Which is the better major History or English Literature?

I think a good knowledge of history is good for understanding people and their motivations - which is useful in a lot of professional situations.

[quote]I've got a scholarship so I'm not going into debt for it.

Hopefully, you've got rich parents, too, because you're not going to make any money in either field.

They are both disastrous choices for someone aiming for a fulfilling career. They are not respected by employers, and will set you back years. History and English Literature can be studied on your own, You don't need to pay anyone to teach you what is in the public domain. If you're idle rich with a life of leisure ahead of you, then do a double major.

I love a good historian. They hunt down information and judge it within its context for validity. They sort through so many dry texts written by semi-literate public servants and clergy members. They teach themselves to recreate intent and meaning from scratches on decayed documents. They interview people who are as likely to fart or yawn as give meaningful information.

Yes, you should be a history major. I always like my history pre-chewed. More power to you.

R4 thanks! History was my favorite subject in High School and I'm not sure I can do anything else, I love to investigate, decipher information and learn how events came to be. I'm sure History is my calling but just like everyone else on here Im concerned about my future.

History is good for law. Much of law is involved with interpreting the past. Past legal decisions. Past fact patterns. The development of the law over time.

OP, what are your career goals post-college? How would you apply either to making a living?

R7 honestly I don't know. I've always been told to do good in HS and get a scholarship well... I worked hard and got the scholarship but I don't know how to do anything and I'm sure Im not capable of doing anything. So right now I'm taking courses I'm interested in (History, philosophy of science and some Earth Science courses) I'm interested Astronomy and physics so I'm taking some beginner courses in those.

Major in technical writing so you can get a decent corporate job or rhetoric and composition so you can get a decent teaching job. English literature majors are a dime a dozen and none of the universities want to hire tenure-track unless you are out of the Ivy League AND have connections.

If you don’t have an abiding love or passion for either enough that the decisions is overtly clear I think you need to find what subject you do have that for and pursue that.

Both have been overtaken the "theory". You'll end up being indoctrinated by whatever belief is fashionable in academia right now - probably CRT or anti-colonialism. You won't really learn to think, which used to be the entire point of higher education.

R9 Unfortunately those majors don't exist where I'm at. Is Communications good enough? It sound like it incorporates everything.

Art major here. You won't make money from either History or English Lit.

However, if I had to choose, I'd choose English Lit. IME, the way History is taught is boring and mind-numbing. I actually learned more about history via my art history classes (had to take about 5 classes to graduate with my art degree).

True, you can just take a reading list and read the books on the list.

Communications may now have a rehabbed image, but back in the day, it was known as an easy / dumb degree.

If you really love history- find a niche and run with it to graduate school. It worked for a friend of mine who became an early medieval medical historian.

Since you didn’t realize that you needed a colon in that thread headline, history would be your better bet.

These (History and English Lit) should not be majors because they're HOBBIES.

The ONLY hobbies that can make you money are the ones that create something PHYSICAL like woodworking which branches into cabinetmaking and carpentry etc.

Before you decide you want to major in any branch of the liberal arts, google "Halloween Yale 2017." I just dropped a French class because one of the most important things the instructor thought we needed to know was how to rename our ID in our Zoom rectangles to include our pronouns. "It's so much more friendly and respectful that way."

Whichever one you're most interested in.

Don't let them tell you a liberal arts degree makes you unemployable. Just go to the best college you can get into, work hard and make good friends. It's a solid foundation for your future.

Which is the better major History or English Literature? The answer is a business major.

What r9 said.

Do you love history or literature? If that's the choice, go for the one that excites you most. Both provide similar training in source analysis, logic and creating coherent arguments.

English Literature uses so much historical analysis nowadays you might as well major in History and get a proper foundation if you must major in one or the other.

History is less infected by the Marxist-inspired Critical Theory and other garbage that have taken over many English departments.

That depends. Would you rather work at The Gap or Starbucks?

R24 Which one has health insurance? I don't discriminate.

Both are not good choices IMO. Choose STEM, as they have good well-paying jobs. And you can always pursue English Lit or History as a hobby.

