English Lit Degrees

Hii, I'm in school still and I'm planning on doing an English degree at Uni... It's been my life-long passion and I cannot wait to simply devour books every week...

For those people who have studied or are currently studying Lit and Uni, where did you study, what's your day-to-day like and what are you currently doing with your degree aka. Jobs/what are you planning on doing with your degree?

Thank you

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Bear in mind a degree in English lit a degree in literary analysis, not a degree in reading!

That aside, English lit grads can apply to the same generalist grad schemes as any other graduate - be they in the civil service, banking, accountancy, the media, various managerial grad schemes in various industries, law, etc, etc. Also of course teaching is an option, and if you do very well potentially continuing in academia.

I suspect the majority of an English lit degree will involve reading the source texts, reading secondary literature on those, writing essays about them and preparing to discuss the texts and analyse them critically in group settings in seminars/tutorials etc. That's pretty common for humanities degrees in general, obviously just the primary/source texts you read will be literary works principally in this case :smile:

Reply 2

UniofReading

Official Rep

Hi there @ilks ,

It is great to hear that you plan to study English Literature at uni - it is a great subject to study! While I am studying International Development at the University of Reading, I can share some insights into university life which may be similar to studying English 🙂

It is likely that you will spend your time in a mix of lectures, seminars and independent reading. Seminar discussions are a great way to debate themes, explore different interpretations of what you are studying and share ideas with other students on the course! It is also likely that you will have a set reading list with 'essential' and 'recommended' reading. This will allow you to immerse yourself in lots of different academic writing. As with all degrees, there will also likely be an element of independent study, with work such as essay writing and preparing for different lectures/seminars and engaging with the reading.

If you want to read further into the structure and outline of BA English Literature at the University of Reading, you can do so here.
If you want to chat to one of our student ambassadors studying English Literature you can find this here. 🙂

I hope this information helps and if you do have any more questions about student life at Reading, then feel free to let us know! We are happy to help!

All the best,
Millie 🙂
BSc International Development

Reply 3

ilks

Original post by UniofReading

Hi there @ilks ,
It is great to hear that you plan to study English Literature at uni - it is a great subject to study! While I am studying International Development at the University of Reading, I can share some insights into university life which may be similar to studying English 🙂
It is likely that you will spend your time in a mix of lectures, seminars and independent reading. Seminar discussions are a great way to debate themes, explore different interpretations of what you are studying and share ideas with other students on the course! It is also likely that you will have a set reading list with 'essential' and 'recommended' reading. This will allow you to immerse yourself in lots of different academic writing. As with all degrees, there will also likely be an element of independent study, with work such as essay writing and preparing for different lectures/seminars and engaging with the reading.
If you want to read further into the structure and outline of BA English Literature at the University of Reading, you can do so here.
If you want to chat to one of our student ambassadors studying English Literature you can find this here. 🙂
I hope this information helps and if you do have any more questions about student life at Reading, then feel free to let us know! We are happy to help!
All the best,
Millie 🙂
BSc International Development

Thank you

this was very helpful... It sounds great!!

Your degree sounds interesting what sort of careers does a degree in International Development draw you into?

Reply 4

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by ilks

Thank you

this was very helpful... It sounds great!!
Your degree sounds interesting what sort of careers does a degree in International Development draw you into?

Good evening @ilks

Millie's degree has plenty of job options once she graduates. Some of these include working in lower-income countries as relief aid, helping these countries become more connected, and increasing education, healthcare, and quality of life standards. Or Millie could choose to work in the UK for business to help them connect with international business and people abroad. The degree has many pathways that can be undertaken, but there is no set career path; after graduation, it will be down to the individual student. This is similar to many degrees in higher education, allowing students to gain a degree but not restrict themselves to one career.

More information about international development and aid can be found here.

I hope this helps answer your question. If you have any more questions, please let us know.

