Those of you who earned degrees in literature, philosophy or lit: what are your jobs now?
I have a degree in philosophy and I'm a barista.
>>7893018
I model for mainstream clothes shop catalogues and websites
>>7893018
I teach literature to undergrads at a university. I also do academic research and publish articles. I also fuck around on /lit/ between meetings with my students.
>>7893018
I grade standardized tests. It's a comfy job while still in grad school.
>>7893029
At what point in your academics did you start publishing? How often do you still do conferences?
I am a service delivery manager in telecommunications.
>>7893018
accounting
I majored in English Literature and currently run a rural bank.
>>7893018
Philosophy, currently a bureaucrat at the EU Parliament.Best part is that I'm an American
>>7893053
The article I wrote to complete my MA in English provided the fodder for several conferences within a year of completing it, and it was then also accepted for publication during the first year of my PhD.
These days I typically go to one conference per year, unless there is a compelling reason to go to another. There's little practical gain from attending them, and they've not done much to advance my work, and I don't really enjoy them very much, but it's good to maintain the professional relationships that develop year by year.
>>7893083Post some of your work anon.
>>7893018
I have degrees in both, I'm a lawyer.
>>7893083
Thanks for the answer, anon. I've been mostly doing conferences, though I'm still in my MA. I've got one article in review from my MA thesis; seems like I'm on the track you were on. I'm just always fearing I'm behind and can't seem to find many early career CV's to browse online, so there's no good way to compare besides outright asking (which seems rude in person).
Professional coffee procurer
>>7893091
Sorry, won't do it. I suspect some of my students are here and my job isn't so secure that I want to expose myself here.
Majored in English. Now I'm a railroad conductor.
I have a degree in history and I am in grad school for urban planning
>>7893121
Sounds cool desu. Do you like it? What does it pay? How did you get that job?
>>7893100
Try looking at the faculty listings of departments at different universities. Check out the publication listings of the younger members and compare that to when they completed their degrees. I was surprised to discover that there were plenty of people hired within the last five years or ten years, that didn't have a publication out when they were hired.
The best practical advice that I received was to not worry too much about extracurricular activities and extra training, or even about conferences too much (once a year, right?). One or two publications in good journals is usually sufficient to get a job, depending on the field and where you are willing to go. If you're flexible and willing to move somewhere smallish to start, there are jobs around and it's not as dire as the moaners suggest it is.
Best of luck, anon. What are you studying?
>>7893111Then post some of your students' notable work.
>>7893018
BA history...IT sysadmin
>>7893135
Not a fucking chance. If someone recognized it I would lose my job instantly.
>>7893018
Operations specialist at IBM.
I know several men who are or were partners at Goldman who majored in Classics, literature, history, art history and philosophy. The barista meme is for state school plebs.
>>7893127
I've always thought it didn't look as dire as it's made out to be--I'm reading Karen Kelsky's The Professor is In, and she is almost ridiculous in how much she pushes that you're not going to get an academic job after a PhD. But there are openings at all the universities around me almost constantly, even in English/literature. I guess I don't see how many people are applying, but still. There seem to be a lot. Extra training includes workshops? There are a ton that are interesting to me I've been eyeing, but lodging/travel isn't always covered.
Thank you for the luck, anon. I'm in Japanese literature.
>>7893189
>Extra training includes workshops? There are a ton that are interesting to me I've been eyeing, but lodging/travel isn't always covered.
Yeah, it's a matter of time and expense. My supervisor stressed that doing extra workshops and seminars won't make you more attractive to a hiring committee. But by all means, do what interests you; it's all part of the process of education, right?
>>7893200
Do you think papers published as an undergrad matter at all?
I'm studying history and classics, currently in my third year as an undergrad, and I'm spending a lot of my time rewriting and editing papers to submit to undergrad journals. Usually, it's work that was fine for class that I clean up and try to get published. It's pretty fun, but hugely time consuming, and I'm starting to wonder if it would mean anything applying to PhD programs/jobs down the road
>>7893024
this
i'm also a grille btw
I write copy for several small-to-medium sized (in terms of traffic) pornography websites.
>>7893060
This is my goal. I have a pretty solid finance degree and want to just work my way up in some EZ street commercial bank in fuckville while living on my own plot of land.
BA in history, philosophy, and English literature.
I'm a tutor! And probably not a very good one, but I'm improving. However, I need more students.
>>7893225
Granted that I have no real experience on selection or entrance committees, having put out work as an undergrad in undergrad publications could show a quality of work and an enthusiasm that would be beneficial, but it wouldn't make up for low grades. If the work you put into revision of work already done takes away from current work, I should think that it wasn't worth it. High grades and scholarships are the most valuable capital to have when applying for grad programs, in my experience.
>>7893024
you are only as valuable as the money you are making for other people
>>7893018
I have a degree in philosophy and now I'm a mortgage broker.
>>7893018
ba in literature, ma in science of information or some shit
>librarian
>>7893372
So basically living the dream
>>7893018
>Philosophy
>Retirement Plan Admin/ConsultantI double majored in Economics.
English Lit degree here. Working as a TA at a primary school. It's OK, but only temporary until I start my PhD.
>>7893018
im writer
>>7893548
nice meme
English MA. Currently a low-level copywriter for an online marketing company. I'd like to get a career going doing what I'm doing, but I'm in this weird catch-22 in that I can't build a portfolio of my work because my employer technically owns it. Any copywriters here? Advice?
There's also a chance I'll fuck off and teach in Asia or something, while writing the Great American Novel of course.
>>7893606
>There's also a chance I'll fuck off and teach in Asia or something
Just keep in mind that many sheltered expats lost their minds in SE Asia, so it's best to keep a distance and not fall for the same stuff (cheap booze, drugs, prostitutes, general street-level degeneracy present in all of the third-world).
>>7893065
CIA git outta Yurope
philosophy
i cook in a kitchen at a nursing home and sometimes pose nude for people that like drawing naked people.
>>7893657
I ain't that sheltered, and I've spent a good bit of time in Asia. I'm talking Korea or Japan.
ima super philosopher
>>7893029
This.
>tfw my fellowship doesn't require that I do any teaching until the 5th year
>tfw literally paid to do FUCKING NOTHING except what I love and would do anyway
>>7893281
Being published as an undergrad looks good as an extracurricular thing. At least in those dinky undergrad journals. If you can get legit actually published, that's great and you can whore it out in your statement.
Having samples of your work available is never bad (unless it sucks). If you can write on an application that you've been published three times or something, and it's all available online, it can help. I've seen people say that their academia.edu got its highest activity ever during their application review time, because of course all these profs were googling them to see if they're a moron.
>>7893100
Most people don't even publish their MA, AFAIK. Publishing is fucking hard. Most MAs are garbage, honestly.
>>7893018
plumber
>>7893029
What does research in literature entail?
>>7893018
I am studying to get a double major in philosophy and economics. Will my job prospects be good?
>>7893937
If you have good grades, maybe. If you don't, no.
>>7893372
Hey I'm about to graduate with my whatever-the-fuck-they-called-library-science-this-time MA. How's life been since graduating?
>>7893738
How did you get the life drawing model gig?
I'm a huge Orson Welles.
I'm graduating next fall with BAs in Philosophy and Comparative Literature (French focus and minor)
My options are:
1) Editing/publishing. Held an internship at a well-known literary journal for a year, hoping that can get my foot in the door experience-wise.
2) Getting my MLIS in conjunction with a MA in either English Lit or History (I'd like to do CompLit, that program is titled Master of Arts in Literature, Language and Translation but I'd have to learn 2 more languages in 2 years and that seems unlikely). Become an archival/academic librarian.
3) Law school. I practice test at 170-175 and have a 3.6 GPA so I should be able to get in a lower T14, would like to practice either criminal law or patent/copyright
4) English/French translation
5) Learning carpentry (I love building and woodworking) or welding
6) Philosophy or Lit phd, unlikely unless it's far down the line. I love what I study but am pretty burnt out on school and couldn't do more than the 2 years for a master's right now.
>>7893912
My current research is in the relation of rhetoric and aesthetics in 18th century lit and criticism. i am arguing for a recovery of an relatively obscure theory of the sublime.
