Do you need a college degree to be a successful writer?
October 4, 2007 by Deb
Filed under Freelance Writing
I have very few regrets. I made a few mistakes in the past, but I consider them learning experiences and don’t wish to take them back. I had a good life, and continue to have a good life, and I don’t believe in dwelling on the past. If there is one thing I wish I could change it’s probably my decision not to go to college.
Who
When I graduated high school in the early ‘80’s college was encouraged, but it wasn’t considered mandatory as it is now. I never liked school and decided to take on the workforce instead. It wasn’t pretty. I worked at a couple of fast food joints and waitressed for a couple of years before accepting a job as receptionist at a publishing company in Downtown Manhattan. I was just turning 21 at this time and most of my fellow high school graduates were preparing to graduate from college, none of them were working full time to support themselves. Those that did, were getting better jobs fresh out of college, than I did with my experience. I began to regret my decision.
No Money for School
Because I had to pay rent, buy food and deal with subway tokens, I had nothing to save up for college. I didn’t think I’d ever get to attend. Fortunately, I started moving up in the ranks career wise. After 8 years I landed a gig as an Editorial/Administrative Assistant and began to receive hands-on training. My boss sent me to The New School and Baruch to learn more about writing and editing. Soon I had enough saved up to take the occasional business course. Do I think all of this had something to do with my success as a freelance writer? Well…yes and no.
School isn’t necessary…but it helps
I owe my career to my hands on experience at a publishing company, but also my Mom who taught me a lot about grammar and editing too. The courses I took taught me a few things, but I can’t say I owe my career to them. I know I can be creative, and that has nothing to do with school. I also know that I make lots of mistakes in my writing, and maybe if I continued on through college I wouldn’t be so insecure. I learned a lot since I started freelancing though, my early work makes me cringe!
I think good writers are born, not made. But I also think even the most creative minds wouldn’t get a toe across the threshold of a major publishing house without knowing how to spell or form a sentence. There are people who tell me I’m a good writer, but I wonder what they would say if I had a college degree.
Please see my other blogs:
I do think writing samples speak for themselves (no one who first hired me as a writer gave a hoot where or when I went to college), but I cringe to think how long you toiled to work your way up to Editorial Asst. My hat is off to you for all you’ve accomplished!
I think the advent of the Internet makes it much easier for writers without degrees to find a path to success, too.
Personally, I have a bachelor’s degree in business. It’s not a writing or journalism degree, but there are many employers who sort of look at a bachelor’s degree in general as a pre-requisite. Or do they? I guess I always just assumed they did!
Anyone without a degree care to comment on that?
As a life coach, too, now, I definitely think it’s much more about being open-minded to possibilities than it is about having a certain education. I see people excel all the time who have very few resources. And they don’t work any harder. That’s been very true of my writing career as well. It’s been absolutely effortless, and I think when one is doing their passion and working with purpose, that’s what happens. They attract the resources they need. It’s more about believing in your vision than it is about knowing how you’ll get there.
-Beth
I think it’s possible to do well as a writer without college…if you’re very talents and fairly lucky. The things I learned in college were invaluable, and I couldn’t imagine trying to freelance without that experience. I also think that, creatively, college gives you a bunch of experiences that you can’t get anywhere else – it’s really helped me in writing fiction. The business courses I took also helped me learn how to deal with project management and other like issues.
Unfortunately, there are tons of uneducated writers who think that this career is an alternative to the waitressing jobs. It’s not – it’s a job for professionals. Deb, I think your hard work and dedication helped you succeed, but I agree that a college degree is the best idea. It helps propel a person forward faster and really opens up all sorts of awesome networks.
This is definitely an interesting topic! Since I write and edit math educational materials, having a degree in the subject matter is required. The creativity I use in my presentation style was not learned in a crowded lecture hall, but the content sure was!
I am interested in hearing what “real” writers have to say on this topic. I always wondered if going to school for creative writing was necessary to be a successful writer. A few of my schoolmates are pursuing advanced degrees in writing. Besides the added network your alma mater provides, is it worth it?
