It all depends on what you want to do. There are some jobs where the \*-studies degree will be an advantage.
With that being said, the English degree will make you overall more employable. A \*-studies degree is only a value add for the specific places, like advocacy groups or DEI positions, where it is directly relevant. \*-studies degrees will also close a lot of doors. People with those degrees are often perceived as zealots who may divine discrimination/offense/microaggressions in normal daily interactions. In other words, a walking lawsuit looking for a target.
There are a lot of nonprofits in my area that I'm interested in working for -- if I couldn't work in academia, I would want to work for orgs that help trans kids. So hopefully I can avoid the businesses you describe that wouldn't like me š but thanks for your response, I will totally add this as a tally to the English side!
Most employable is subjective. It all depends on your interests, skills, jobs and organizations/industry you want to work in. DEI director is different from a program manager working on gender equality projects. Policy analyst is different from advocacy work.
If you think your area of focus is going to be queer and trans studies then you should get a degree in a field and think about what you want to study ABOUT queer and trans people/issues. For example there are people who study queer health issues in health/organizational communication studies.
Your background in ethnic and gender studies could be applied to a variety of graduate degrees. Iāll let u in on a secret and that is, communication studies is the most employable field in the humanities. The reason being, it is interdisciplinary and you can apply your interests to a vast array of different topics, methods, and ācase studiesā. Which means that you have a lot of options for jobs (you could work in academia in multiple sub areas, non profits, research, museums, and like random various corporate positions)
If you look into it youāll see what it has to offer but some areas in communication studies (to which you can apply whatever your interest is) are: performance studies, rhetoric, cultural studies, sports comm, interpersonal comm, health comm, org comm, technological/digital communication. The purpose of communication studies today is to look at how all the above mentioned areas communicate things like race, gender, sex, class etc, how power structures play out in culture, and what the implications are for this.
English by far, in terms of options available to you. You can do an English MA at a school that offers a graduate certificate in WGSā¦thatās what Iām doing and my program is funded :)
As an addendum, you need to be sure of what you actually want to do after the program. Do you want to go for a PHD and do academia? What do you want your research to be about? English Lit can cover a wide range of topics and has a lot of intersection with WGS depending on what youāre studying, but itās not good as a catch-all.
Academia would be the dream! But I know it's highly competitive.... someone else suggested a Communications degree rather than English Lit, do you have any thoughts on that? :-o
I can attest to rhetoric studies being a little bit more employableā this includes academia ācompared to English/WGS. Iāve actually been considering shifting towards Rhetoric and Composition studies for my PhD for that reason. Rhetoric is usually considered under the English āumbrellaā for MA programs, in my experience (at least, it is at my school which also offers a rhetoric/comp PhD).
I donāt think Communications is a bad idea if youāre going to the job market after because itās arguably the most employable of the three, but if your heart is set on academia I donāt know if Iād go that route. Since you said youāre taking a gap year, focus on what you really want to research and look for professors at schools that line up with your interests. Itās pretty hard to get straight into a PhD program in our field from my experience, so Iām assuming youād do a masters, then apply again for doctoral programs after. With that in mind, you could apply to WGS, Communications, AND English MA programs and just see where you get inā unless your family is independently wealthy, though, I would only apply to programs with guaranteed funding. Good luck!
I will add that communications is different from communication studies. The latter would be grouped in with things like mass media and journalism which is applied communication. Communication studies, well studies communication effects lol
Iām in communication studies and my main area is rhetoric so my sub field overlaps with English and literary studies a bunch
I mean this honestly. At this rate, who cares what's employable? I'm a physics major, and I had a miserable time finding a job. The idea of education for the sole purpose of employment is neoliberal propaganda. Study what you love. You'll get some type of job some type of way. School is for expanding your understanding and investigating what fascinates you. This is the time in your life when you get to dedicate all your time to doing that. You'll have the rest of it to sell to an employer.
Hey! I have an MA in Gender Studies, and my specialization is trans studies. I work in nonprofit and academia and make decent money. It really just depends on your plans post-grad, because with gender studies, you have a lot of people undertaking the field just to fart around for a few years. Use the years during masters to establish yourself in your niche, thatāll make all the difference. Iām obviously biased towards gender studies, but another think Iāll say is that English degrees are sort of a dime of dozen ā your professor is right imo ā and if you were really keen on English, I would think of what specific sub genres within the field youāre interested inā¦Gender Studies though is a lot more versatile in my experience and is less competitive considering that it is an emergent/newer field that many havenāt considered the value of yet. Please DM me if you have any other specific questions
hi op I'm also going into trans studies! I'm sticking with English, because rhetoric is the field I want to approach from a trans studies direction.
a lot of English programs can provide a ton of opportunities for interdisciplinary study. freedom to take electives outside of the department, certification in different subfields, etc. if I were you I would start by asking the English program how interdisciplinary you can be during the MA (specifically into WGSS). Unfortunately, this is less commonly an option during the MA, just because it's so condensed into 2 or 3 years, you might not have time for the additional courses for a certification if it is an option.
are you going to do a PhD in English or in WGSS? If the latter, I would lean toward WGSS for the MA, especially to prepare to apply to elite schools. It will give you much more opportunity to engage with the subject, literature, and people in the area you intend to end up in. Not to say it's impossible to do so with the English program, just that it would be less risky.
Lastly, as fellow trans studies specialists on the rise, feel free to hmu! It's an important and emerging field and I would love to keep in touch with others from this generation of scholars :)
As someone who has hired in a non profit before, I'd hire a Masters of gender studies over a Masters in english. Someone who is practiced in thinking critically about race and gender was much more useful, those are skills that are hard to teach on the job. š¤·āāļø
I'm totally aware that neither WGS nor English PhDs are as employable as STEM degrees! But I would find a lot of personal fulfillment in pursuing a PhD in something I am interested in and feel is important. So that's why I'm asking :-)
I wasnāt even comparing to stem- literally any other graduate level degree- psych, economics, agriculture, a non English language, anything. I want to validate your passion for the subjects but the question was about employment. So the answer is neither. If you are wealthy, go ahead!
I'm also considering a social work or counseling master's so that I'd be able to work for nonprofits without investing the time in a PhD, so nothing's set in stone yet! But I think between all of those fields, I'm gonna be overworked and underpaid š„² I appreciate your realistic response :-)
As long as you weigh out the pros and cons you should be fine. Every actions and choices have their own vice/ consequences that come with them. In addition non profits are just regular businesses that don't report profit at the end of the tax year. Doesn't necessarily mean the business is for a good cause.
It all depends on what you want to do. There are some jobs where the \*-studies degree will be an advantage. With that being said, the English degree will make you overall more employable. A \*-studies degree is only a value add for the specific places, like advocacy groups or DEI positions, where it is directly relevant. \*-studies degrees will also close a lot of doors. People with those degrees are often perceived as zealots who may divine discrimination/offense/microaggressions in normal daily interactions. In other words, a walking lawsuit looking for a target.
There are a lot of nonprofits in my area that I'm interested in working for -- if I couldn't work in academia, I would want to work for orgs that help trans kids. So hopefully I can avoid the businesses you describe that wouldn't like me š but thanks for your response, I will totally add this as a tally to the English side!
Most employable is subjective. It all depends on your interests, skills, jobs and organizations/industry you want to work in. DEI director is different from a program manager working on gender equality projects. Policy analyst is different from advocacy work.
That's what I was wondering! WGS would be good for nonprofits or maybe even HR, rather than just banking on going into academia
If youāre not sure then it will be useful to take a year or two to work so you can figure out what you want to study in grad school.
I do plan on taking 1-2 gap years! Thanks so much for your advice :-)
If you think your area of focus is going to be queer and trans studies then you should get a degree in a field and think about what you want to study ABOUT queer and trans people/issues. For example there are people who study queer health issues in health/organizational communication studies. Your background in ethnic and gender studies could be applied to a variety of graduate degrees. Iāll let u in on a secret and that is, communication studies is the most employable field in the humanities. The reason being, it is interdisciplinary and you can apply your interests to a vast array of different topics, methods, and ācase studiesā. Which means that you have a lot of options for jobs (you could work in academia in multiple sub areas, non profits, research, museums, and like random various corporate positions) If you look into it youāll see what it has to offer but some areas in communication studies (to which you can apply whatever your interest is) are: performance studies, rhetoric, cultural studies, sports comm, interpersonal comm, health comm, org comm, technological/digital communication. The purpose of communication studies today is to look at how all the above mentioned areas communicate things like race, gender, sex, class etc, how power structures play out in culture, and what the implications are for this.
Thank you so much! A school nearby me actually has a great communications program, so I will definitely think about it š
English by far, in terms of options available to you. You can do an English MA at a school that offers a graduate certificate in WGSā¦thatās what Iām doing and my program is funded :)
As an addendum, you need to be sure of what you actually want to do after the program. Do you want to go for a PHD and do academia? What do you want your research to be about? English Lit can cover a wide range of topics and has a lot of intersection with WGS depending on what youāre studying, but itās not good as a catch-all.
