Moreover, it offers to all students, wherever their professional and vocational interests lie, the development of critical thinking skills through the study of American, British, and world literature. The program?s goal is that, through the study of a variety of literature, students will obtain a better understanding of themselves, their culture, and other cultures with which they must invariably come into contact.

Students majoring in English at James Madison University earn the B.A. degree unless they are completing an English major with an interdisciplinary focus or an additional major in a degree program other than the B.A. The minimum requirement for a major in English is 36 credit hours of courses in the major. Nine credit hours must be taken at or above the 300 level.

Why should I do an internship?

An internship is an opportunity for you to take the skills you've been developing in the classroom and try them out in the professional arena. Here are some reasons why they might be worth the time and effort for you:

  • One?recent?study?revealed that prospective employers value internships in new college graduates very highly, especially employers working in Media and Communications.?
  • Another survey?not only revealed that liberal arts majors are among the most sought-after prospective employees, but that employers are especially interested in liberal arts majors who have had one or more internships in the past.
  • Research?shows that more than 70% of new college graduates securing career-track jobs have completed one or more internships. Sometimes, the internship turns into a paid job, but more often it serves as a resume builder, a way to gain and speak about professional skills, an avenue for networking, and a source of job recommendations.

Career Opportunities

Careers that involve critical thinking, document analysis or oral and written communication such as:

  • Career counseling
  • Corporate recruiting
  • Consulting
  • Editing
  • Educational administration
  • Film and food critic
  • Graduate school in?English, creative writing, law and library science
  • Human resources
  • Insurance underwriting
  • Intelligence analyst
  • Law school
  • Library science (librarian, archivist, preservationist)
  • Literary agent
  • Literacy instructor
  • Lobbyist
  • Magazine writing and editing (print and online)
  • Marketing
  • Newspaper reporting/foreign correspondent
  • Non-profit advocacy and administration
  • Public relations and public affairs officer
  • Publishing
  • Research
  • Speech writer
  • Stockbroker
  • Teaching