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Five Bad Reasons to Earn a Master’s Degree in English

June 13, 2012 Posted by Josh Boldt under Adjunct Professors, Education, Graduate School, Work, Writing
25 Comments

I have a feeling some people are not going to like this post. Think of it as tough love. Let me start by saying it’s not my objective to discourage everyone from going to graduate school or from pursuing a dream of earning a master’s degree in English. Not at all. All I want to do is share my experience in an effort to convince you to think before you apply. On that note, here are

Five Bad Reasons to Earn a Master’s Degree in English:

1. You Love Books and Reading

The number one reason not to get a master’s degree in English is sadly the most popular reason people choose to do it. Look, I love books and reading, too. In fact, that is one of the primary reasons I went to graduate school, which is exactly why I’m qualified to discourage you from it. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a good reason to spend years of your life broke and mentally exhausted. You do not have to pay for the privilege of studying literature. Start a book club, join Goodreads, dive into the major criticism databases like MLA and JSTOR. These are all things you can do to cultivate your love of reading. Right now. For free.

“But I won’t get to study with knowledgeable professors who can mentor me.” True. I don’t deny that, but my point is that this alone is not a good enough reason to pursue a master’s degree in English. Besides, it’s possible to engage with experts outside of academia. Many experts maintain blogs and Twitter accounts. If you are truly passionate and you possess a voracious appetite for knowledge, you can get people’s attention. Besides, a true student of literature will only get out what he or she puts in anyway, whether a physical classroom is involved or not.

2. You Want to Be a Professor

If you’ve done any research about the prospect of professor jobs, this one should be pretty obvious. If you haven’t done any research, stop reading right now and do some. You might start with the Adjunct Project, where you will find thousands of reasons why your hopes of getting a job as a college professor are grim. In my last post, I mentioned that my plan was to take my master’s degree in English and teach at a community college. Ten years ago, that might have been an option. Now, it is not.

The job market is such that community college teaching positions are now getting hundreds of applicants who hold PhD’s. A master’s degree in English will put you towards the bottom of the stack. Your best hope is an adjunct teaching position where you will have no job security from semester to semester, have no health insurance, and you will probably make somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 a year teaching full-time.

3. You Want to Be a Writer/Editor

Bad reasons to earn a master's degree in English

I’ll admit this one is not so cut and dry. Will you become a better writer in an English graduate program? Absolutely. No doubt about it. The question, though, is will you become a Writer in an English graduate program? The answer is probably not. Anyone can write—especially someone with a master’s degree in English. But not many can get paid to write. That’s the distinction. The prospect of becoming a successful writer is even less likely than the prospect of becoming a college professor. Millions of people want it; only a few thousand will get it.

As for editing . . .what would you say is the most common fallback career aspiration for hopeful writers (besides teaching)? If you answered editing, pat yourself on the back. Don’t get me wrong. There are lots of editing positions out there, but they generally go to people who have trained to be editors. They’ve done internships and they know people. It’s not likely that you’ll land an editing job just because you have a master’s degree in English. If this is truly your dream job, make sure you network a lot and find a grad school that offers internship opportunities.

The best way to become a writer is to become a writer. Practice. Start a blog and hone your skills; find your voice. Here again, you can be a writer (even a successful one) without an MA.

4. The Job Market is Bad, So You Are Going To Wait It Out

News Flash: The job market for humanities degrees has never been great and probably never will be. Two or three more years isn’t going to change that. On the other end of your master’s, you will just have two less years of actual work experience, which is what actually gets you the job. You have to start somewhere, somehow. If you don’t have a clear objective in your graduate studies, you’re really just biding your time.

5. You Just Finished a Bachelor’s Degree And You Aren’t Sure What Else To Do

Really? Is this a joke? It’s amazing how many people in my master’s program gave this as a response for why they were there. Graduate school is not the best place to screw around and figure it out. Go live in another country, teach abroad, stay at home and work on a novel, whatever. But don’t spend years in a program without any direction, blowing your money and squandering your creativity just because you “don’t know what else to do.”

I’m convinced these are some of the major reasons the job market is flooded with humanities degrees right now, which has created the climate out of which rampant adjunct exploitation has grown. Too many people continued down a path because no one shook them and said: What are you thinking? What do you want? What’s your plan? Check out Karen Kelsky’s blog The Professor Is In for more on this topic.

Just to be clear, I am not one of those people who always thinks you need to have a plan. In fact, I generally hate those people. All I’m saying is a master’s degree in English (or in any humanities field) is not something you should do without a very good reason. You will probably end up two years later in the exact same boat, only this time with a bunch of debt and two less years of real work experience. In my next post, I’ll explore some of the good reasons to get a master’s degree in English (there actually are a couple). Check back soon or subscribe to my blog to make sure you don’t miss it.

See Also:

Five Good Reasons to Earn a Master’s Degree in English

Why Did I Get a Master’s Degree in English?

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  • http://hamsterdiaries.wordpress.com chaoticscribbles

    I was tempted at one point to go down the English university route. Glad I didn’t now :P

  • http://erinenunnally.wordpress.com erinlizzie

    Hey Josh – First of all, I’m sorry I missed your message on Twitter the other day! How was DC?

    Second, I’m relieved to find that I don’t really fit into these categories, although I did declare English as a major in undergrad so that I could go to law school, and that has yet to happen.

    As an adjunct, I can add to reason number three by saying that in Virginia at least, you must hold a Master’s degree plus a minimum of 18 additional credits to even apply for a full time position at a community college (I teach at one). This of course leaves the rest of us running around the city from one school to another, spending most of our income on commuting and Starbucks. I have been fortunate enough to teach online occasionally – a nice option as I can work from home and eliminate the commute. Unfortunately, while there is a growing number of online options, as an adjunct, those classes are not guaranteed from one semester to the next either!

    -Erin

    • http://orderofeducation.com Josh Boldt

      Ah, your law school plan is nice foreshadowing for my next post. ;)

      I’ve never heard the MA+18 requirement. That’s even more evidence that teaching with a master’s is not an option, unless one is planning to go on to a PhD.

      Regarding my trip, maybe I’ll catch you next time.

  • http://elisamichelle.wordpress.com/ Elisa Nuckle

    I was going to get a masters because of numbers 1, 2, and 5, haha. And reading this makes me realize how silly my attitude is. Fortunately, I’m still in undergrad school, so I’m trying to figure all this stuff out. Ideally, I’d like to be a writer and do well, but the odds of that are slim. I don’t know, jobs are confusing.

    • http://orderofeducation.com Josh Boldt

      Elisa,

      Just to reiterate my preface to this post, it’s definitely not my intention to discourage everyone from going to graduate school. There is no question that I am a better writer, researcher, thinker, and person as a result of my graduate studies. All I want to do is put the advice out there I wish I had gotten before I began. Namely, an MA in English does not automatically set you up for a job. I had it in my head that I would walk right into a CC teaching job after graduation. Part of that was naivete and part of it was just not having access to the resources I needed to make an informed decision.

      I think the important thing to keep in mind is if you decide to go for a master’s degree, make sure you know exactly why you are doing it, and while you’re working on it, be conscious of the decisions you make and how those decisions might prepare you to maximize your time and money. In other words, know your end goal and work towards it, rather than just kind of coasting through the MA and then getting surprised at the end when you realize you still can’t get a job. That’s pretty much what happened to me and I wanted to share it as a cautionary tale. Whatever you decide, feel free to keep in touch.

      -Josh

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  • http://servingjoyfully.com Crystal Brothers

    Where were you a few years ago when I started my master’s program??? Oh yeah, you were there too :) . I probably wouldn’t have listened anyway.

    I have to say that I wasn’t entirely in this category…I was also in the category 5 from the “good reasons” list, because I’m a stay-at-home mom, and that’s what I plan to be for a good long while.

    However, I could have avoided lots of debt had I avoided my unnecessary graduate school…but debt is a whole other topic.

    Live and learn, right?

    • http://orderofeducation.com Josh Boldt

      Live and learn, indeed. I probably wouldn’t have listened either, but I think I might have been a little more active about planning my post-grad school strategy. I could have done more to maximize the value of my degree if I had been more proactive while I was working on it.

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  • http://misfortuneofknowing.wordpress.com A.M.B.

    Great advice, especially #2. I see academia from the perspective of Title VII and Title IX suits. It’s a horrible place to be if you want to teach. Universities are large corporations run by business people, not academics. They do not care about exploiting professors and are happy to get rid of tenure and benefits.

    • http://orderofeducation.com Josh Boldt

      Thanks. You pretty much summed up all of my current research and publications at the Adjunct Project in two sentences. :)

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  • smbova@gmail.com

    I have one semester left until I obtain my Master’s Degree in English Lit.
    I have 4 years of work experience in addition to this degree (and my BA) that SHOULD be helpful . . .
    I am a graduate assistant, love the teaching and the students, but never planned on going on for my PhD (being forced to “critically” write and compete for tenure and become a cranky, disenchanted and negative grump about younger generations and life [gross generalization, but you know what I mean]-not for me).
    I would love something more stable than an adjunct position (didn’t do my research before going back to school and am very surprised about how different academia is only five little years since I was last a student!) and all of my publishing/literary agency queries aren’t going very well.
    I love reading and books [sigh at your reason #1].
    I am 28.
    I am freaking out. :)
    But thank you for this blog! It’s nice to know we’re not alone!
    Love the whole blog, actually, and I’m glad to have stumbled across it . . . even if reading this entry gave me a slight panic attack :)

    Cheers

    • Josh Boldt

      Thanks! Glad I could offer a brief respite from the freakout.
      I’m sure you’ll be fine–it sounds like you are putting a lot of thought into the search process, which is more than most people are willing to do. Good luck and let us know if you land a good job. I’m sure my other readers would be happy to hear a success story.

