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/lit/ - Literature

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6831037 No.6831037 [Reply] [Original]

Apart from lecturing/teaching, what other jobs could I land with a degree in English and an MA in English literature?

I can only think of copyediting and proofreading, but there must be more. I envy those working with books having reading and writing as a job. What options are there?

>> No.6831084

>>6831037
>what other jobs could I land with a degree in English and an MA in English literature?

homeless person

>> No.6831086

>>6831037
Starbucks

>> No.6831119

Do two more years of library school....online classes are a breeze ..and become a librarian. Talk to hot moms and beat up the homeless without repercussions

>> No.6831291

>2015
>he still wants a job

>> No.6831305

Any top business leader worth his weight in salt knows people who go on to receive advanced degrees in literature are, based on standardized test scores, smarter than 98% of the general public. Smart people are always in demand.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3071528/posts

>> No.6831326

>>6831305
b-but le starbucks meemee

>> No.6831518

>>6831305
Any human worth his weight in salt knows that standardized tests are an abysmal measure of human intelligence. Doing well on the SAT proves one thing: that you can do well on the SAT. This applies to any standardized test.

I got near-perfect scores on my GREs, and my writing scores were perfect. This is not because I'm a super-genius; it's because I memorized the format of the questions, the material they test for, and the buzzwords and style of analysis the writing graders are instructed to look for. Anyone can do this, and many do.

>> No.6831877

>>6831037
You haven't considered editing/publishing? Perhaps becoming a literary agent?

>> No.6832303

>>6831037
You could be a writer.

>> No.6832397

>>6831037
Hi OP, I will be graduating soon and will be getting any job I want with 300k starting. Would you be interested in working as my full time ass wiper? I'll even throw in a signing bonus if you cleanse my buttocks with your degrees.
Cheers,
/sci/

>> No.6834182

I dunno what its like in Americuck land, but in England you can get a good job if you went to a top uni, the degree you took doesn't matter.

bear in mind what people mean by a "good job" is being middle management for a corporation though.

>> No.6834781

>>6831037
>lecturing
I assume you mean after following that MA with a PhD... but even then you'd have to be very very good (at networking as well as academic work) and very very lucky to have a chance.

>> No.6836101

>>6831518
I'll bet you think IQ doesn't matter either

>> No.6836414

>>6831037
You could work for a literary mag.

>> No.6836438

>>6834781
>>6836101
>>6836414
Interesting as fuck

>> No.6836501

>>6836414
how do i do that though

>> No.6838042

>>6831037
There are no options. Don't delude yourself into thinking this will get you a job. It will literally make you LESS employable to most people looking at your resume, in the absence of any business/relevant training they care about. The few things you've mentioned could kill all their employees weekly and there would be more lit grad students ready to take their place for minimum wage. Publishing is in a tailspin, and all jobs you would be qualified for are part-time, shit pay, no security, no future. Give up now, get virtually any other degree besides philosophy or classics, and read on your own time. I'd happily sell my PhD and MA for enough cash just to wipe out my student loan debt. Don't end up like me.

>> No.6838049

>>6838042
Loser. Your pathetic little sob story isn't the only possible outcome.

>> No.6838072

>>6836101
Protip: it doesn't

>> No.6838079

>>6838049
No, but it's the most common. Ask around. Starving adjunct profs, markers, and people who retrained and whose English degrees just delayed their actual career starts are the new world order. I teach part-time at two universities and the English major numbers are down by half in the past few years, and the budgets, contracts, etc., are being axed right and left. This is the trend everywhere: the humanities are in serious trouble. Every tenure-track position I apply for has 2-300 applicants, so if you weren't top of your class in an ivy-league alma mater and don't have several publications in respected journals, there is no way you'll ever get an interview. The jobs OP described are being taken by people who 20 years ago would have all been FT profs: having an MA qualifies you for absolutely nothing that your BA didn't aside from staying in school longer.

>> No.6838082

>>6838042
You've been posting the same shit on this board for a while now. "I'd happily sell my PhD." At least have some conviction about something you spent 5+ years of your life slaving away at, goddamn.

