English VS Creative Writing Degrees ✨ - What's the difference? 

So hyped for this video! What other content do you want to see from me and Ashley? Also: check the description for disclaimers before you watch! :) TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - intro 0:16 - introducing ashley 1:28 - why did we choose to study english/writing? 3:21 - similarities between english/writing degrees 3:47 - what does a typical writing major do? 5:50 - time commitment for a writing major 7:25 - what does a typical english major do? 9:55 - which degree focuses more on grammar? 12:23 - do you NEED to study english to be a good writer? 13:24 - should you take writing courses as an english major? 13:48 - how much do you read in an english program? 16:15 - all about essays 17:28 - time commitment for an english major 20:36 - jobs as an english major 23:02 - jobs as a writing major (& risks of unpractical degrees) 15:28 - how much do you read as a writing major? 28:17 - scholarships for english VS writing 30:00 - researching schools 31:52 - more job talk for writing majors 35:20 - the importance of getting involved in extracurriculars 37:14 - which degree focuses more on literature? 40:55 - rachel regrets her writing degree? 42:36 - last thoughts & outro

i've been writing since i was 13 (i'm 25 now), almost studied english with a creative writing focus but studied mechanical engineering instead. every humanities gen ed that i could get away with in undergrad was an english class. now i'm getting my mfa in technical theatre. i don't really have a point, just sharing the wild ride that has been my academic career haha. great video!

omg its here !!! wow look at us go

I've applied for doctorates in English, but I write creatively in my free time. Really interesting to watch

such a great little pody. feels so comforting hearing about the cool things you can learn in various classes and degrees and how it can help u with your own projects! hmm…i wonder what law will do for my books🤔

Super interesting conversation! I just graduated with a degree in English & Public Health and I love writing in my spare time, so really interesting to hear your perspectives on this. Personally, I'm just SO skeptical of everything to do with the institutionalization of creative writing, traditional publishing, etc that I've avoided it as much as possible in the last few years. For example, I could have taken some creative writing classes and gotten credit towards my English degree, but I just didn't want to at all, so I took a super fun dramatic literature class instead. I've enjoyed getting involved in indie lit in the last year, but even just thinking about the whole Big 5 publishers/MFA degree/etc hamster wheel makes me break out in hives, lol. It's just not for me. I sometimes wonder how much better my writing would be by now if I'd had any kind of formal training, but there's really nothing for it. I love my English degree; I think spending three years studying the humanities, especially this particular field, fundamentally shaped who I am now in a wonderful way, and I wouldn't give that up. (I super concur w/ Ashley's point abt checking out your potential universities' curricula, though--I went to The George Washington University, and their English degree curriculum is SUPER open, you just have to pick classes from a bunch of different "buckets," so to speak, so I could super easily focus on my area of interest (Medieval & Renaissance lit) from the get-go. If my program were as restrictive as Ashley's sounds, I would probably have just done a minor instead of a major, or only taken one-off English electives and not gotten any formal certification in it at all. The end goal, for me, was to deeply engage with my passion . . . and my passion is NOT Austen, Faulkner, Tolstoy, etc, lol). That being said, I also wouldn't have done the English degree if I hadn't been able to double major in something more practical--in my case, Public Health. For me, I think I'm just too pragmatic, and I don't like things being unreliable; I never want to rely on my passion or my humanities degree to pay my rent. For a long time, I thought I was going to go into some kind of public health nonprofit work (which I do feel strongly about, and I did do a couple wonderful internships in!), but I'm now happy to be starting my MA in Library Science this fall (which is basically a prerequisite for getting any kind of librarian position---also, you can come to it from any undergraduate degree). Anyway!! that's all just my VERY rambling thoughts on this as someone who loves both English & creative writing and is extremely glad I studied one and not the other . . . though maybe there's an alternate universe Eleanor out there w/ a BFA in creative writing who feels the opposite :) I would love to see Ashley (or Sarah) come back on soon to chat about literally anything; these long videos are so nice to just put on while cleaning, cooking, etc!

