English Major or Minor
English at Carroll College
What to Expect
English majors at Carroll:
- Study life-changing works from Shakespeare’s plays to Beyonce’s visual album Lemonade
- Write—a lot—maybe a collection of poems, an analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and/or a digital edition of a nineteenth-century short story
- Produce our annual Literary Festival, featuring works by Carroll students and the community
- Edit and publish our annual literary magazine, Colors
- Intern at a variety of organizations—local publishing companies, the Montana Historical Society, an independent bookstore
- Study abroad: everywhere from Ireland to Madrid, Chile to Italy
The major programs of study offer sound preparation for graduate study in literature, languages, or writing. In addition, it is possible for a student to design a program to prepare for studying law or for entering a career in journalism, public relations, public information, or communications. Seniors may choose to gain practical experience by completing a Career Internship in the local community.
What can you do with an English major?
Anything you want! If you want to study literature and writing, don't let others dissuade you from doing so — check out some reasons why below.
- 2018 study at Google showed English majors among the most desirable employees
- Forbes reports “That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Is Now Tech’s Hottest Ticket” (July 29 2015)
- Humanities and liberal art graduates are happily and gainfully employed (Inside Higher Ed Feb. 7 2018)
- Forbes finds “It’s Not Liberal Arts and Literature Majors Who Are Most Underemployed” (May 31 2018)
- Of English major applicants to law school, nationally, 81.37% were admitted—higher than the percentage of political science majors, the more typical pre-law major
- Business Insider states English majors have an “edge” in applying to medical school: the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that 46% of humanities applicants to US med school enrolled, compared to just 38% of biological science majors (November 16 2017). A 2018 issue of the Atlantic magazine quotes several physicians who argue that “literary exercises can expand doctors’ worldviews”: that “admissions committees should be looking for students who are imaginative and who are already reading literature.”
Teaching high school English has never been more important. How do we prepare citizens to distinguish truth from lies? Reliable sources from unreliable? Arguments based on evidence from arguments based on rhetoric? How do we teach citizens to use their voices? Carroll graduates are doing this work right now in schools all over Montana and the West.
- Sewanee Writers’ Conference is a writers conference held every summer on the campus of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. The conference takes place over twelve days, during which participants attend writing workshops, readings, panel presentations, lectures on the craft of poetry, fiction, and playwriting, and numerous social gatherings with peers and established authors.
- Denver Publishing Institute is held every summer on the University of Denver campus for college students seeking their first job in publishing. Lecture topics expose students to different types of publishing and the publishing process. Each day provides new networking opportunities and special sessions on career development which gives students a head start into the publishing industry.
- MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Graduate Program in Science Writing is a one-year master’s program designed to give students hand-on experience producing professional-quality, science-driven pieces. - Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated people to live, learn, and work with a community overseas to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation.