Personal Essay: Five Lessons I Learned As An English Major

By Sara Swallow

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As a graduating senior, it’s normal to look back and see what I did well in my time at college, and the mistakes that still make me cringe a little when I think about them. Reflection can help a lot of people so here are the five biggest lessons I’ve learned as an English major:

​1. I thought you had to be special to take creative writing.
When I started as an English major, I thought it’d all be literature classes where we read books and talked about them. Literature classes were my comfort zone because I knew exactly what to expect. However, when one professor, an MFA student in Poetry, hinted I should try a creative writing class, I said hell no. I said “no” because I didn’t think I could be like her and write poetry. I didn’t feel like a poet, or at least how they’re portrayed in the media with their deep, pensive stare or their wildness to bend over their desk for hours. However, after talking to this professor, she told me that all creative writing classes are full of people looking to learn. No one walks into a creative writing class as a professional. So go and take that poetry workshop or the screenwriting class because it will be good for your heart to try something new, especially if it’s something you’ve always wanted to try.

2. You don’t have to take “the classics” to be a good English major.
Okay, yes, I did take the 400-level Shakespeare class and it was not very fun. I took the Hemingway and Fitzgerald class where we repeated the things I talked about in high school sometimes, but other times we talked about the lives of the authors from different perspectives. Please don’t fall for the elitist trap that in order to be a “good” English major, you have to take Shakespeare, Whitman, Chaucer, etc. because you really don’t have to unless you want to (or it's required for your degree). If classic literature is your thing, then dive in and gobble up The Canterbury Tales and keep on doing your thing because I can assure you those professors will love to geek out with you. However, if you slept through your high school reading of Romeo and Juliet, then take what’s required, and then go take Sci-Fi literature. Go take the classes about indigenous authors. Go take a class about a writer you’ve never heard of because there’s a lot more to the literary world than Shakespeare.

3. Go and find your campus’ literary journal and check it out!
My university, VCU, has an amazing literary journal called Blackbird and it’s a great place to learn skills like copyediting and coding, as well as social media marketing. You also get to read pieces that writers are writing right now! Most campuses have some kind of journal or press so see if you can intern there or volunteer because not only will it be a fun time to meet new people and new writers, but it also boosts that resume a little.

4. Sharing your writing is hard, but it does get easier over time.
I can still remember my first poetry workshop class where I had to read my poem out loud and then have my peers comment on it in front of me. Yeah, it was terrifying for about 5 minutes and I did think about not coming to class, but then I remembered that everyone was just as nervous as I was and my professor, bless her, made sure that we were respected and our work was honored. Workshop classes are the place to work on your writing. So be scared for the first five minutes and then take a breath because I can promise you that you won’t die or be kicked out of the class. 

If you’re not in a creative writing workshop, but your professor wants you to read each other’s papers in a breakout room on Zoom, again, take a breath because everyone is just as nervous as you are. Everyone in your class is a student who is there to learn to become a better writer or reader. Sharing essays can wrench the gut, but it will be okay. Help break some of the tension in those situations by saying, “Yeah, I’m nervous as heck about this because...but I’m thankful that I can get some feedback to make my writing even better.” 

5. Last but not least, just because you’re an English major, does not mean you have to become an English teacher. 
I came into my English major working to be a high school English teacher because that’s all I thought I could do with my degree. It wasn’t until I started talking to other English majors that I realized teaching isn’t the only thing I could do. I met people who wanted to go into marketing, copywriting, editing, or wanted to become writers. Some people said they were English majors just because they enjoyed it.

​Sometimes, whether it be from parents, friends, or random people on Facebook, they’ll say that you can’t do anything with an English degree but teach. They really don’t know what they’re saying because if they sat in one of your classes, they’d see how you’re analyzing text in order to decipher deeper meaning. They’d see how you’re working to understand a text from different perspectives like with a queer lens or a feminist lens. You’re working on your communication and analysis skills. There’s so much more to being an English major than reading and writing papers. 

So enjoy your English major! Get to know what kind of writing you like and savor it. Be brave and try a new thing!