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English and Philosophy

I'm currently trying to work out what to study at uni. For the last few years, I've been saying I'll study English and Philosophy. I love both subjects, and would hate to stop studying either. However, recently I've been a bit uncertain.

Firstly, I'm worried that I won't enjoy English that much. I adore reading, it's my favourite thing in the world. I'm just not that sure about studying it for three/four years. Ideally, I would do a major in Philosophy, and a minor in English. I write, and I think studying English would be really great for that. But... I'm just not so sure. Would really like to hear some views from people who have studied English/English and Philosophy.

Secondly, I have no idea what I want to do as a career. What kind of jobs could I get with this degree?

Thirdly, I've heard from a few people that a dual-degree is a lot of work. Is it worth the time + hard work, or would it be better to pick one subject?

Finally, I've been interested in doing a Liberal Arts degree (particularly, the one offered at Exeter). It would allow me to do Philosophy as a major, and English as a minor (as I mentioned wanting to do above). However, I haven't heard much about them. They're very popular in the USA, but I was wondering what they're like over here? Are they well regarded by employers? Are they a better option than a dual-degree?

Thank you and sorry for such a long post.

Reply 1

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by burningred

1. I study both as a joint honor. I contemplated doing a major/minor but I don't think there was any point - I wanted to get my money's worth! There's a LOT of reading for both subjects, like a lot! So much you could literally read forever on just one topic within either subjects! Sometimes, I get sick of reading, but always pick up a book outside my course list and that often reminds me of why I applied to study the subjects in the first place. Philosophy is way harder though, although I get better marks in Philosophy the content of it so much harder but writing style is so much easier than English Lit. It's way too technical and precise. But that's just me and my lazy attitude to not improve.

2. I think your career is a good start to look into what degree you want to do. But if you can't think of what you want to do after your degree, I say still study it cause if you love it, then you won't ever stop imo. You might end up doing a postgrad. Uni these days are more about transferable skills. If you don't want to work in the domain of teaching, media, publishing, editorial, human resources (the list goes on) then it really doesn't matter.

3. It is a lot harder because you have to constantly switch between the two - they're very different subjects and require "two train of thoughts". You have to think, write and evaluate differently from the two and separating both can be very mentally draining. And there's SO MUCH reading that really does get you physically imo. I think joints gives you different skills - it teaches you how to think differently about many different things.

4. Liberal Arts is literally a pointless degree. You are most likely have to pick a lot of different subjects; modules from Music, Geography, History, English Lit, Drama, etc. It's all spaced out and I wouldn't recommend it to be honest. I say just either do a single honor or joint honor degree instead.