No-
I don’t think you need to have a college degree to be a successful writer. But I think you do need to have good business acumen. I don’t have a degree in journalism or English and I wondered in the beginning whether that worked against me. Now I’m starting to feel like it might be a plus in some ways. Quite frankly, my experience in architecture didn’t totally go to waste. Things like setting up a project proposal, dealing with clients, seeing how businesses are run – that’s been invaluable experience.
Most of it you can learn by reading and practicing. I have never, ever had anyone ask me about my college degree (it’s in Chemical Engineering).
Some people might require such a thing, but I don’t know why. I think all “credentials” are silly and I aim to prove that every day. But when you don’t have the right credentials, you do miss out on some work. I consider people who care about that kind of stuff to be chuckleheads, but they do control a certain percentage of the writing market.
My guess is it’s a very small percentage, however, but if you take all the comments in this thread together after about a day or so we may have a good idea.
Oh.I should add that not one of my clients has ever asked me about college or school. Ever.
I appreciate all these comments. I am nearly 50, have always enjoyed creative writing and would very much love to look into freelancing. I would appreciate any comments.
I would probably prefer writing on general current issues.
I don’t think that a degree is absolutely necessary to be a writer, but I do believe that it can help get a foot in some doors. For me, my education in business and accounting have helped me to establish credentials for certain types of writing gigs, but I don’t know that it has mattered with many of them. I guess it all depends on what writing you want to do.
I do consider my experience in college to be invaluable to me, regardless of how many jobs it has landed me. However, college certainly isn’t for every person.
My degrees have nothing to do with writing–Psych and Criminal Justice–and I’ve never had a client ask about them (though they’re noted on my resume, of course).
I think most of my writing skills were learned by reading and (surprise!) actually writing.
The only benefit I can see to a non-writing college degree is that a higher education generally (though not always) requires a greater amount of high-level reading… and reading helps improve writing. Nonetheless, those without a college education can get the same benefit by simply reading on their own. (And I know plenty of college educated folks who rarely crack a book now, so this is really just a sweeping generalization.)
No one thinks about your lack of college degree except you (in the general, plural sense, not in the you-Deb sense). No, really. I’m a national level journalist and the author of two published books (one of them was a bestseller in its niche). I make excellent money (though I choose to work part time). I have a college degree… in civil engineering. I took NO college level writing courses–AP-ed out of them. My editors love me for my professionalism, my strong voice, and my clean copy. No one asks what my degree is in–or if I have one at all–not after they see my client list.
Talent, skill, hard work, and persistence (and a dollop of luck) can get you to the top of this business. It does not take a degree. How much further could you get with a degree? Almost nowhere that your own elbow grease wouldn’t get you anyway.
My degree is in a related field, Radio & TV. But I always worked at the college paper while at school, eventually becoming an editor.
That experience meant more to future employers than the degree, though lack of a degree may have been a disqualifier for some work (certain employers give a degree some credence).
I mention how employers see degrees because I started as an employee and only this year have moved to a point where more than 50 percent of my time (but much more than 50 percent of income) has been as an a freelancer.
That being said, I agree with comments above that business knowledge/classes are also very helpful (took those many years later) and a degree may help get some work at least in the beginning.
But I know people I went to college with who have a degree, but didn’t do anything but classwork — they’re no longer in the profession (one’s even became a priest).
Remember what the Wizard told the Scarecrow — there are a lot of people without a brain, but they have one of these (and he hands the scarecrow a degree).
Yet education does have other uses and shouldn’t be trashed out of hand.
I’ve got to say that the number of jobs I’ve seen in which a college degree is a requirement can be depressing at times. Here a trip to UVM or Champlain College will cost you $25,000 a year, not to mention finding room and board, and I just can’t see paying that much given the taxes, heating costs and the likes. I couldn’t afford college after school and landed a job as a mortgage loan processor which helped.
College degrees I think are necessary for certain things, but there are just as many “graduates” I see holding Bachelor degrees that can’t spell correctly and that truly bothers me. My own nephew has a degree in journalism from Vassar and got into an argument with me over the word “kindergarten” — a word he felt was spelled “kindergarden.” If that’s what colleges are turning out, I don’t feel quite so bad about my lack of a degree.
Given that, I do still toy with taking an online writing class or two every now and then.
I think education as a whole these days is what you make of it. If you feel you’re learning something in school then you should stay in school. I’ve stayed in school up until early this year but never chose to graduate in any given field (3 yrs in Graphic Design, half a year in Journalism, 2 yrs in I don’t know what). True, having a degree gives employers some credentials, but if your work speaks for itself, then a degree is just a piece of paper.
I’ve worked my way up the ladder from earning a mere $5.15/hr to a comfortable $14/hr (that’s in Canadian dollars). It’s not by any means a rich salary, but without a college degree I showed to my employers what I’m capable of. I learn fast, I like to be efficient, and easy going. I don’t have much experience under my belt as a writer, but I am willing to work hard to get what I want.
Thing is, a friend of mine told me, “You can do anything.” And it’s not to be cliche, but he’s right. Anybody can do anything, if Stephen Hawking can be a world reknown physicist while being handicapped, you can succeed in being a writer if you work for it. Discipline, determination, hard work pays off, nobody can tell you otherwise.
I still encourage people to further educate themselves if they feel school is a valuable resource (I mean, school isn’t THAT bad). These days it’s possible to go both ways, with or without degrees.
As a current college senior, I can honestly say that college is a complete waste as an educational tool. Having a piece of paper that says I’m somehow smarter than before is convenient, yes, but the actual things learned in college are completely worthless.
I have worked hard and published over 350 articles for very little pay while in school. I eventually got low paying contract jobs, which I did about a year, all while in school. Then a few different articles of mine were found via the web and got me nice paying job offers. I also applied to some jobs and have gotten nice ones because of my experience. No one has even asked me about college or not, and I currently have three nice paying jobs.
I now make nearly 4k a month, and work approx. 28 hours a week from home. I’m sure that I’m blessed to be able to do this and that not everyone can, but it has taken time and work. Honestly, sometimes I debate about just dropping college, using the credits I have to get an associates, and just be happy. Let me tell you, right now I’m bored out of my mind. I hate school, it has become redundant, and honestly I don’t think that it’s helping my life, it feels more like it’s postponing it.
For anyone with degrees, please don’t take offense, but the standing joke is that a BS degree is just that, MS is more of the same, and PhD is piled higher and deeper (again, to make you smile, not to insult anyone).
I went to college for a few years and then left when I got married and got a ‘real’ job. I never graduated, and it never kept me from my career.
I started out in technical support, moved to programming, and ended up managing programmers before I decided to move into freelance work so that I can devote some time to writing as well as programming.
I’ve always said that college helps a person get their first job, but after that experience is king. When I hired IT people, I was more impressed with certifications than college. A good number of people I worked with and hired didn’t even have degrees in a computer-related field.
I’ve never regretted going to college, but also never regretted not finishing it.
I can’t say I learned anything about programming or writing while I was in college even though I spent a couple of years as a CSE major and a couple as an English Lit major.
I learned both by actually doing them.
My degree is in history; in retrospect, I would’ve tried to double-major in English and creative writing and/or journalism. Some people say that if you want to get into journalism, MINOR in journalism and major in a field you’d like to specialize in. People who want to write for the wal street journal, for example, should could consider a business major.
My degree is in economics-business, and it did make a difference when I worked in accounting and business administration. (I’ve had 10 jobs in 21 years.) Most of the time, my freelance writing clients don’t ask about my background. If they do, it’s in relation to what I could bring to a blogging job, or something like that.
I don’t bother applying for positions/gigs that require a degree in communications or journalism. While I’m sure I could write as well as any other applicant, I know (from a former job screening and rewriting resumes) that most of the time, my application will be rejected out of hand if I don’t have that particular degree, so I don’t waste my time.
Most of my clips are in travel writing; I’ve always been a wanderer, and you can’t get a degree in travel, per se. You have to be able to experience the moment and then remember/record the details in a particularly helpful and descriptive way. While I could take travel writing classes, I don’t think I could get a M. F. A. degree in travel writing all by itself. (?) I also don’t think I’d want to…better to pay for more trips.
Interesting thread. Deb, FWIW, I can assure you that 1) as a writer, you have more confidence and resilience than most college grads, and 2) you write better than most college grads do, as well.
Having an English or journalism degree definitely helps, though it isn’t necessary.
I have a BA in English and started freelancing a little over two years ago. When I had no work experience, the degree got my foot in the door.
I think that college trained me to honor deadlines and to write regularly. Also, I used some killer essays as writing samples when I started out – these were pieces that had already been critiqued by reputable professors, so that helped a lot!
Honestly, when it comes down to it, someone with great writing samples, a great resume AND a college degree will always edge out someone without the latter.
You can make it without the degree, but you will have to hustle more.
No English degree here. It does have an impact on my security. I will never be E. B. White who I greatly admire, but I will not give up. I think not giving up and doing the best I can is the path to take. When I can afford it I will take English classes.
I don’t know. It took me 10 years to pay back my student loans and I’m not sure college made me a better writer. Maybe it just gave me more practice and confidence. But I liked school, so I never considered not going.
It’s a completely different ball game in Europe – at least in a couple of countries I’ve lived in. Here, they’re very “degree-oriented” because getting into universities is based mainly on academic merit. Money is not a problem since universities are basically free and government loans for living expenses are easy to get. A degree is essential to get into the publishing industry. Internships and on-the-job training also help. Writing as such does not require any degree but it all depends on the type of writing one is doing. I’m into science and medical writing and I need a degree in Life Scíence to be credible enough to do it. But still there are school drop outs out there who managed to publish (and sell) their novels at an early age because they have the talent and the lucky break.
I think I’m glad I went to university before it became acceptable to treat it as a trade school. College can introduce you to ideas and resources that you might not otherwise find. It can give you an opportunity to discuss the ideas of the past with your peers. It can teach you how to find what you want to know. It can show you the steps to critical thinking.
I was in pre-med when my professor in creative writing (which was a required freshman course) told me I ought to consider writing as a career. I would never otherwise have thought of it. Many years later when I came up against a wall in my life, I realized that all I wanted to do was tell stories.
All the things I have done professionally are things I have stumbled upon as I pass through life, and many of them were encountered in college, where the whole idea was figuring out the world. In truth, no one other than the government ever offered me anything based on my performance at university, but also true is that what I’ve grabbed from life has been largely dependent on what I learned at school.
I agree with Amy- it can get your foot in the door, but doesn’t guarantee anything. It’s definitely not a “piece of paper”- it’s four years of study, with the paper simply representing those years. You can’t teach creativity, but you can teach how to get your information, how to write quickly to deadlines and how to construct your writing.
A degree doesn’t guarantee that you can write- it just guarantees that you have some experience in the subject, have undergone coursework on it and had the tenacity to stay with it until graduation.
But, you can show those things in other ways. Updating this blog almost daily for years shows tenacity and expertise. Your published clips show your experience. You’ve taken courses in writing and business. All of those things add up to what a degree is supposed to represent to an employer. I’m surprised that you could have insecurities about it with all of your success.
I don’t think you need a college degree to be a writer, as long as you can write a coherent sentence and use proper grammar. I have a Journalism degree, and I think it helped get my foot in the door. I have received freelance job offers from companies that required a Journalism or English degree. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and specific courses did help to improve my skills. The majority of my college classes were taught by professional writers (newspaper columnist, freelancers, book authors, poets, etc). They gave a lot of good writing tips and helpful critiques that I probably would not have learned on my own.
Whether or not you have a degree depends on your career choice. Some careers simply require more education that “experience” can’t initially provide, such as teaching and practicing law. For other careers though, your education comes from experience, such as writing.
A degree can be a very valuable piece of paper, if you choose the right one. However, how many 18 year olds really know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I thought I knew and I went to college. After my first year though, I changed majors and schools. After my second year, I added a minor and after my third year, I added a second major. By my final year, I realized I wanted nothing to do with my “main” major, so after graduation I began taking classes to earn a certificate to supplement my second major. Now, I’m an HR Director, which had absilutely nothing to do with either of my majors or minor. I write in my spare time and my mom and I are in the beginning phases of starting our own event planning business.
