Before I came to Kansas State, before I found the room for Greg Eiselein’s class on my first day, before I convinced my academic advisor to let me take “Intro to Literary Studies” as an undeclared major, before I taught Expository Writing I & II, and well before I left Manhattan to get an M.F.A. at the University of Houston, I had a conversation with my aunt that I think is familiar to a lot of folks who have ever entertained the idea of studying English or anything in the humanities. I’m paraphrasing here, but it went something like: “You realize that’s a degree in poverty, right?”
So, before we go any further, a quick affirmation, a brief rebuttal: No, it is not.
That said, the career path for someone who reads the entirety of The House of the Seven Gables for a class is less laid out than it is for someone required to take a course over differential equations — or that was the case with me at least. I spent eight years in Manhattan between my undergraduate, master’s degree, and two years of adjunct teaching. Here are all of the jobs I had during that time: 1) snack bar worker at a golf course, 2) sales clerk at a now defunct discount clothing store, 3) writing tutor, 4) editing intern for K-State Communications and Agricultural Education, 5) farm help for the K-State Agronomy Program, 6) instructor at the Young Writer’s Workshop, 7) summer expository writing instructor, 7) farm help, again, 8) program assistant for the Young Writer’s Workshop, 9) adjuncting for the English Department, 10) marketing intern at an engineering firm, and 11) pool cleaner for Manhattan Parks & Rec.
Here’s the thing though: I’m pretty sure that isn’t all that uncommon. Undergraduate students change majors. Most young people hold a slew of part-time jobs. Folks switch careers. (Up to seven times in a lifetime by some estimates!) People get full-time jobs that have ostensibly nothing to do with their degree. Some move between different roles at the same company or industry, having to learn an entirely new set of skills in the process. Which is to say, finding a career that suits you takes time, or, maybe even, we’re always in process, always becoming. I know that’s true for myself.
Today, I’m a copywriter for a Kansas City marketing firm, which is infinitely less chic than Mad Men makes it out to be, but it is something that directly applies nearly every skill I learned from the English Department. I provide feedback over final products the same way I gave written comments as an instructor. I conduct interviews with subject matter experts the same way I asked questions as a writing tutor. I learn about each of my clients’ businesses and industries the same way I researched for an essay.
Five years after taking “Great Books” with Greg Eiselein, I took his Intro to Literary Criticism, and he mentioned something in passing I still think about: “You study English because it’s beautiful.” Honestly, that’s enough for me. If you need a little more than that — something to sell it a little more, I think a degree in English is actually one in critical reading and reasoning, and, if that is the case, that probably means English majors just love to learn — and there’s very little you can’t accomplish when you learn how to learn.
— Jamie H. Gilson (BA ’14, MA ’16)
K-State English 