This week, the New Yorker published a helpful entry into the genre of “Should I go to grad school?” — a particularly important question for the humanities. Here’s the link. This essay is thoughtful and helpfully indecisive, while pointing to some of the best known and more partisan entries in that conversation.
Your English advisor is happy to have this conversation with you, as is Dr. Norman who acts as the department’s general grad school advisor.
- BJN
So here’s the rub: if I’m a college student struggling to cover the costs of tuition without significant financial support from my parents, then how do I justify an unpaid internship over a paying job on-campus or at my local Starbucks? Often, students in this position take the job that pays. The student from a middle or upper class family with the means to fully support the outrageous cost of their higher education, on the other hand, will often take the unpaid internship with the often false promise of turning into full-time employment. So in a nation that prides itself on promoting equality of opportunity, one of the most effectively perceived paths for building a successful career is shut off to students without the resources to work for free.
One of our interns, Emily Barbo, sent me a link to a really interesting article from InternMatch.com about the ethics of unpaid internships. The whole article– and the comments– should be required reading for anyone thinking about doing an unpaid internship.
I’m not sure the article linked to by @doctornorman in his latest post makes a particularly effective case for the importance of liberal arts. One might argue that one can gain the ability to give a presentation or understand the connection between the classroom and the real world most through business-school coursework. However, I did think that Peter Capelli, one of the business writers referred to in the comments section following the article, had some interesting things to say in the Harvard Business Review, the most important of which was:
“Companies regained profitability during the recession with a relentless squeeze on costs, and most of that squeeze was associated with labor. We know, for example, that employers are spending far less to recruit and hire a candidate than before the recession, which may make it harder to find the right person.”
To translate into laypersons’ (or English majors’) language: this means that employers aren’t willing to hire someone inexperienced, because they no longer have the funds (or are willing to allocate funds) to train a new employee.
This idea is corroborated by how many people get hired out of internships–as we heard about at the internship panel on Monday, the internship is increasingly becoming a path to employment. I believe the internship has become the new training academy.
Check out this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on a national survey of employers.
Bottom line: They want broadly-trained graduates. A liberal arts degree, especially when paired with an internship, can deliver this.
- BJN
The Student Futures Committee, in conjunction with our illustrious Internship Director (a.k.a., Jean Lee Cole), announces the annual English internship panel.
Yours,
Why law schools want English majors
Here’s an article from Wednesday’s Chronicle of Higher Education quoting law professors lamenting what they are seeing more and more in law school: test-driven students unable to write–or think–their way out of a paper bag. Take heart, EN majors: these are the skills you are honing. Not to mention, the skill of being able to read and process hundreds of pages at a sitting 
. –JLC
Hey, English majors. See below for an email I received from English alum Andrew Zaleski (’2010) about a journalism internship.
-Dr. Norman
Hey, Brian,
Do you know of any promising English majors who are considering journalism careers and will be staying in Baltimore over the summer?
We’re looking to hire an intern at Technically Baltimore. The position, surely, will include tasks that aren’t explicit reporting work. But there will be plenty of opportunities for real reporting, and since I’m the only member of the Technically Media team in Baltimore, this person will be working directly with me (as well as remotely with my editor).
If there are people you think might be interested, feel free to pass them this message or my e-mail. (In this case: andrew@technicallybaltimore.com)
-Andrew
–
Andrew Zaleski
Writer/Journalist | www.AndrewZaleski.com
Reporter, Technically Baltimore (www.technicallybaltimore.com)
