Why Study English?

The English major and minor at Boston College allow you to explore traditional forms of creativity and expression from around the world and find your own voice as a scholar and writer—all while honing core skills that that today's rapidly changing workplaces demand. 

Explore

Envision

Thrive

Explore Literary Traditions

Literature represents enduring questions that concern us as we grapple with our world as we find it, providing an ideal venue for the deep exploration of intellectual, aesthetic, and ethical traditions. It also embodies the capacity to imagine our world as it might become.

Envision New Possibilities

As we build our collective future, the stories we tell matter; so too does the language we use to bring those stories forth. The English major helps you discover your own voice as a writer and scholar, and prepares you to use that voice to serve the greater good.

Thrive at BC and Beyond

English majors explore the pleasures of reading and writing while deepening the critical thinking skills, creative problem solving, and effective articulation that today's employers and graduate school programs demand, becoming adaptable scholars and leaders.

Alumni Careers

New York Magazine

Freelance Writer

Penguin Random House

Associate Editor 

Forbes

Staff Reporter

National Geographic Traveler

Editor

Chronicle of Higher Education

Writer

Eastern Region Medical Center

Chief of Surgery

 

Dow Jones News Service

Reporter

Seton Hall University

Assistant Professor

Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising

Account Manager

How has your English degree helped you?

Alicia Kang

"The English major gave me the communication and analytical skills I need to work with any team. It also helped me to think more deeply about my identity and enabled me to contemplate what I ultimately want out of my career. "

Alicia Kang '22, Financial Operations Analyst, Orion Group
Patrick McCann

“At Boston College, the sense of community, loyalty, and support persists even after one graduates. The school is truly invested in its students and proud to celebrate their achievements.”

Will Dowd '06, Award-Winning Author and Artist

The Workshop Experience

Writer Dinaw Mengestu speaking with Elizabeth Graver's class on writing in the conference room of 10 Stone Ave. Photographed for Linden Lane in the Spring '15 issue of BCM.
The English Department offers a Creative Writing Concentration that allows you to focus your English major on creative work by taking a series of small, intensive, process-based workshops. Taught by published authors, these workshops are offered in three genres—poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Concentrators are also invited to a rich array of talks, readings, and smaller gatherings with visiting writers, gaining insight into the many ways to live a literary life.
To me, the most beautiful thing about the workshop setting is that you're given the opportunity to share your writing with peers who are also putting themselves out there, all for the sake of learning from the group's collective efforts. I've met some of my favorite people at BC—students and professors alike—in these workshops.
Bea Pugeda '24, English Major and Creative Writing Concentrator