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Read Graduate & Professional Studies
The decision to pursue an advanced degree requires thoughtful consideration and planning. As with all career choices, you need to be aware of your values, skills, and long-range goals, the types of opportunities available, and the necessary qualifications. Advanced education requires a substantial commitment of time, money, and enthusiasm. It is not a good way to avoid a tight job market or to delay making other career choices. The decision to attend graduate school should always be part of a larger career and life plan.
Thinking about Graduate School
How do you determine if further study is a realistic choice for you? What and who can you consult? The first step in the graduate school process is self-assessment. The following questions can help you decide if graduate school is the right choice for you:
- Do you need an advanced degree to enter your chosen career?
- Do you know what the day-to-day work of that career is like?
- How long will it take to complete the degree?
- Will your enthusiasm for the course work sustain you for that length of time?
- Does the degree require full-time study?
- Are you willing to forego substantial income for the length of time required to complete the degree?
- Will the costs of attendance be covered by the institution as part of a merit-based financial package, or will you need to cover your own expenses?
- Do you qualify for admission based on your grade point average, test scores, and educational prerequisites?
Many resources are available to English majors as they think about graduate school:
- CLA’s How-To Guide: Going to Graduate or Professional School
- Self-assessment tests administered by Career Services (411 Science Teaching & Student Services Building) and University Counseling and Consulting Services (109 Eddy Hall)
- Resource room located in the Career Services office and online graduate school advising
- Professional career counselors in Career Services
- Career Services’ Graduate and Professional School Day, early October annually
- Your academic adviser, a faculty mentor, or informational interviews with Directors of Graduate or Professional Studies for the fields you are considering; information in the English Undergraduate Studies Office
- Personal Statement workshops at Career Services and at the Center for Writing, 15 Nicholson Hall
Program Types
Graduate programs can be divided into two basic types: professional (medical school, law school, business school, education); and academic (discipline-specific research programs, such as English).
Professional programs normally offer terminal degrees and train you to work in a particular occupation (for example, here at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities: Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology, College of Education and Human Development). Professional programs usually do not require an undergraduate degree in a specific field, although you must satisfy certain prerequisites for admission.
Academic programs can end with a master’s degree or continue through the doctorate level. Academic programs do not train you to work in a specific career. While most English Ph.D.s go into teaching at an institution of higher learning, a significant number enter careers in professional writing and editing, college administration, government or business. Academic programs usually do not require an undergraduate degree in the same discipline, but you must have in-depth knowledge of the field you will enter. Academic programs will expect you to be able to define, implement, and successfully complete an original research project. You must provide evidence of this ability in your Statement of Purpose (or Personal Statement ) and letters of recommendation.
Programs in Publishing
Several of our majors interested in careers in publishing have found that completion of a short (one to six week) publishing-oriented course was beneficial.
Columbia University Publishing Course
New York University Summer Publishing Institute: Book, Magazine, and Digital Publishing
The Crazyhorse/Tupelo Press Publishing Institute at the College of Charleston
English major intern at Sutton Hoo Press
"Interning at Coffee House Press exposed me to great contemporary literature and introduced me to the Twin Cities’ amazing literary community. I found that I am most interested in the editorial part of the publishing process, and I hope to find an editorial job someday at a press as progressive, innovative, and unique as Coffee House."
Diana H.
