Writing Careers

Like many impressionable teens, I looked to those closest to me and thought I’d emulate them. My aunt helped to found a series of early education centers in disadvantaged communities and also teaches early education, so I thought to follow in her steps.

Undergrad rolled around, and I worked part time in her centers and served as a counselor for an elementary after-school program. While I love the kiddies, I learned the space wasn’t for me.

I decided to take an exploratory semester in college and enrolled in courses that looked incredible. Cue English literature. I met an inspired professor who lit up in the classroom, and I knew I wanted to do something with writing and expression, so I continued tweaking my education from there.

I don’t hail any one major as superior simply because so much of success stems from what a student puts into their academic experience.

However, the humanities and social sciences are unique because these majors are about people: how we interact in the world, see ourselves and others, and therefore how we understand one another or wage war on one another. These disciplines think critically about who we are.

At their best, they nudge us to become better versions of ourselves as they demand us to question past and present actions to do better in constructing the future. In college, the future stares right back at us, and we decide how to conduct ourselves in the world as we model how to do just that.

Whether we consider history, politics, literature, social work, or economics, all of these majors teach transferable skills, tools for innovation, adaptability, and critical thinking. These sound like fun, common buzzwords, but when we consider what we ask our students to accomplish in writing and sociology, we ask them to gaze upon the world as one huge Rubik’s Cube that will never be solved.

But the play is not to solve it. It’s to understand intellectually and psychologically the impact each move makes on the next. These majors are a mirror image of our world, and we demand students to acknowledge their place within the world and what contributions they will make.

I mean, which time? I never had a perfect plan, which is why I empathize with my students about selecting a major, which is so daunting, and then assure them that if they pursue intellectual curiosity, connection, and collaboration in college (both within and beyond the classroom), the least formative aspect about their future may be what major they selected.

After completing my BA in English, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, so I went straight to graduate school.

While completing an MA in English at NYU, I took internships in the marketing department of Workman Publishing and also interned for the editorial team of the Spanish-language Reader’s Digest: Selecciones. I loved the classroom, but I couldn’t remain a student forever.

I considered publishing, taught at a community college, and, honestly, all of my experiences were so incredibly rich and would have taken me different directions. Ultimately, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in literature. When I graduated, I decided not to go on the typical job market track that all of my peers opted for.

I am super fortunate to have been invited to remain at the University of Miami as faculty and have been there ever since. However, four years ago, I launched my own business — Write Your Acceptance, Inc. — working with students on college application essays. So I hear the major angst from both my freshmen at UM and my high school juniors and seniors!

Founding WYA, I have discovered entrepreneurial muscles I had never flexed in my life. I have learned marketing, business operations, how to build a website, and minimal coding. It took me saying “yes” to a lot of things beyond my comfort zone to meticulously build my career. It is not for everyone, but it is right for me.

This is the ultimate takeaway I hope every student who I work with, teach, and inspire holds dear. Or like they say, “do you” — academically, professionally, and personally.

Teaching can seem like a natural fit. However, I have peers on alumni boards who are all English majors, and each one followed a different career path. From financial analysts to lawyers and journalists, I hear it all.

I teach because the classroom is an intellectually sacred space. There’s a sense of respect for truths that have been stumbled upon and grappled with for decades, if not centuries, in the very same spaces we frequent.

To teach is to share with the next generation my love of questioning, reasoning, and pushing boundaries. I strive to instill that learning is never-ending for the rest of your life, and those lessons make you stronger, kinder, and wiser — and that the alternative is never better.

Usually, the alternative comes when we approach learning as transactional and not as innate as breathing and something we need to be.

Selecting a major should be a dynamic decision. It’s a choice that students make every day, every time they attend a course, every time they finish a project or complete a requirement. It’s not just a one-time deal.

Therefore, yes, they should investigate their passion and see “what they are good at” as they apply to colleges and declare majors. Most schools now ask students to pre-declare or at least select a school when applying.

However, my main advice to students is twofold: know that the major is but one fraction of the educational equation. Make sure you assume an active role in your learning. Find internships or service learning or even civic engagement experiences to participate in. Sometimes these moments of growth may ignite a fire you didn’t know existed.

Also, be comfortable knowing that the major you declare may not be your final major. Once you declare your major and when you chat with your advisor, don’t only enroll for the next semester. Construct a wide-reaching plan where you consider multidisciplinary courses and service learning projects where you get out into the broader communities and serve others, blending heart and intellect.

Connected to the previous advice, I always tell students that it’s not an all-or-nothing game. Therefore, if students are STEM-oriented and they want to pursue engineering, great — but also take courses in other disciplines.

Similarly, when students tell me they want to pursue a degree in the humanities or social sciences, I tell them that those courses will be easy to locate and take. Now, find courses that push you beyond your expected limitations, go out and question something, learn something you think you’ll never use, and see how it enriches your experience.

In an increasingly segregated political climate, humanities and social sciences courses allow students a space to learn to disagree without feeling attacked.

To thrive in diverse professional spaces, learners should develop comfort with knowing how to express their opinions and how to counter an argument, all while preserving a level of decorum and dignity.

However, these are not the only places students can find this. I urge students to find pockets of community where they can exercise this skill in a respectful and enriching manner.