So my work is historical (if x is true then the context of our reading these texts changes) and hermeneutical (if x is true then we interpret these texts differently). Currently I'm trying to figure out if there is any pedagogical resonance to my research (if x is true then I should do y when i teach). This is a challenge because the sublime, as a concept, is anti-pedagogical.
So there's historical reading and contemporary theory as well. Enough?
>>7893029
This is my dream.
>>7894061
stop bein douchey
>>7893018
lit major. freelance writer designer for ad agency. did journalism work but disliked the atmosphere and pay. considering starting my own agency in a year or two.
>>7894061
Sure.
>>7893606
why would it matter if your boss owns the work unless your contract states you cannot claim it is yours? you're not going to publish your portfolio, are you? i think if you cite the owner and do not try to make money off of it, you are in the clear.
I majored in English and Cinema Studies at a university whose programs were highly focused on theory rather than practice.
I also went to college and learned how to edit film during my summers. That's now my career. The university & college route is expensive, but great.
>>7894064
Not being douchey... this is literally what im doing for research, and I wanted to know if that was enough of a description or if my dear anon wanted to know more. Stop being so thenthitive.
>>7894047
Same. What school?
>>7894077
great. thanks for asking.
>>7894061
assuming you're in the US-
what "tier" of school are you at?
what were your GRE/GRE lit subject test scores like? how easy/hard was it/how did yous tudy? any tips?
what's funding like?
You niggaz be boring as hell.
>>7894101
In a "top" tier Canadian university, but did ba/ma at a lower tier.
Not sure what GRE scores are, but in my undergrad I was top of my year, averaging 91% in english classes.
I worked really hard. Outside of family (had 2 kids at the time) and part time at starbucks I didnt have time for anything social or extracurricular. Lit was my life then.
What made the difference to me in terms of study method was learning how to be practical about. ourse reading. I would read what I needed to to do well on exams and papers and then catch p on everything else on the side, in order to perform well in discussion and debate.
Funding at most canadian universities is pretty poor, but I managed to get some larger government grants and was able to quit ky other jobs. Can't speak about how it is in USA.
>>7894111
I'm comfortable with this.
Professional NEET and master shitposter.
Literature/Spanish and French degree
I'm a manager at McDonalds
I have a BA and a masters of literature. I'm a lobbyist now.
>>7893065
Brussels lobbyist here.
>>7894111
I just fucked your side girl in the alley behind a library
>>7894122
I feel bad for your parents.
Finished a B.A. in journalism nearly a year ago, I work part-time at a public library right now.
Considering grad school for something possibly in the media/journalism vein, but that just feels like something you do rather than go to grad school for, so I'm slightly at a loss.
>>7894101
not him but I got into Ivy and Ivy+ after going to a Canadian uni ("top" tier, UofT, though I think it just nosedived from like 15th to 35th place in the QS rankings or some shit)
my GREs were 167/170 verbal, 152/170 quant (lmao), 6/6 analytic. GPA was 3.95, + languages, which was a big selling point.
tip for analytic, aka the essay: type fucking fast, and DO PRACTICE RUNS AT HOME. there is no time to plan an essay out. i type like 170wpm, everyone i know remarks on it being inhumanly fast, and i was still straining to cram my essays in, and i did zero planning or writing, just blazed on my initial intuition. you're going to want to have a real feel for that time limit and what you can realistically do in it.
funding varies surprisingly for ivy. princeton is full funding e.g. with no TAing requirement. the one i am going to has some fifth year teaching requirement. columbia's TAing requirement was brutal, almost as bad as UofT, which is notorious for its slave labour. many of the columbia PhDs i talked to weren't happy, but still happier than UofT PhD's borderline violent hatred of its funding situation. they had a strike last year.
>any tips?
love what you're doing to the point that you can make it your whole life or you won't be able to compete with adderall-infused people with trendier politically relevant research proposals and "encouraged" backgrounds
>>7894061
>an relatively obscure theory of the sublime.
whose theory?
>>7894206
>love what you're doing to the point that you can make it your whole life or you won't be able to compete with adderall-infused people with trendier politically relevant research proposals and "encouraged" backgrounds
This is wisdom.
