Is it worth studying English Literature at university?

I'm in year 12, so finishing school next year, and I wanted to study English Literature (possibly combined with psychology) at university but I keep seeing people say that it's a useless degree, that you can't get any well paying job with it Etc. Etc. I've seen the same being said about psychology. Is it worth studying those subjects?

I'm in year 12, so finishing school next year, and I wanted to study English Literature (possibly combined with psychology) at university but I keep seeing people say that it's a useless degree, that you can't get any well paying job with it Etc. Etc. I've seen the same being said about psychology. Is it worth studying those subjects?

Don't listen to those people at all! I feel like society has basically conditioned us to believe that any career in STEM is one that everyone should want to pursue and careers in humanity subjects or subjects like Psychology aren't worth studying which I don't believe to be true whatsoever. I myself thought that I wanted a career in science and my parents and school pushed me to do it but then when I thought about what I genuinely would enjoy doing with my life I realised that studying English Lit was what I wanted to do

There are many different career paths you could go down with Psychology as there are many different branches of Psychology so you could choose to go down any path really. You could get a general Psychology degree and then focus more specifically on forensic psychology for example and then that opens up careers there for you. The same with English I know that with that degree you could go into marketing, publishing, writing for a company (newspapers perhaps?) or you could go into teaching. Maybe doing some research into different careers and what the job is like on a day-to-day basis might help you decide what you think would be more suitable for you.

Just because jobs in STEM are becoming increasingly popular doesn't mean that we should forget about the other important parts of society such as Psychology and English which are both so valuable. I think focusing on what will make you happy in the future is the most important thing <3

i am somewhat of an old sage on this topic!

basically, the more 'useless' your degree is, the more work experience you need on your CV to make it worth your time. so an English lit degree IS worth it... but only if you have lots of work experience. it doesn't have to be prestigious internships, just weekend/part time/summer jobs. you need to show employers that you have skills outside of academia