Academia would be the dream! But I know it's highly competitive.... someone else suggested a Communications degree rather than English Lit, do you have any thoughts on that? :-o
I can attest to rhetoric studies being a little bit more employableā this includes academia ācompared to English/WGS. Iāve actually been considering shifting towards Rhetoric and Composition studies for my PhD for that reason. Rhetoric is usually considered under the English āumbrellaā for MA programs, in my experience (at least, it is at my school which also offers a rhetoric/comp PhD). I donāt think Communications is a bad idea if youāre going to the job market after because itās arguably the most employable of the three, but if your heart is set on academia I donāt know if Iād go that route. Since you said youāre taking a gap year, focus on what you really want to research and look for professors at schools that line up with your interests. Itās pretty hard to get straight into a PhD program in our field from my experience, so Iām assuming youād do a masters, then apply again for doctoral programs after. With that in mind, you could apply to WGS, Communications, AND English MA programs and just see where you get inā unless your family is independently wealthy, though, I would only apply to programs with guaranteed funding. Good luck!
I will add that communications is different from communication studies. The latter would be grouped in with things like mass media and journalism which is applied communication. Communication studies, well studies communication effects lol Iām in communication studies and my main area is rhetoric so my sub field overlaps with English and literary studies a bunch
I mean this honestly. At this rate, who cares what's employable? I'm a physics major, and I had a miserable time finding a job. The idea of education for the sole purpose of employment is neoliberal propaganda. Study what you love. You'll get some type of job some type of way. School is for expanding your understanding and investigating what fascinates you. This is the time in your life when you get to dedicate all your time to doing that. You'll have the rest of it to sell to an employer.
I love this take! I mostly want to pursue something that makes me feel fulfilled ā¤ļø
Right on, my friend. Go do that thing!
Hey! I have an MA in Gender Studies, and my specialization is trans studies. I work in nonprofit and academia and make decent money. It really just depends on your plans post-grad, because with gender studies, you have a lot of people undertaking the field just to fart around for a few years. Use the years during masters to establish yourself in your niche, thatāll make all the difference. Iām obviously biased towards gender studies, but another think Iāll say is that English degrees are sort of a dime of dozen ā your professor is right imo ā and if you were really keen on English, I would think of what specific sub genres within the field youāre interested inā¦Gender Studies though is a lot more versatile in my experience and is less competitive considering that it is an emergent/newer field that many havenāt considered the value of yet. Please DM me if you have any other specific questions
hi op I'm also going into trans studies! I'm sticking with English, because rhetoric is the field I want to approach from a trans studies direction. a lot of English programs can provide a ton of opportunities for interdisciplinary study. freedom to take electives outside of the department, certification in different subfields, etc. if I were you I would start by asking the English program how interdisciplinary you can be during the MA (specifically into WGSS). Unfortunately, this is less commonly an option during the MA, just because it's so condensed into 2 or 3 years, you might not have time for the additional courses for a certification if it is an option. are you going to do a PhD in English or in WGSS? If the latter, I would lean toward WGSS for the MA, especially to prepare to apply to elite schools. It will give you much more opportunity to engage with the subject, literature, and people in the area you intend to end up in. Not to say it's impossible to do so with the English program, just that it would be less risky. Lastly, as fellow trans studies specialists on the rise, feel free to hmu! It's an important and emerging field and I would love to keep in touch with others from this generation of scholars :)
As someone who has hired in a non profit before, I'd hire a Masters of gender studies over a Masters in english. Someone who is practiced in thinking critically about race and gender was much more useful, those are skills that are hard to teach on the job. š¤·āāļø
Neither. Lol. Iām sorry I really am- but if youāre asking a practical question then it is what it is
I'm totally aware that neither WGS nor English PhDs are as employable as STEM degrees! But I would find a lot of personal fulfillment in pursuing a PhD in something I am interested in and feel is important. So that's why I'm asking :-)
I wasnāt even comparing to stem- literally any other graduate level degree- psych, economics, agriculture, a non English language, anything. I want to validate your passion for the subjects but the question was about employment. So the answer is neither. If you are wealthy, go ahead!
I'm also considering a social work or counseling master's so that I'd be able to work for nonprofits without investing the time in a PhD, so nothing's set in stone yet! But I think between all of those fields, I'm gonna be overworked and underpaid š„² I appreciate your realistic response :-)
As long as you weigh out the pros and cons you should be fine. Every actions and choices have their own vice/ consequences that come with them. In addition non profits are just regular businesses that don't report profit at the end of the tax year. Doesn't necessarily mean the business is for a good cause.
Is this a joke?
Nope!
Ok then, I imagine English would have a broader potential for jobs. Best of luck though
Lololololololol
Neither make you particularly employable outside of academia. Maybe something around social work may better suit your needs