>> No.6838109
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6838109

>>6838079
>not having talent
>not getting an MFA
>not drowning in audience pussy at the fiction writing courses you teach at a state university as a sideline while you publish novels
You fucked up.

>> No.6838111

>>6838082
"Conviction?" I did it, and it allows me to make a living inferior to a McDonalds' manager's salary, with no security or benefits. It doesn't mean I don't love literature or teaching, but if I had gotten a B.Ed instead of an MA, even the worst-case scenario would have me firmly teaching at a decent high school many years ago. I'm warning people about a crumbling field because I wish I'd known what I was really getting myself into. It's a huge systemic problem, not just my little sob story.

>> No.6838117

>>6838079
Blah, blah, blah. People have been saying this forever. "You'll NEVER get a teaching job in the humanities. GIVE UP."

You're at least teaching part time. I attend one of those killer schools for my PhD and sure, I'm worried about my job prospects afterwards nonetheless, but I'm not about to give up doing what I love because the fearmongers told me I should. If I have to adjunct for a while, so be it. If I have to move to the middle of nowhere to teach at Bumfuck State or a no-name SLAC, so be it. I can assure you I won't be bitching about it on /lit/ if it happens that way. Did you expect wild success and fortune, getting a doctorate in the humanities?

>> No.6838132

>>6838117
The game is changed. It's not "adjunct for a while," it's not "some out-of-the way college." That's what I expected. Even those jobs now go to top candidates because the number of jobs is so tight. My father was a prof for 35+ years, and he's never seen anything like the current state. Universities are shutting down and combining English departments, and most retiring FT profs are not being replaced. Obviously you will do what you like.

>> No.6838143

In any case, best of luck. If you have time, you might want to ask a few profs at your chosen department what they think of the job market right now, of course. See what they say about your career plans.

>> No.6838164

As an anon who isn't unemployed and does have an MA in English:

Don't dismiss editing and proofreading, especially if you're motivated enough to solicit freelance work from publishers you already like. It's not a reliable source of income, but thinking of it as a fun extra where you get to read books you'd read anyway and get paid to help publish them works for me.

Like another anon mentioned, if you're keen on librarianship, it's a cheap and fast addition, and the other MA is only a plus. Even without one, you can likely become a library assistant (not a page/clerk) with a MA, which tends to pay in the upper tens hourly.

You can also grade tests for companies like Pearson and ETS online. They're both work from home types (though both have in-person test sites too, I think) with pretty decent pay for what's basically checking essays/speaking responses against the same rubric. Pays $15-$20/hr depending on the tests, online.

I can't believe the claim that English departments are dying. I'm not even in a large city, and there were four community colleges in the town with multiple English positions open. If you're not against working for for-profit colleges, you can adjunct online too.

>> No.6838166

>>6838132
I won't keep prattling like some naive kid, but I still have to disagree with you. My undergraduate alma mater is a very modest institution and I had plenty of professors who got their PhDs from similar, non-prestigious universities, plenty of professors who had barely published. People who didn't exactly slam-dunk their dissertations into Harold Bloom's asshole. I'm not going to say that it isn't an uphill battle, but it isn't impossible, and there are 4,430 institutions of higher education in the US alone. They all teach my field. I can wait for an opening.

>>6838143
Oh, they all say the market is the worst it's ever been. That's not a secret. I recently talked to a visiting scholar from a good state school and he told me that his department received 200 applications for a professorship in my chosen field. What he didn't tell me was to do some other shit instead, give up, go home. I hate that mentality, especially when it comes from people already inside academia.

>> No.6838195

>>6838166
Yes, I used to hate that mentality too. That's why when the grad advisor advised all the MA students in my year to not proceed to doctorates I shrugged it off and kept going. But now I'm past my expiration date (years since defense), though I'm still publishing slowly, even if I can't get enough courses to pay the rent. Anyway, I said more than intended, so good night.

>> No.6838216

>>6831119
I'm considering this whenever I want to stop being a sex worker (studying lit).

>> No.6838344

why do i have to choose between money and doing what i love

i don't want to be a hobo