>>7894225
Robert Lowth. He's a prominent figure in his time, but mostly forgotten today and, more to my purposes, ignored in most contemporary studies of the sublime.
>>7894187
>B.A. in journalism
Get a job in news broadcasting, bro.
They'll hire anyone!
source: me
english degree, numerous jobs:
retail, call center, sales support, programming, event marketing.
i'm still writing on the side but i'm slow.
I'm majoring in english and philosophy. I have good grades but no plans. I have a middling middlebrow IQ coupled with delusions of grandeur that I cannot work out into a feasible life plan. I have no skills. I have vague passions but no expertise in them, and nothing new or interesting to say about them. I want to be creative because I have been taught to want a "creative" lifestyle, not because I am creative. The relatively happy suburban lifestyle of my parents is simultaneously too banal for my mental delusions, and too out of reach for me given my lack of ability in anything. I am shitposting on 4chan in an attempt to expunge my inner failures and reach catharsis, though the fact that I am now conscious of this ruins any pain-relieving effect my posting could have. My middlebrow IQ also deludes me into thinking this kind of exploratory self-consciousness is valuable. I am dead.
>>7894206
ty
any thoughts on non traditional backgrounds? my undergrad is finance (english minor though, 4.0 in english) and i work in finance. i'm asian and fluent in an east asian language and would ideally like my research to in some capacity make use of it. is this kind of departure from usual background considered a plus or a negative? is it at least unique enough to maybe get me an interview?
did you have to take the Lit GRE? if so experiences with that?
ty for the response btw. and >>7894114
as well.
>>7894251
You need passion. You need to feel like a child again. Eat some shrooms pleb. Learn to see the world anew.
Also, I'm not talking to your fundamental being, but to the role you're currently playing, which is sort of laughable, and will probably be so to you when you get out of this state of thinking.
God speed anon.
>>7893018
i fuck your bitch on the daily
>>7894298
>SHROOMS LMAO
>childlike wonder!
I have BAs in philosophy and sociology. I'm a business analyst at an insurance company now. it's pretty ok.
>>7894312
i'm not him but
shrooms are good for you
>>7894251
this is everyone here albeit without that level of honesty
>>7893985
'I am Doctor Kashmir' said doctor Kashmir.
>>7894138
Living the dream amiright?
I have a few friends that go to the pub with me after work and ironically argue about the moral justification for our actions; once brought a MP from Hungary with us and laughed about the retards over at golden dawn. Good times.
>tfw you're spooked to get a PhD in philosophy because of the limited positions and huge competition for professorships
Should I do it? Is it insane? Should I just go into a more practical area of interest with better employment prospects (in terms of professorships) like psych. or poli sci?
>>7894342
inside the mind of the neolib striver class, everyone
I have a few credits left until I receive my English degree. I'll likely go to a vocational school to pick up a trade afterwards. I can't imagine doing white collar shit.
english degree im a fry cook
Not a direct correlation, but I met my sugar-mommy in my M.A. program in creative writing. She's funding my, or rather, our, bohemian lifestyles, whilst I write for a living. It's been going well actually.
>>7894337
>Lol, you don't think I tried that? Might as well say "just bee urself"
Lol then you're fucked m8. It comes down to you.
>>7894408
same, except I did gender studies
>>7894350
Don't do it. More easy competition for me :)
>>7894445
The competition itself is another concern. I mean, do I have to be a Kripke-tier child prodigy in order to compete well?
>>7894430
where do u cook at.. im making grilled subs and deep frying french fries at a sandwich shop called tuby's
>>7894337
Lol, I wasn't talking to you.
>Wow. You just described me. At least the bits about middlebrow IQ coupled with delusions of grandeur.
Just because you guys are in a similar situation doesn't mean shit. I was talking to the less faggoty anon. You're so orgulous as to get mad at someone who was giving advice to someone else. Jesus lmao chirst
>>7894452
No, just passionate and original. Like me ;)
>>7894453
>asking me where I work
borderline misogyny
>>7894464
well played
I'm an MFA student at a respected program. Who knows what'll happen next
I have an opportunity to have my tuition costs fully reimbursed. Should I get my bach in English? Is it worth it at all?
>>7893018
Chick looks like grimes.
>>7894573
you're just saying that because of the dye; if you open the pic looks nothing like her
>>7893049
>what is scantron
>>7893291
Totally wrong. Anyways I'm quitting that job soon and moving to the coast. Have something better lined up out there.
>>7894064
quit being a faggot
Legal Assistant
>>7894647
GIRL DETECTED
POST THE FEET
Philosophy.
Manage of a team of programmers for a company that does checkout software.
Lol I have no idea what they are doing, I'm essentially there to babysit autists desu.
>>7894340
Call me Ishmael
>>7894425
i love shrooms but they don't work for everyone. there's lots of different paths up the mountain.
>>7894662
>>7894420
now this is living the dream
>>7895262
...don't literally post feet. Ew, anon.
>>7895262
long lovely feeps mmmm
>>7893029
how do i get this?
1 year left on my MFA.
should i get a PHD? do i need one?
>>7894251
Best post.
>>7893235
SUCK MY NEET VIRGIN COCK
>>7894298
>Eat some shrooms
anon, do not do this. your mind will be flooded with the most odious oriental delusions, and your brain will overheat like a piece of metal with too much electricity going through it
you will meet god, and he will be as bored as you are. and he'll hate you. and he'll be you. and you'll be completely alone.
completely fucking alone
>>7894420
charmed life
>>7893018
is that a mic/radio? why does she need it for that job
>>7895480
Drive thru
>>7895450
>i got owned in the magical realms
>>7894251
Don't buy into the uni literature group mindset of finding work as selling out. When I decided to go to law school they started to cut me out. Now I have a farm and a bookstore, and practice law in the rural areas close to the city I grew up in. Gunning for a great job does not require you to abandon a creative lifestyle
>>7894245
What's it like, man?
I'm currently in an advanced diploma for journalism. I'm a good writer and practice often but it seems the real jobs are in t.v. production.
Plus getting in that news room gives me a hard on.
>>7894579
Not the multiple choice parts, silly anon. The writing and speaking parts. It's for ETS.
>>7893018
I'm a screenwriter.
>>7895450
shrooms helped me realize Stirner's philosophy, and helped me knock down Nietzsche's.
Now I'm a genius
>>7895450
over-dramatic bitch
>>7896129
Maybe.. but I own you
>>7896087
how do i get a good score on GRE pls advise
>>7896199
I'm 6'5, 270 and there's two of me. Come at me.
>>7896203
Dunno, I don't grade it; the GRE only pays $15/hr.
>>7896208
oh. what exams do you grade/how much does it pay? why is GRE so low/others so high?
>>7894251
Well posted. I plan to find satisfaction through having a big family and being a patriarch and living on a farm near a small city or town while working a 9-5 job, either as a lawyer or a programmer. Good luck anon.
Should I study to become an actor or rather go for Italian and English literature?
>>7896228
It's low compared to other college level ones, more on the scale of the grade school tests, which pay about $11-13/hr. Not sure why they go so low, but they obviously still get people applying and grading them. All of them require a Bachelors at the least, plus teaching experience/graduate degrees often. GRE didn't require the later iirc, just "preferred," which may be why it pays low. SAT pays that much too, but it's still kind of grade school, so understandable.
TOEFL and CLEP pay $19/hr and $26/hr respectively. I grade one grade school one and those two.
>>7896285
interesting, thanks for sharing.
Tugboat deckhand
>>7896204
Both of you didn't check'm.
I fill your nightmares with void, across the vast emptiness, my spores infect you with McKenna memes and cancer.
>tfw graduating undergrad Eng Lit with a first at a shit uni
>>7894245
Hmm, everyone I know who got a job right out of school did get one in broadcast news...
I met someone who works at my city's public broadcasting service so I may get an (unpaid) internship soon.
I just really want to get back into the field proper.
>>7896204
Random ass "social network" reference?
>>7894615
>Totally wrong
Actually, totally right. If you bring value to people they will pay you for it. Listen to Earl Nightingale's "The Strangest Secret in the World." Try to be charitable when listening to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjHzUzLlir0&list=LLuqXxFWMwFrBuCsxRykRfSg&nohtml5=False