Double major-you'll have fiction and nonfiction once you're done.

R18 is in admissions at Oberlin.

R28 I felt like he was shoving the brochure through my screen.

There's no point in choosing STEM if you know your going to be shit at it, R26. OP presumably has some sense of his capacities and interests.

Do both, OP. A double major.

Either one will prepare you for your lucrative career in table-waiting.

History for sure. You must stay away from literature. It's too filled with cultural theory you'll lose all love for literature.

Communications studies! Communication is our biggest obstacle....I also love History and my HS test said those two suited me best..I chose the former, poli sci (which used to be History) and Law and Society.

Here is a history lesson being taught. Watch this and see if you want to do this for four years.

I taught communication (rhetoric and performance) at the college level for 40 years. If you are equally interested in the two majors you mention, I might suggest majoring in history and minoring in literature. History will (or should) teach you how to analyze primary documents in a wide variety of contexts (cultural, political, intellectual) and to consider multiple interpretations and competing arguments, as well as to look for multiple narrative strands; literary studies will teach you to analyze style, voice, and form. History tends to be broader and will give strong research skills—something employers in any field look for. Literary studies also teach us how to empathize with people like and unlike ourselves.

My best friend majored in English at Beloit, which was a good hippie school in the mid-70s. After he graduated he moved to NYC , spent much of his twenties being a handsome gay guy in the city, but by age 30, he had worked steadily writing ad copy for B.Altman and then became a senior editor in the ad dept at Macy’s supervising junior copywriters, until he died at 37. He never took a business, journalism, or advertising/PR course, but reading Faulkner, Woolf, James, and Joyce taught him how people think and feel and how words can move and persuade us. The technical stuff is typically company— or platform-specific, and can be learned in a few weeks on the job. But the habits of mind learned through the study of history and literature are invaluable.

Do a history major and for your electives take classes that fall under the rubric of Legal Studies. Constitutional Law, the History of the Constitution, etc. and add some Media Studies and Media Law. That way you can always say you were considering Law School even if you don't.

I worked in the corporate world, media and publishing. There was no specific major that we hired. We just looked for a good solid liberal arts background so that our staff had good solid critical thinking skills.

Degrees in technical writing and business seemed too narrowly focused--almost like trade school graduates. They worked well in the right position but they were hard to promote or move to other areas because they did not have broadly applicable skills. Communication is too lightweight. Not rigorous enough for the degree to mean much.

At least in media, you need people who can adapt to a changing industry and who can be moved into many areas.

If you have degree in English or History, you will do fine. If you go for one of the trade school style degrees recommended here, you can get a job but it could be a dead end.

If you're at Harvard etc you can get away with this because you'll be hired for your Harvard etc degree, not your major.

But as you move down the academic totem pole, that major'll matter more. And you'll find that a run-of-the-mill humanities degree from a run-of-the-mill university doesn't attract much attention. Sorry. But it is what it is.

R36, with all due respect to you and your dead friend, your advice is out of the 1970s. With more and more universities emphasizing STEM and chopping liberal arts to the bone, majoring in history or English literature is dead-end UNLESS you plan to go to law school or medical school (I had a friend who majored in English as an undergraduate and got into med school, but his undergraduate degree was from an Ivy). I agree that the skills you learn with a liberal arts degree are important, but the corporate world doesn't see it that way. Even universities don't respect their English professors anymore unless those professors focus on rhetoric and composition, skills that can apply to multiple majors.

[quote] That way you can always say you were considering Law School even if you don't.

Saying that you were considering law school is not impressive, IMO. There’s no such thing as “pre-law” classes. All you need b/f law school is a bachelor’s degree, any kind.

I can say I considered medical school and I just sound like a douchebag.

You can always read literature as it was meant to be.

R30, R26 here. Understand, but STEM is not difficult, and it is also rather interesting, challenging, and stimulates the mind to think. I am not saying do a Ph.D., but a BS degree will really lead to a good quality of life (and a lot of MIT graduates end up on wall street as quants).

Not everybody is cut out for STEM. My strong point is English and writing. I'm pretty good at math. Science (chemistry, physics) is a struggle and I hated science classes.

[quote] My strong point is English and writing.

Probably should be: My strong points are English and writing.

Really, the obvious major is Vaccination development, efficacy and distribution in this day and age.

R45 It's hard to find a good writer. But a good writer can always find a drudge to clean his copy.

Thanks, R47. I am both R44 and R45. I'm both the writer and the drudge.

R35 That video is SO depressing.

That mindless, unbalanced, shrill shrieking is now taking over policy decisions in corporations and our government departments.

It's happening in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

An English degree builds fluid, marketable skills which can branch out into pr, teaching, advertizing, journalism etc. Every field needs strong communicators with good writing and critical thinking. Just get good grades, maybe join a few clubs to distinguish yourself. It's also applicable to a lot of things, not so niche that you're boxed into one kind of job. My buddy got a degree to be a quality engineer and wound up hating it, but she's stuck cuz that's the one thing she trained for.

I say check out the faculty and pick the one with the hottest and sexiest professors and fuck your way through the department.

R50 You seem to be suggesting that an English degree is just the first step. And that one must then do 'a second step' and get more training in order to be employable.

R50 How does an English degree foster writing skills and critical thinking any more than a history degree? I don't see it.

I went with History. I thought I would like English and tried it and it was ok but it is analyzing texts, poetry and novels rather than analyzing historical periods which satisfied my curiosity more. What do you want to be writing essays about?

How’s about the History of English Lierture or the representation of History as depicted in the great American Historical Fiction novel?

Either is fine. Whatever you enjoy most. But you need to do projects outside of school. Studying alone won't get you anywhere these days.

The more important question is what do you plan to get involved in while you're in school to help you figure out your path after school? Depending on what you want to get involved in, you will know which major would be better to pursue. Don't just spend 4 years studying.

Will majoring in Philosophy be the same as History and English (as in intellectually rigours)? I took a "Logic" class and did quite well.

Better for what, OP? For pleasing the baying hounds of Data Lounge? For provoking sharp rebukes from bootstrapped hillbillies and STEM Is God proponents whom you now will piss on both ideas? For job prospects?

The better first question is what do you want to do with a degree in English, or in History? And by that I don't mean find a job straight off, but what do you want to learn and why.

[FRB of NY graph source: CBS Moneywatch, October 26, 2018]

Take a foreign language and really stick at it

If you want employment one day you'd better choose English Literature. Some companies hire people with a literature background with the expectation you guys can read and write letters and/or adverts and are good communicators..

Yes, R60, it's good to have good spelling in advertisements even though most consumers talk gibberish.

"Would you like fries with that?"

Double major - assuming you pick areas of focus that are both interesting to you AND meaningful.

History majors focus usually by time period, geography, or subject matter. English majors focus along similar lines

By combining the two, you get a very broad based foundation. Also, you could conceivably master content that could be useful in a future career outside academics.

Keep in mind OP, lots of us dataloungers are bitter, old and judgy. You know yourself better than anybody here. If you put good work in either field and keep engaged and connected, you'll do well.

What is fascinating about that chart is it shows that STEM and business are not guarantees. You are more likely to find work with a library science degree than some of those fields.

The truth is if you study what you are most interested in you will do well. That will get you work. Study something that sounds like a "smart" choice that you are uninterested in...and you will probably never be a success in that field.

I have a degree in Modern German History.

R66 Did you take a programming course after you got your degree or did you take some elective courses at college?

What kind of job can you get with either of those degrees outside of teaching.

R68, have you read this thread? With those degrees he could get a job iin marketing, corporate communications, corporate administration, pretty much any job in which writing is involved.

This is not like a mathematics degree where the only work you will get is teaching mathematics. The writing and thinking skills from English and History majors are recognized.

English literature, at least employer can tell you can write

Either one is fine OP. You’ll have to go to graduate school anyway so it’s kind of irrelevant to be honest. And if you don’t go to graduate school - they still sound very similar and you can mold either one to fit job applications. Liberal arts is liberal arts.

Just do whichever one interests you more.

Hope yer a trust fund baby. Stupid choices. Like REALLY stoopid.

[quote] The writing and thinking skills from English and History majors are recognized.

Yes. People recognize that they weren't smart enough to get a degree in a STEM field.

30 years ago, I graduated with an English degree and got my first job in a telecom company as a technical writer. I learned the technology stuff on the job and eventually moved through system testing, systems engineering and project management. I eventually wound up managing a group of 10 eggheads by the time I retired. You can learn technology on the job, but you can't teach the programmers and developers how to write or communicate well.

R4 I'm not sure if you're being ironic—

[quote] I always like my history pre-chewed

Honey, OP, if your scholarship is to the Ivy League, feel free to study whatever liberal art you desire. Pay no attention to the plebes on this thread. You can study History and Philosophy and then get a job. But you'll have to be good at the job for this plan to work. If you have a social defect, you'd best study something practical where you can get jobs that don't require you to be a fully functioning fully social person.

If your scholarship is to some flyoverstan college, I have no experience and can't advise you.

If you are "of color" and your scholarship is to an Ivy, you are golden.

OP: Study whatever you are intrigued about.

Just make sure to take and do well in the basic sciences which your university probably requires for all majors - Physics 1&2, Chem1&2, Algebra 2, Differential Calc, Integral Calc, Biology, Botany. And continue your high school foreign language or take a new one. Try to minor in a foreign language. And take writing composition and creative/technical writing classes!

You won’t even know what classes make you want to get up in the morning until your sophomore/junior year. Chat with your advisor as he/she will offer experienced insight.

All I can say OP is study abroad your junior year, and the whole year, not just a semester. Of course History would most likely be better and benefit by this, but you could also do comparative literature somewhere as well. Really, it’s one of my great regrets and jealous of friends who did. And with a scholarship footing the bill it’s a great way to start to see the world and put your own life into perspective. Oh, and take advantage of every long weekend and school holiday to visit beyond the border of whatever university town you’re in.

If you stop going to school with a four year degree, it probably doesn’t matter which major you choose. If you plan on going to grad school, then History is a better choice. Not only can you teach, but jobs are out there at museums, government, and criminal justice that could offer you a career. Pay in these fields will never be super high, but you can make a decent amount (100k+) and have good benefits, and a pension.

R67 - I should have said computer "programmer". I just taught myself on the job and now write and run queries on our databases. As someone above noted, with a history degree, I would have had to get an MA to get any kind of job that used it and I was already sick of classes by the time I finished my BA.

R13 May I ask what did you after you graduated? I find Art History fascinating but I'm not actually sure if it's right for me. Maybe I can do an MA in Art History in the future.

I have a Master's degree in English but I work in accounting. Go figure.

R82 that's great! Then you don't necessarily need a degree in accounting, you can just learn on the job. That gives me hope to learn what interests me.

OP, don’t listen to problems who say you NEED to major in STEM to get a job good. I majored in history and now I work as a diplomat.

I would say history is probably a bit more useful in that it can help you in getting more politicalish jobs. Either way, you will probably go to graduate school.

However I do suggest you think about a more practical minor, or become fluent in another language (not Spanish). It will open up more doors. Or, minor in computer science.

Are you interested in government work, or being a teacher? Those are two major career paths for history majors. Of course you could also become a writer, an archivist, or a curator. There are options for all fields, but don’t think going to classes will be enough. Intern, do your own projects, write thought pieces or YouTube videos. Do something to stand out.

R84 thanks for the encouragement and advice. I'm minoring in Earth Sciences since they have courses in Meterology and Oceanography which excite me. I learned French on my own in High School and took Arabic classes as well (was intermediate but gave up), my French is good but could be better. I don't know what I want to do with History, maybe be a curator. My university has a Curatorial course I'm hoping to be able to take it (I need good grades to be eligible).

[quote] I have a Master's degree in English

I'll bet you are a skilled masturbator.