Why Major in English?

To develop critical, analytical, and communication skills: Through a variety of dynamic courses in literature, communication, linguistics, film, and writing, students in the English major learn to communicate clearly and effectively. The major provides students with a deeper understanding of how language shapes our world along with the analytical tools necessary to navigate the rapidly changing media that surrounds us. The research, critical, and creative skills that students develop through the English major produce transferrable skills for any course, professional or creative endeavor.

For a variety of career options: English is a highly marketable major which offers outstanding preparation for careers in education, technical and creative writing, publishing, journalism, and translation, as well as for fields like law, politics, business administration, broadcasting, web design, screenwriting, ministry, sales and marketing, public relations, advertising, hospitality, library science, museums, and many others. English majors bring highly-developed rigorous skills to the table.

To gain a diverse, interdisciplinary education: Through dynamic courses in the different areas of emphasis, Literature, or Linguistics and Communication, English majors study diverse perspectives and voices from the global English-speaking world while also engaging an array of social issues. The Literature area focuses on interpreting culturally diverse texts, from oral history and classical literature to contemporary fiction, poetry, film, performance, and drama. Majors can also take courses in creative writing or in interdisciplinary fields like Environmental Studies, Medical Humanities or Caribbean Studies. Linguistics and Communication also deals with written texts of various kinds paying particular attention to oral discourse and interaction. These courses address such issues as language and gender, personal/sexual/social/cultural identity, rhetorical theory, power and ideology, intercultural and interpersonal communication, historical change in language, dialect variation, etc. The broad range of courses we offer prepare English majors to navigate the global, transcultural experience of English with professors from all over the world, including Puerto Rico.

To better understand the world and how to address its needs: English majors critically interrogate long-standing questions and conflicts and the different ways in which historically thinkers and writers have approached or resolved them. The research and analytical skills honed in our classrooms bring awareness of how language impacts our experiences of the world and readily translate to graduate study in Puerto Rico, throughout the United States or abroad, as well as other professional fields mentioned above.

For general information for UPRRP students, please visit https://www.uprrp.edu/estudiantes/

Department of English, Humanities, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras