So my very science orientated Daughter spent the last semester of Senior year editing the literary magazine for her school and has now decided that is her future.

As a parent I am concerned with job availability and salary. However I have no idea what the job market looks like for Liberal arts and especially Journalism or English.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Don't despair, the job outlook for this type of major is not necessarily as grim as folks would have you believe. Truth be told, while it can be difficult to get one's foot in the door, it really is about work and working hard to gain the skills and knowledge you need no matter what the major.

So, if your daughter takes her education seriously and truly works on making her core foundation as solid as possible, she will prepare herself for opportunities unknown. It is what any university education should do. Despite what has been said about universities should be "like a business and give the consumer what they want: a degree," I am a firm believer in personal responsibility and that what students should be consuming is as much breadth and depth of information as they can possibly hold and learn how to build a framework for adapting all of it toward their future. (Being adaptable about going to where the jobs are is part of the equation.)

If your daughter takes as many science/math or other STEM electives as she can, she may discover she has a knack for technical writing. Science and the applied fields always need good writers, trust me. It is one way to converge her interest with her new passion. Also, by having a solid foundation, if she discovers that one or more of these fields is something she truly enjoys doing, she will find that the work she puts in on the path to a solid career seems more satisfying. There are even people who study the history of science. How cool is that?!

Public relations has a large range, but if you are very adept and willing to work hard, it can be lucrative.

Like Fishing Fools related, there are also careers in education and the like.

Finally, and I am going to step up on my soapbox for a moment, attending college is what you make of it. Some folks say that the classes they took "didn't prepare them for the real world." I say if that is the case, then they should look in the mirror. If they slid their way into a degree, then they missed a golden opportunity to prepare "for the real world." Take the coursework seriously even if others around you don't. Use that opportunity to expand your knowledge so that whatever life throws you, you may discover a new path instead of being lost in the weeds. With a solid foundation and your guidance (from afar) she will be on her way to a bright future.

Good luck to her!


Technical writers median salary is around $70K, public relations is anywhere from less than $64K to greater than $100K but it depends on the field and can be volatile (think politics). The job outlook for journalism has not been great. The world needs investigative reporting. It is important to have transparency worldwide but it is definitely a career path undergoing upheaval for a variety of reasons. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know. On the bright side, however, a hs classmate of one of my children was recently on a team of reporters that were awarded a Pulitzer. Some of life's rewards are not monetary...

I majored in English and history and got an MA in English and did three years of doctoral work in American lit. I taught in college and high school for 37 years. I loved it.

There is absolutely a job market for people who want to teach English in high school. However, that entails more than liking to put together literary magazines. Has she enjoyed her English classes? Does she love to read? And would she enjoy spending time with teenagers?

There is also a market for journalism teachers in high school, but it is much smaller. There's only one per high school. Journalism teachers do not do literary magazines; one of the English teachers does it, probably as part of a creative writing class. MANY English teachers desire to teach that and so it is very competitive.

There is a very limited market for English and journalism professors in college, and the VAST majority of those jobs are adjunct: not permanent, not tenure-track, low paying, no benefits. You can't have much of a life doing that unless you marry well.

There are some jobs for English majors in the publishing world. Editors, for instance. Most of those go to people from elite colleges in the East or who come from families who know someone.

Some English majors work for testing companies helping create state exams. Pays pretty well; decent hours. I would find it boring.

I had a number of students who went on to major in communications or Radio/TV/Film at Texas (excellent school for that). Not a single one of them is working in something related to his or her degree. No jobs.

You say she is "science oriented." What does that mean? Has she previously planned a major in science? With what career in mind?


Just a thought: Is it possible that she is burned out from the stresses of difficult academic courses and the inherent stresses of senior year/leaving home, etc., and simply found some relief in editing the lit. mag. (I well know that has its own stresses), so that she has a very idealized vision of life as a Liberal Arts major?

Thanks for the replies, pretty much what I had figure. We will be at new student conference next week so hopefully we will get some more info.

I feel she should minor In journalism if that is what she wants but stick to a stem for main degree. We shall see.

Bring water.


If she has time, she might want to dig around on the website for the College of Science individual department websites: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Math, Statistics...). Or College of Engineering if she prefers.

Many departments have career pages and sometimes you can arrange to meet with someone and talk about options (besides at the NSC which is next level busy).

Because most faculty in the summer that aren't doing classes are often in the lab, out in the field, or at meetings, writing, etc they may be thin in numbers, but if you arrange to meet ahead of time you can probably come away with more information.

Why not both?

Someone with a science or engineering degree who can write? Almost a unicorn.

dcbowers said:

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Why not both?

Someone with a science or engineering degree who can write? Almost a unicorn.

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Truly is. I'm an engineer and have my wife proofread long emails or write ups. I pretty much hand them to her and say "here, make me not sound stupid in front of everyone". She's a teacher so we're a perfect match.

I feel like you can Major/Minor your way into a marketable degree plan. There has to be options for an English or Journalism major with a Business/Economics/STEM minor.