If I had waited until now to go to college, my degree would definitely be very valuable instead of just taking up space on my wall.
Its all about what you do with your degree. I have a BA in English and an MA in Information Systems. Has that helped me to land jobs as a technical writer? You bet!
I think a lot has to do with how you are marketing yourself. If you are putting your shingle out there as a general pen for hire, then a college degree would probably be a waste for you, if you work involved convincing people you are an expert, and dealing with a lot of the corporate types, then the degrees go a long way. Its a matter of the client base you have, and what they value.
As to your comments ArmyWife, I think 18 year olds know what they want to do, some of them just change it because of external pressure. I didnt change majors, and what I do now is very relevant to my studies. You cant make a generalization about all 18 year olds based on your personal experiance, any more than I can. The difference is my volunteer work puts in contact with a lot of bright and focused teens who know exactly what they want, and how to get it.
NancyP – Have you done a complete study of the writing of college grads. I have to tell you, if your looking for the good writers at a university one does not traditionally look to the economics department.
Not that you’re not a good writer Deb- I love your blogs- But people are just making unfounded generalizations here, and that bugs me. You people talk about college like you think it is a 4 year vacation, I promise you its not.
I don’t think all 18 year olds know what they want to do. Some do, some don’t.
My brother had no idea and took a year off to sample different jobs before going to college. He’s now in a job he loves, completely different to what he’d originally thought might interest him, and he was so successful in his first four years of college that they offered to pay his additional 2 years of college for a Masters by working as a teaching assistant with one of the professors.
Meanwhile, my sister-in-law at the age of 18 just knew that a degree in art was for her. 30 years later she has her teaching degree in art and has never used it. She cleans houses for a living, much to my husband’s dismay because her college education meant that his father wouldn’t allow him to go to college unless his dad picked his major. In the end, his dad gave him a choice between teaching or civil engineering – neither of which interested him – so he wound up trying to change his major. When he did, his father refused to help him pay for college by co-signing anything and demanded my husband pay back the first year’s tuition. In the end, my husband was forced to drop out and worked two jobs to pay his dad back.
It all comes down to the individual person and just how mature they are at that age. You can’t generalize either way. Some 18 year olds are wise enough to know and others need more time to develop. I also think parental support plays a big part in this maturity.
I have a B.S. and a Master’s. I pursued these right after high school I never considered not going to college. I’m incredibly glad for the experience. I loved the academic/intellectual environment, and there was really no where else I could pursue the topics that interest me: what is truth, what is beauty?, etc. (ok, I minored in Philosophy, a subject most college students hate. I wrote a ton both in undergrad and grad school, but I always loved writing. The writing in school did enable me to write more quickly and be more productive once I began freelancing.
On the flip side, I HATE the fact that I have student loans. It’s a huge financial investment, and it’s annoying when you’re in class with students whose parents pay for everything. And in some cases having an upper level degree was a liability- “hmm, you’re 23 with a Master’s and virtually no “real-world” work experience, we have nothing for you, you’re not qualified for the job because you have no work experience/you’re overqualified for the job because you have an upper level degree.” That’s why I’m now self-employed:)
My BS was in Chemistry and Biology, so my university education has no direct bearing on my success as a writer. But I live in a degree-driven society and I do occassionally wonder if I would be a better writer if I studied journalism/English lit at university. I had to invest a lot of time proving to prospective employers that I could do the job and I don’t think journ graduates had to do it to the same extent. I caught a break when one director made it known he was not necessarily looking for an MA; he’d just fired one who had the paper but could not deliver and he wanted results.
I came to the realization getting my Bachelors in English was nothing but a waste of time and money about the time I started my senior year of college. You can’t get a job with one, at least not here in the Tennessee Valley. I’d probably be more marketable in my home area if I’d kept the Chemistry major, but then again, klutz that I am, I probably would have tripped while carrying volatile chemicals and blown myself up by now.
