Why Should an English Major Get an MBA?

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Sixteen years ago, I had my B.A. in English in hand and was accepted to a great graduate program to study Shakespeare. 

Then, you know...life. 

Five babies and 16 years later, I'm applying for MBA programs rather than cracking open my dusty Shakespeare. Fellow English majors may wonder, am I betraying my roots?

I love literature, and I always plan to be a reader. I get serious shivers when I read well-crafted sentences even now. But I also see a need for people who can read critically and write sympathetically in the business world, who can easily assimilate different points of view and address them.

A few years ago I dipped my toe in the multi-level marketing world. I was amazed at how much business I drummed up from regularly and authentically posting on social media. I spent so much time in college writing and editing on a schedule for my university newspaper, this was no big deal for me. But it can be very difficult for people in business who haven't had the same training.

"The skills that you learned and refined through a qualitative undergraduate education are relevant and valuable in business school," says Dan Bauer on Noodle.com. "Strength in writing, listening, and speaking can give you an immediate advantage over [other students] who may find it easier to calculate than communicate. In addition, your ability to analyze and synthesize written content will serve you very well in cracking case studies and leading team projects."

In fact, according to this article, the Stanford Graduate School of Business class of 2020 has a whopping 48% of its cohort hailing from humanities and social sciences backgrounds. Wharton and Harvard's MBA program accepted 43% and 19%, respectively, from humanities backgrounds over the last couple years. (To give you a little perspective, US News and World Report ranks these programs in the top 3 year over year.)

So, let's say you were also an English major and are thinking about doing the "career pivot" (as they love to call it in B-school) by getting an MBA. What should you do next?

First of all, let's be real--do you feel like you can be really happy in business, or do you just think it will be easier to find a more lucrative job if you have an MBA? I suggest you do some online research into how your interests and skills can fit into an MBA program and the wider work world. I am applying for my MBA at the University of Texas at Dallas, in part because of their many specialized MBA concentrations and concurrent MS degrees, including a relatively new field called "customer insights." 

Second, figure out schools and programs that will fit with your interests, abilities, and other personal circumstances. Often people who are making a major career change (like from journalism to marketing) choose to enter full-time, traditional MBA programs, which tend to offer better networking and internship opportunities. However, if you can't quit working or other circumstances prevent you from doing this, there are tons of really great online and part-time programs available.

Third, once you kind of know what you might want to study (many MBA students do change their direction once in the program) and where you might want to apply, it's time to get yourself ready to be the best applicant you can! I'll talk more about what I've learned in another post.

Key takeaway: You can do this! Your skills are valuable and needed in business, and you have what it takes to succeed in an MBA program. Go get 'em!