All the best,
Ella 😀
BSc Ecology

Reply 5

PG Study Chester

Official Rep

Original post by ilks

Hii, I'm in school still and I'm planning on doing an English degree at Uni... It's been my life-long passion and I cannot wait to simply devour books every week...
For those people who have studied or are currently studying Lit and Uni, where did you study, what's your day-to-day like and what are you currently doing with your degree aka. Jobs/what are you planning on doing with your degree?
Thank you

Hello! I’m so pleased you want to study English lit at university, it’s so much fun and you will really enjoy it :grin:

I was an English undergrad at Aberystwyth University and I think we followed the same sort of day to day teaching routine most other institutions use.
Every term we did a core module eg. Nineteenth century lit, and then chose 2 option modules. We had a lecture and seminar a week for the core module and a long seminar a week for the option. In between we needed to read the set texts ready for the following week, as well as journal articles and other secondary texts our tutors gave us ready to discuss in the following weeks class. We would be set tasks to prepare during the week to get ready for class discussion in the seminar.

Each module was assessed by an essay and for the core modules we also had an end of term exam.

After I graduated I did a law conversion course and worked for a few years as a solicitor, in my spare time doing a masters in English with the OU. I know a few people who went into the law after an English degree so that is a career option. However, it wasn’t for me and after doing another masters degree in nineteenth century English at university of Chester, I’m now doing a PhD which I absolutely love and it was the best decision I ever made.

English doesn’t have as much face to face teaching as some of he other subjects, but it has a lot of self study and reading which you obviously enjoy.

Chester has an open day on January 18th, why not come along and you can speak to English staff about the courses on offer?

Good luck with your studies.
Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Reply 6

ilks

Original post by PG Study Chester

Hello! I’m so pleased you want to study English lit at university, it’s so much fun and you will really enjoy it :grin:

I was an English undergrad at Aberystwyth University and I think we followed the same sort of day to day teaching routine most other institutions use.
Every term we did a core module eg. Nineteenth century lit, and then chose 2 option modules. We had a lecture and seminar a week for the core module and a long seminar a week for the option. In between we needed to read the set texts ready for the following week, as well as journal articles and other secondary texts our tutors gave us ready to discuss in the following weeks class. We would be set tasks to prepare during the week to get ready for class discussion in the seminar.
Each module was assessed by an essay and for the core modules we also had an end of term exam.
After I graduated I did a law conversion course and worked for a few years as a solicitor, in my spare time doing a masters in English with the OU. I know a few people who went into the law after an English degree so that is a career option. However, it wasn’t for me and after doing another masters degree in nineteenth century English at university of Chester, I’m now doing a PhD which I absolutely love and it was the best decision I ever made.
English doesn’t have as much face to face teaching as some of he other subjects, but it has a lot of self study and reading which you obviously enjoy.
Chester has an open day on January 18th, why not come along and you can speak to English staff about the courses on offer?
Good luck with your studies.
Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Thank you for your reply, that sounds wonderful... What are you doing a PhD in out of interest?... Will you be going into academia?

Reply 7

PG Study Chester

Official Rep

Original post by ilks

Thank you for your reply, that sounds wonderful... What are you doing a PhD in out of interest?... Will you be going into academia?

Hi ilks,

My PhD is based on Emile Zola’s series of novels called Rougon Macquart which he wrote in the late nineteenth century. I’m looking at how he explored the concept of the human unconscious desires emerging to the conscious as a result of all the ‘modernising going on around them, basically what capitalism did to the human. It’s rooted in the nineteenth century, as that’s my area, but I consider the burgeoning emergence of the modern world, if that makes sense! It’s quite interdisciplinary. And although he’s a French author I’m using English translations and a lot of my ideas could be seen in English writers too, I just love Zola though!

As for what to do with it, I’m not sure academia would be great, but I think I will have to wait and see the condition of humanities departments and if it improves when it’s finished, I would like to be an independent researcher and write my own books and papers.

If there anything else I can help with, just ask!
Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Reply 8

pogipopxx222

Original post by ilks

Hii, I'm in school still and I'm planning on doing an English degree at Uni... It's been my life-long passion and I cannot wait to simply devour books every week...
For those people who have studied or are currently studying Lit and Uni, where did you study, what's your day-to-day like and what are you currently doing with your degree aka. Jobs/what are you planning on doing with your degree?
Thank you

Tbh I didn't purse a degree in English because the job market is terrible and I didn't want to consume everything in the name of syllabus. I prefer old English litrature like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde etc etc but I don't think it can make me enough money. And I'm not even from UK. So I just couldn't. Btw I want to do masters/PhD in English though.