I have a degree in English, with an emphasis on writing. In my case, my degree was vital to getting jobs in publishing. The beauty of my degree is that I could be flexible and creative. It also taught me a lot about the business of writing. I didn’t begin to freelance until many years later, but I had the tools and the experience in the writing business that let me hit the ground running.
Do I think the degree is necessary? No. Do I think the degree can help your writing career? Yes indeed. I know a lot of people who got off to fantastic starts because of the contacts they made in college.
What I always hated, though, is the attitude of a lot of people in the hard sciences or technology fields who think an English degree is for those who “can’t cut it in a ‘real’ major” or it’s so easy that “even an engineer can make a career writing.” (No offense to the engineers — but I live with one and spend a lot of time with them. And this is the type of stuff they say to me all the time.) English is a hard major. Not only are you judged on your technical skills, but you have to get past the personal biases of the professors.
Maybe I’d be more successful if I’d pursued a degree in journalism, but then again maybe not. I’ve never had a writing client ask about my education. The one big client I’ve ever had ask for a formal resume got as far as the law firm I worked at, asked if it was more like Ally McBeal or Devil’s Advocate, and told me I had the gig.
Sue,
I’ll have to disagree with you slightly Sue. I live with an engineer too, and I don’t get those comments. For whatever reason, my husband happens to be a really good writer too.
And it took me a while to settle on my major (Psychology undergrad), so I spent time taking upper level courses in many disciplines, and I don’t think any one major is any easier or harder than any other major. The science types who insist their major is THE hardest, are really just ego-cases who aren’t passionate about science, but want whatever perceived status they think a science career will bring.
And I agree with A.B.-I broke way too many beakers to consider a career in science.
A.B., it makes me a little sad that you think getting a degree in English is a waste of time. I think, unless you’re doing it to be an English teacher, it’s a leap of faith type of degree. It’s the type of degree you get when you go to college to learn, not just to get a job.
I had no idea there were so many English majors around here. : )
You can’t be an English teacher with just a Bachelors in English. You need a BSED for English. I didn’t say they were always a waste of time, but that it was for me. There’s not a lot you can do with one, in my local area, unless you want to jump on the sinking ship of newspapers.
Oh, I loved the learning, but it hasn’t done me any good in way of landing gainful employment. This is an R&D town. The only publisher in a fifty mile radius is full up with less than a dozen people on staff. Besides, after nine months without a single bite from anyone not wanting morally questionable work, I’m beginning to think Mom was right about my chances of ever making it as a writer. So, it’s likely not the degree but my apparent lack of talent that’s the issue.
Truman Capote is one of my favorite writers. Truman Capote didn’t go to college. He believed “you’re either a writer or you’re not.” I do too.
I have a degree in Biology and while it may not contribute to my being a good writer, it certainly has helped me choose my niche and sharpen my skills.
I live in a degree-driven society. For someone without a college degree to be successful in any field here, years of sweat and blood are necessary.
I have had another writer question my abilities before just because I didn’t study Journalism or creative writing in college. She said not because someone has a keyboard, one is a writer.
While I do agree that not everyone can write, getting a related degree doesn’t mean you can automatically become a good writer. There are many journalism, English, and Creative Writing graduates who can’t even come up with decent pieces (no offense to those who hold said degrees).
So in essence, do I think a degree is needed to become a good writer? Definitely NOT. I could study the technicalities of the English language on my own. Do I think having a degree helps? Yes, I do. Especially in finding a job because the science graduate that I am, no newspapers and mags have been willing to hire me. But that’s why I’m working as a freelancer right now — to build a portfolio. A portfolio, I believe, speaks in volumes.
So in essence, do I think a degree is needed to become a good writer? Definitely NOT. I could study the technicalities of the English language on my own.
I forgot to say, I don’t think flawless grammar makes a good piece. it’s the angle and the story which makes it one. Grammar only serves as a polisher. Just my 2 cents.
