When I first arrived into this world of collegiate learning, I was incredibly naive for many reasons. The most obvious, and possibly the easiest to fix, was the fact that I dubbed myself a psychology major and planned on going to graduate school and possibly medical school and eventually becoming an experimental psychologist. Boy, was I false. I wizened up once my sophomore year swung around and dutifully switched to an English major, and the rest is historical fiction.
Even though I've only been in it for less than a year, I've already begun to notice some very wonderful, and some very not wonderful, aspects of the major. I will detail five of each, hopefully doing honest justice to one of the best decisions I made in college.
Pro 1: English majors read all the time.
As a true literary nerd, I love reading. Novels, short stories, articles, it doesn't particularly matter to me. One of my favorite parts of this Pro is that I'm not only reading one kind of story. I'm being exposed to different writing styles and voices, and I love it!
Con 1: English majors read ALL THE TIME.
While reading is my passion as much as the next English nut, reading 60 pages of one novel for one class, three, 10-page articles for one class, and two short stories for one class gets a bit tedious after a while.
Pro 2: English majors write many papers and stories and creative pieces and etc.
Something I missed while I was a psychology major was writing critical analysis papers. The kind of paper when you read an article, developed an idea, read more articles on said idea, analyzed them, developed a thesis, and wrote a concise, MLA-formatted research paper. May sound crazy, but it's very true. I'm also taking a creative writing class this semester that is really pushing me to not write those kind of papers, which I really enjoy too.
Con 2: English majors will write one piece to procrastinate writing another.
A very accurate example that may or may not be currently true is that I will write my weekly Odyssey article instead of writing a four- to five-page research paper (due Saturday, do Saturday, right?).
Pro 3: English classes are smaller, making the learning more personal.
Along with my various English classes this semester, I'm also enrolled in an accounting class that's held in one of the biggest lecture halls on campus. I probably have somewhere around 600 classmates whom I never speak to because I never sit by the same people twice. I've found that I don't function well with this impersonal class size. It seems like there's too much pressure placed on exams but not enough placed on really learning and understanding the material, hence why I enjoy my 10- to 20-person English classes.
Con 3: English classes are smaller, making it incredibly obvious when you screw up.
Didn't do the homework? Can't remember what the article was about? Forgot about that one story/topic you were supposed to look up? You're ousted almost immediately. It's hard to lie and act like you know what's going on when a teacher asks an in-depth, detail specific question about the short story every single one of your classmates read.
Pro 4: English majors have very strong opinions about literature and therefore life.
Before becoming an English major, I wasn't someone who could develop ideas and opinions quickly, and I definitely didn't voice them when I did. I'm not a great speaker in general, and I hated whenever I would try to talk in front of others and my words would somehow get jumbled in my mouth and come out sounding incredibly ignorant and misinformed. Now, I'm not afraid to state my opinion and defend it, no matter how silly it may sound to others. I face my public speaking fear on the daily and challenge myself to react to other people's opinions.
Con 4: English majors try to argue literature with everyone, even people who don't understand or don't care.
Have you've ever found yourself asking a friend or loved one, "Have you ever read ___?" and when they reply, "No," you find yourself explaining the plot, submitting character analyses, arguing for or against the ending, and taking a real in-depth look at the themes the story presents? Because I definitely have. I get into these moods where I just want to discuss this really cool article I've just read, and literally no one wants to discuss it with me. It's a real bummer. If you're anything like this, find your person who will discuss all of the English things, because it will relieve this immense pressure you didn't know you had (trust me, I know).
Pro 5: English majors are passionate, well-rounded people.
Everyone knows that being an English major will teach you how to read and how to write, that's a given. What isn't as well-known, however, is that this major also teaches critical thinking skills and basic communication skills and includes topics like science, history, psychology, and sociology quite often in scholarly articles. I've learned more about the world around me in the past eight months than I did in the year and a half that I thought I wanted to be a psychology major.
Con 5: English majors can be obsessive, spacey, and quite crazy sometimes.
Spend five minutes with an English professor, and you'll see what I'm talking about. I love the English Department here at KU, because it's immediately apparent that they have this incredible passion driving them forward, and I identify with that so much, because I think I'm the same way. However, I also took a six-page creative piece that needed revising and made it into an eighteen-page creative piece at four this morning, so that driving passion can sometimes drive you a bit crazy (which was a short trip anyway).
I do want to write that I'm not in any way, shape, or form trying to say that a psychology major is a bad choice. If that's what you love, then mazel tov; however, it wasn't for me. I have met wonderful people through this program and learned so much about who I am as a person and who I could be as well. I will continue to grow just as my love for this major will continue to grow as well.