  • Jacob

    Josh that is exactly why I did not pursue my MA in English or any humanities. What I did was take a year off and struggle to find a job where I was happy and content and I did not find that at all. I hold two degrees English and Mexican American Studies. I evaluated my life goals what did I want to accomplish, where did my life goals lead? All of these questions I researched just like I would normally have done for a paper and it led me to discover that there was a great program graduate program for me. This program is a masters in public administration. It holds the same credibility of an MBA but it focuses in on a social good for the community and world rather than a capitalist agenda. I applied and got accepted and I am happy, no ecstatic in knowing that this is going to grow my career and give me the growth that I have been looking for. Great article.

  • JamR

    I wish I had read this before I completed my English MA. It was wasted time that could have been spent getting some work experience or pursuing a useful vocational qualification. I’m 28 with very little work experience, competing for low income jobs with people who never graduated from High School. What now!?

    • Josh Boldt

      JamR,

      That’s exactly the same situation I was in, except I was 31. I’ve been applying to all kinds of different jobs for the past two years. Not much luck yet. Thankfully, I found a decent adjunct teaching job in Georgia, so I moved. Adjuncting is a short term fix though, of course.

      One thing I can say is, since writing this piece, I’ve come to terms more with my master’s degree. When I first graduated, I resented it and was angry with myself. I don’t feel that way as much anymore. But I still wish I had gotten involved in an internship of some kind earlier in life. As you pointed out, competing for entry-level positions in my mid-thirties is pretty disheartening.

      Two things I’ve learned that might be worth something. One is the strong connections you can make volunteering. Maybe look into that, even if it’s just a couple hours a week. And second, over these past two years I’ve been trying to write cover letters and design my r

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  • Dc

    I’m finishing a BA in English right now, and I have to say I have not a clue what use it will be to me. People tell me a degree does not go to waste, and maybe it doesn’t, but I don’t know what direct influence it will have on my career path. For teaching and many other jobs it is useful, but I did it without knowing what I should do. It just seemed better than doing nothing. Silly, I know.

    • Josh Boldt

      Dc,

      For what it’s worth, I felt exactly as you do when I finished my BA and I even felt it again when I finished my MA. I can say though with complete certainty that you have gained more valuable life skills from your English degree than most of your peers in other majors.

      The trouble is learning how to translate those skills to the rest of the world. As English majors, we aren’t trained to “sell ourselves” to the working world (nor do we generally want to). We kind of get tossed out there and have to learn it ourselves.

      But your skills as a writer and communicator are extremely valuable as long as you recognize it, have confidence in yourself, and are willing to do a little self-promotion.

      We take a little longer to get around to it, but if/when we come into our own, English majors have the potential to be successful in almost any field.

  • greg

    So an ma in literature is useless and worthless? That’s good to know I guess, except I really like that stuff. I like learning, maybe not so much trying to force a book through my head for every Thursday, but getting info about different cultures. Actually, if I think about it, the best classes I had were nothing to do with english: postmodernism, early greek and roman tragedy, one class where I got to read iliad, odyssey, aenid–which wasn’t an english class. Actually, most of my english major peers, as well as creative writing peers were a bunch of boners who didn’t care. Actually, now that I recall, I despised most literature professors and treasured my writing rhetoric profs, loved my film class, and outside of stuff like st augustine (book about the history of early england) and beowulf, was dead bored in a sea of desperation when it came to my regular english classes.
    I think if I could, id go to school all over again just to continue my education, learning about random stuff that interests me. I just worked for a year in a dead end job as a legal bitch, doing what was mostly glorified data entry. Perhaps I think the real world is depressing, and if there’s any way out, id welcome it. Perhaps I always figured myself a bit of a poet and that avenue was stalled where I went to college. Perhaps english is something I figure myself good enough at to continue, as if there were something there, some talent which I’m grasping at.
    But hey, I’m sure it’s just hours and hours of those horrible classes like literature for women, and a total waste of my money. Suppose I thought it would be cool to know more about keats and stuff, never had no class on no keats be’fo’.

  • LIBARTS

    I was considering a masters in liberal studies but u make it all sound so worthless if it isn’t STEM studies.

    • josh_boldt

      That’s actually not what I mean to say. In fact, I don’t think I even mentioned STEM in the post. I wonder if you might be projecting some anxiety on to my message? It would certainly be a natural response to the uncertainty about graduate studies, so I don’t blame you at all.

      What I’m attempting to argue is that you shouldn’t enter a graduate program without at least a loose plan. Know the job market for your intended degree. Know how much debt you will take on. Know how to maximize your time and money.

      Especially with a degree like liberal studies (very generalized) you should know exactly why the degree will be beneficial to you. If the benefit is simply that you’ll learn a lot and be engaged, that’s fine as long as you are prepared to deal with the consequences of that decision.

      Good luck in your process.