A.B.- I live about 10 miles from you, and I will certainly agree that there aren’t many jobs around here that call for an English degree. Of course, this is a weird area and anyone who isn’t an engineer has trouble. I do know two people around here who have English degrees, though, and I think it’s helped them. There aren’t any jobs for the major, per se, but it helps them be taken more seriously for other types of interviews. I think it’s possible to make a lot more with a degree, even if the job doesn’t specifically call for your major.
This is a sore point for me lately now that my student loans are due.
I think colleges, career counselors, etc. need to start being more realistic when they speak with high school juniors and seniors. The sentiment in my high school was that you’d end up working at McDonald’s if you didn’t go to college. Then in college, everyone went on about how we’d make so much money when we had our degrees.
Now that I actually work FT, I’ve come to a few realizations:
1) My college coursework did not prepare me very much to actually work in my field (HR). I learned some theory that sounds good to spout off at interviews, but real practical skills were something I had to get on-the-job training for.
2) There are a lot of smart people who could not afford college who are being held back because they don’t have that piece of paper. If we did more employment testing and focused on those practical results rather than degrees, I think we’d have more qualified people doing certain jobs.
3) There are a lot of people who have degrees that cannot use a comma appropriately or write a business report to save their lives. Being a college grad doesn’t automatically make you successful. It is just one piece of the pie.
If I’d like to see my name on paper, it’d be for an article I wrote
Do you need a degree to be a writer? Hell, no. I was a writer before, during and after I got my bachelor’s in math, and it didn’t have an effect as far as I could tell. Virtually all of my writing gigs, except the ones that are subject-specific, I snagged through my own ability. School sharpened my skills and knowledge in some areas, but those could have been done through other means. Now, getting regular jobs, that’s what the degree was useful for; it opens doors, and the training I got in college helped with many aspects of working life. I’m glad I went to college because what I learned there was invaluable, but for what I’m doing now, it was probably superfluous. Then again, it’s easier to pick up words like “superfluous” in college.
Reminds me of what an interviewer once told a 30-year-old guy who just finished his PhD but no job experience:
“You’re overeducated and underskilled!”
I agree with those who have said a degree is useful for getting your foot in the door. I think if you are just starting out with no experience, the next thing clients look for on your resume is a degree. However, I think if you have the experience and the portfolio, most of them really couldn’t care less whether you have a degree.
As to whether 18-year-olds know what they want to be when they grow up — I think Ann is right, some do and some don’t. Eighteen is an arbitrarily decided age for legal adulthood — just because teens are legally adults at 18 doesn’t mean they have the mental capacity to make decisions like one. The human brain does not actually finish maturing until the early to mid twenties. Of course, there are always kids who mature faster than others, which is why I agree with Ann — some know what they want to do, and some don’t.
To add personal experience to this comment, I knew throughout my teenage years that I wanted to be a writer. I remember completely frustrating teachers and guidance counselors when I tried to refuse to take yet another career aptitude test, saying I already knew what I wanted to do. Nevertheless, I eventually caved under the pressure and abandoned my dream.
Of course, what that meant was that I abandoned college, too — not what the well-meaning adults intended, I’m sure. I worked full-time for four years before realizing that minimum wage jobs were NOT my cup of tea. I went back to school, and hey presto! — within a year I had found my way back to an English major, and a year after that I was again leaning towards becoming a writer.
Obviously, I was right when I said as a teen that I knew what I wanted to be. But my point is that I didn’t yet have the maturity to make a decision and stick with it. Many teens feel inclined toward any number of things, but I don’t think that necessarily means they have the capability yet to make a final decision of that magnitude.
A.B., I was an English teacher with just a BA in English. You just have to get a teaching certificate as well. But I didn’t get a BSED. Yes, it was a public school in Tennessee.
I know you weren’t saying the degree is a waste of time for everyone, but I think you’ll learn it wasn’t a waste of time for you either. People really respect English degrees. I’ve had a lot of different jobs and that degree has helped me with them all.
Don’t give up! Maybe try another job while you write on the side, but
don’t give up. Lots of writers have had and still have non-writing jobs.
AB, just looked at your resume. I thought you were from TN, so maybe the teaching thing is different in your state.