Succeeding as an English major means stretching your mind, learning to analyze and to synthesize verbal texts, and communicating effectively through speaking and writing. Best of all, of course, you read frequently and widely--fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction, biography, and interpretative essays. As Huck Finn said of Pilgrim's Progress, some of the work is "interesting, but tough." Some is sheer pleasure. All can introduce you to whole new worlds and new ways of thinking.

Expressing convictions similar to those of the Department of English at Susquehanna, Dean Rosemary Stevens of the University of Pennsylvania in fall 1991 argued for the value of a liberal arts education:

The liberal arts force one to think, to re-examine one's assumptions, to explore oneself, to see the individual's place in a wider culture, to question that culture, and to find out what one values for oneself out of the riches which civilization offers. The liberal arts also provide basic skills: research, writing, analysis, and the understanding and use of major symbols, from writing, through numbers, to music. These are all long-term investments for a practical person--a framework onto which professional skills can be fixed.

CAREER OPTIONS

There may come a time, however, when you ask yourself, or are asked by an interested party (for example, a parent, "Just what are you going to do with an English major?"

The answer is almost anything. Recent research shows that many law schools and medical schools prefer English majors and minors (with appropriate pre-law and pre-med preparation) over all others. Corporations also seek English majors for beginning managerial positions.

Why? Because English majors have learned to write and speak well, to analyze complex ideas, to organize their thoughts, and to pay close attention to what they read and observe. The result is that the English major makes a student so versatile that she or he can gain entry to a tremendous variety of careers.

According to a recent alumni survey of Susquehanna English majors in the classes of 1985 to 1991, careers of graduates include the following: account administrator, account executive, admissions director, advertising accountant, architectural engineer, assistant director of a charitable organization, banker, benefits director for an insurance firm, customer representative, electrical data systems analyst, electronics store manager, free-lance writer, high-school teacher, interior

designer, operations director, paralegal, public relations officer, publishing officer, sales management, tax analyst, and technical editor. Of 45 graduates responding, one maintained that he/she would not major in English again; the other 44 would repeat their choice.

Many of our alumni are teachers, including some in colleges and universities, but most work in some area of communications, administration, management, and publishing. Several are lawyers, many have successful business careers.

However, if you think you would like to go into business or communications, for instance, you should plan early in your undergraduate work to take some courses in these fields in addition to your English courses. If you plan to be a secondary school teacher, you should plan your English curriculum to not only satisfy education requirements, but to also give you the necessary breadth to be a fine teacher.

Our students find that externships and internships not only give them experience and help them to decide what they want to do for a career, but also provide them with useful networks.

The Office of Career Planning and Service has materials designed specifically to help English majors and minors. Watch the bulletin board in the English Department for notices of institutes and internships that could help you with your career preparation and search.

As you probably know, career specialists are saying that members of your generation will have four or five different careers in your lifetime. Majoring in a discipline such as English gives you a superb foundation and excellent flexibility for such a career path.

GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL

Students with a genuine interest in teaching and literary scholarship or in other professions may want to pursue graduate education. Recent Susquehanna English majors have studied for advanced degrees at Boston University, Bucknell, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Connecticut, Colgate, Drew, Duquesne, Georgetown, Kutztown, Middlebury, the University of North Carolina, the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State, SUNY Binghamton, Temple, the University of Virginia, Villanova, and Wake Forest. The advanced degrees have not been confined to English; some graduates have earned or are currently working toward degrees in law, education, literature, teaching or communications, theology, library science, university administration, and business administration. Graduate schools actively recruit English majors for programs in communications, information management, public administration, and social work.

If you have any inkling that you may want to pursue graduate or professional study, tell your advisor of that interest as soon as you can. She or he can offer you a sense of what graduate work entails and refer you to relevant sources of information (including other faculty). You will want to plan your coursework and academic activities accordingly and perhaps pursue departmental honors. You should investigate schools during your junior year and begin the application process in early fall of the senior year. Study each school and program carefully to make sure it fits your own goals and needs. There are four steps to keep in mind:

1. Identify schools to which you wish to apply. It's best not to limit your applications to one or two schools; even exceptional students are sometimes not accepted by their first choices of programs.

2. Obtain application materials, including any necessary financial aid materials.

3. Sign up for (and do well on) the relevant entrance examination--Graduate Record Exams, Law School Admissions Test, etc. Information about these exams can be obtained from either the English & Creative Writing Dept. or the Career Development Office. (Most schools prefer to see October rather than December exam scores; applications are generally due six weeks in advance of the test date.)

4. Notify the faculty from whom you will need recommendation letters. Do this early! Be sure to ascertain whether each faculty member you ask is able to write a strong letter in your support. An equivocal letter can hurt or ruin your chances of admission.

Remember, if you'd like to think seriously about graduate school, please talk about the process with your advisor and see Professor Albertine as early as you can. In the fall of each year, Susquehanna's Center for Career Services organizes workshops on applying to graduate school and preparing for the Graduate Record Examination. Free practice tests for both the general and English sessions can be picked up in the English Office in Hassinger.