I did an English major, Computer Science minor. This isn't going to work for everyone, but I highly encourage high schoolers who want to study English but don't necessarily want to go into a traditionally associated field to get a minor outside of the humanities, ideally one that gives you a hard skill. Pairing the analytical and communication skills from an English degree with an unrelated minor makes your resume surprisingly strong. At least it did for me! I am in the US and graduated just before the pandemic though -- so full disclosure, that's the perspective I'm coming from. (Also my school didn't have a Creative Writing department at all so I don't know enough to speak on if this is good advice for CW majors as well.)

me: english classes teacher you how to be more concise also me: runs on forever and ever about the same thing LOL

Long comment here, sorry! Rachel and Ashley, wonderful video! Really interesting to compare the two. Great idea. I love when people talk about school! I love that Ashley has so many majors (my PhD is in Education so!). Makes me reflect on my own educational journey (BA, MFA, PhD). I was almost an English major (was accepted to a different university as an English major with an emphasis in Creative Writing and then I was going to double minor), but I went to undergrad at a different school and majored in Film Studies many, many years ago (so I could take the few screenwriting courses available) and minored in Disability Studies. I wanted to minor in Creative Writing in undergrad, but a friend told me not to because even the intro classes were hard to get into. You couldn’t just enroll. I actually wanted to major in Creative Writing like Rachel. That was the goal. But it wasn’t an option with the universities I looked at. I did not major in English for reasons similar to Ashley. I didn’t want to study Shakespeare or Chaucer. However, I didn’t like film theory or history either. 😂 I decided to do an MFA in Screenwriting because I wanted more time to do creative work and I want to be a TV writer (and discovered I liked teaching in the process) and I was fortunate to be able to get a grant to do it. The PhD was not in my original plan, but now I’m almost done. I laughed with what you said about academia because it’s very true. I’d much rather read my genre fiction novels than a stuffy academic article and I like research, but I do it my own way. In grad school, you still take classes obviously, but when you get to a thesis or dissertation it becomes harder because you are accountable for your own time to finish the work (no longer for a class per se). I’m in a bit of a different situation than most PhD candidates because my dissertation is entirely creative (wrote a pilot script I’m adapting into a novel), even though my proposal was an academic piece setting up the work I’m writing. I still don’t completely consider myself a scholar and I realize that academia does not understand the entertainment industry or publishing industry and vice versa. And yes, doing something creative for a dissertation is still stressful! So, I also have to spend time writing things outside of school (more pilots, short stories) in order to build the creative career I want for myself (TV writer, novelist) in addition to wanting to teach. Wild. I was also told by a fellow classmate in my program that my dissertation wasn’t a “real” dissertation because it’s creative and not academic enough. People are so ridiculous. Anyway, thank you both for sharing this! If I was a professor already, I know I’d be lucky to have students like both of you! Good luck to both of you with everything! 💜

I loved to see the comparison of these two degrees! Creative writing degrees aren't super common in my state (at least for public universities) so I'm in an English major with and art minor and a creative writing certificate program (which is like a mini minor). While I love reading, I absolutely dread and destain writing essays, so I'm honestly thinking about switching to something else. I've also thought a lot about dropping out entirely, but I'm staying at least to finish my ASL classes. Anyways, hearing about both perspectives has been really interesting.

This is such an interesting conversation, I didn't even realise I had sat through a forty something long video. I'm now wondering how other things, other majors can imapct your writing and if it would be negative or positive. I feel as if in most cases it would be positive, but for instance would studying a 'harder' more 'practical' major where you would have to write, if that would close you in, and make you think less creatively? Or something.

This video is so incredibly helpful. Thank you so, so much ❤ I'm a junior in high school and have been so hung up on what i want to major in. I know I am majoring in linguistics, but deciding between English and writing is so hard since I also want to major in history. I personally have enough audacity to triple major as long as at least two of them overlap a significant amount and as someone who excels a lot in English, choosing English with a creative writing focus is currently what I'm thinking would be the best to pair with Linguistics. I am still thinking about it, though, and this video is just so helpful for me. Thank you both for doing this ❤

this was so interesting! i definitely learned a lot from this! thank you both rachel and ashley for taking time out of your busy schedules and making this video! 💘

I AM VERY EXCITED TO WATCH THIS!!

In terms of clubs, I would recommend people who don't have specific clubs in their school try creating those opportunities. I with a couple of English major friends started my university's first book club.

My daughter persuaded me to get Grammerly, the free version. It's good for narrative, but weird for dialogue. English vs writing?

I need some guidance here. I have a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature, and I am an English teacher. I was thinking of going for my masters. The question here is: should I go for a Master of Arts in English or a Masters degree in creative writing? I love writing and poetry, but I want something that would further improve my career, both financially and professionally, and wouldn't put me further down the line.

Hey can you be an English teacher with a creative writing degree ??