Undergraduate Program
Placement
Because the ability to express ideas clearly and powerfully is valued above all other skills in most professions, our graduates become lawyers, editors, bankers, business managers and owners, technical communicators, journalists, web masters, publicists, managers and support staff in IT industries, researchers, librarians, community activists, government and NGO staff, politicians, advertising copywriters, and leaders in dozens of other professions where critical thinking and the ability to write well and to analyze and develop complex arguments are valued. Our graduates thus refute the persistent myth about English graduates—that the only thing “to do” with a degree in English is teach. In fact, our graduates do sometimes teach and at all levels in the United States and throughout the world. But English majors, like other liberal arts majors, have the flexibility to move easily between careers and to succeed in a rapidly changing workplace.
Miami’s English majors also have a distinguished history of being admitted to professional and graduate schools. One measure of this aptitude is that English majors, and all humanities majors, outperform business majors and social science majors on the Law School Aptitude Test (LSAT).
Some of our Miami Department of English graduates are famous writers, as is the former poet laureate of the United States, Rita Dove (’73), the freelance writer and political satirist, P. J. O’Rourke (’69), and the New York Times sportswriter, Ira Berkow (’63). Others are business executives, as is Jeanne Matson (’73), a Vice-President at Clairol Professional Products and Frederick Rogovy (’67), the President of Legal Services at New Hope Software, Inc. And there are distinguished Miami English majors in most professions and throughout the academic world.
Department of English faculty, including our chief departmental advisor, take seriously their role in advising students about careers or graduate or professional education. They help students research options and support students by writing letters of recommendation for those seeking employment or admission to graduate or professional schools.
Miami University’s Office of Career Services is also available as a resource for English majors seeking advice about career options and the job search. Career Services offers individual assistance in tailoring job search plans as well as information about available internships in several professions. In conjunction with the College of Arts and Science, Career Services sponsors Spotlight on Careers for Arts and Science Majors events. One such event designed for Communication, English, Journalism, and Linguistics majors typically takes place in October; contact Career Services for the date of this event this year.
Majors may also wish to read the “Career Guide for Liberal Arts Students,” available as a PDF download through the “printed materials” page at the Office of Career Services Website. (You may also download it immediately here.) Both are included on their Job-Search Resources webpage.
Finally, here’s what the College of Arts and Science has to say about the marketability of the English major.