go into. Job market is shit for everyone. Don't let that stand in the way of your education. You can probably find a flexible program while also holding your paraprofessional job if you really want the stability.

BA in English here. I work in sales. Leveraging strong communication and storytelling to create compelling marketing campaigns is something that is desperately needed in marketing. I am constantly editing the marketing materials for my organization. I don’t know how most of our brand strategists tie their shoes in the morning. Those red lines are there for a reason.

You can go into a lot of different fields with a degree in English, but most of them do not specifically require an English degree to break into.

If you want to go back to school for English because you think you would really enjoy critically reading, discussing and analyzing literature within an academic setting, I think there are ways of making that affordable (some colleges are also okay with adults auditing certain courses for free) but I would not enroll into a full-time program for the sole purpose of a career change. On the other hand, there are some graduate school programs that are more specifically oriented towards a particular career, but may allow you to take a few classes in that university's english department as part of a requirement (I've heard this is sometimes the case with a master's in education).

I'd say it's only "a waste of time and money" if your expectations for what you will get out of the program do not end up aligning with the reality. Peter Weller (lead actor in robocop), many years after stepping back from Hollywood, went back to school to get a PhD in Italian Renaissance art. In interviews on the subject he seems very satisfied with the time investment it took, but it's not exactly something he pursued for the sole purpose of switching careers from acting to academia.

Yes you’re useless

Yes. Sorry :( I wish I could say it wasn’t! It teaches you how to think. But people want quantifiable skills. You will only be hired if you can network or your family has connections to a company that happens to have job openings.

As with everything, it depends on you as a person, how you use your time in university, and how you apply those skills after. Did you make connections in university? Did you get internships? Did you take advantage of unique opportunities? If the answer to all of those is no, then any degree you get will decrease in value.

I share a similar experience to a lot of those here. My wife and I both have a BA in English and we have worked our way into pretty solid jobs. It’s all about what kinds of jobs you are interested in and how you market the skills the degree gets you, reading, writing, communication, attention to detail.

An English degree is not useless if you took your studies seriously and honed your reading, writing, and critical thinking skills during your time as a student.

If you cheated your way through the degree program, then your degree is not worth the paper it is printed on.

its not useless, its just not favored in the job market

i had to learn additional technical skills on top of my degree to land my job (which my starting salary was 6 figures).

its just not as easy as something like communications

I absolutely do not think it’s useless and I have an English PhD but can only find part-time teaching roles. My research has enriched my life, and I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing otherwise. 

I think the skills I have are useful. For years, you’ve seen op-Ed’s and think pieces saying that businesses and CEOs, etc, value critical thinking and humanities graduates. I’ve really never benefitted from it, but I know a handful of people who have. Supposedly the AI revolution will make critical thinking even more valuable, but that also remains to be seen. 

The skills you learn from getting a degree in English will help you in any position you apply for. The ability to write well and present ideas clearly is invaluable.

take on supplemental extracurriculars, club positions, or personal projects in whatever field/industry or specializations that interest you. the anti humanities sentiment has made many english/art/design/philosophy/etc graduates think they have no job prospects, but i’d argue it teaches you the skills that get you ahead in many places where other candidates did not learn the same (i.e. marketing; i am telling you right now a horrifying amount of marketing students right now lack comprehension and communication skills and/or are entirely driven by ai. with some experience to pad a resume you will be able to out-communicate and out-market many of them & be a better candidate because of your skills!)

i think now, more than ever, being able to create quality / human work, write well, and communicate your creative/thought process is incredibly important, especially in this job market (: do not let the brainwashed fools fool you! your degree is fine. just do everything else right and you’re on the right track.

I’m a teacher now, but my first career was working in publicity (book publishing and later trade magazine publishing). I’ve always found my degree to be useful. Some may think that AI can write everything, but the human brain is still needed.

I don’t have one but it’s only useless if the person receiving the degree is useless

Hell no. I use my degree every day. Undergrad is all about the name.

I immediately got an offer after I completed my degree. It's a degree which makes you qualified for multiple fields and gives yiu the skillset for it. At the end, it's upto you on how you are gonna use this skill.

If you wanna sit and pout about it then I don't think any degree would've gotten you a job.

I have a double degree in English and French contrastive studies , I had to go back to nursing school because I couldn’t find any jobs. So in my case, pretty useless and stupid degree

I majored in English and worked as a para for a few years while earning my masters in education. I didn't like teaching so I got a job at a non-profit and I'm currently a senior manager at a STEM education non-profit. Communication is a huge part of my job. My degree was not a waste of time. I also have an acquaintance who graduated the same year as me and broke into product management. Her initial dream was to work in publishing but that didn't work out and she eventually accepted any job that would hire her. She applied to almost 150 jobs before getting an offer. She worked her way up to the product manager position at a start-up (got several promotions) and leveraged that experience into a high paying job with a larger company. She was making 130k a year a couple years out of college while I was making 30k as a para/grad student lol.

All of that to say, the degree is not useless--your individual success depends on several factors. It's all in the choices/connections made, how open you are to different opportunities, social skills, and a bit of luck.

No degree is useless if it is in pursuit of knowledge and understanding. A lot of universities these days have forgotten that they are there to advance society and knowledge and pass on those teachings to others seeking it. Now they are "job factories" like TAFE in Australia, where people get a qualification for a specific career. This limits their thinking, and does not allow them to show employers how skills learnt in the degree have a purpose.

My old boss has an English literature degree (and only an English lit degree). He started off working for the branch of government in my country that specialises in finance in policy and now works in the branch of government that specialises in the environment. He’s currently a policy manager.

No, it's very much not useless, or at least that's not my experience. Literally everyone in my English cohort that I kept in touch with is employed. I'm 38, so I've seen their careers develop. Several are teachers, several are librarians, some went into academia, some got into publishing, a couple into law, some in hospitality. None of them have spent significant time unemployed (or as baristas). I think the key with an English degree is it's often degree 1. You typically add something on, a Master's or additional professional degree.

Mine was for me. It depends on how you intend to apply it. I could have made it very useful, but I didn’t have compatible priorities.

What do you want to do with it? If you only want to get an English degree because you like English, that’s fair enough. It’s a hobby like any other. But if you want the degree to use for some professional purpose, you have to have a concrete plan or it will be, as you say, a waste of money.

Note that a lot of the things people used to do with an English degree are no longer feasible career-wise because of recent sweeping technological advancements.

I work as a Producer in TV with my English degree from a small university.

If you want to pursue education, I would recommend a degree in that rather than a degree in English

If you’re a mid-career professional I think you have very little to gain from an English degree

I feel like I’ve found success despite my degree rather than because of it

It’s not the most useless, but compared to finance or math or engineering or advertising it’s pretty useless.