Language Degrees Online

Graduate Programs in English

The M.A. in English requires 30 credits of course work and a 3-credit thesis (ENG 708). ENG 510 Research Methods and Critical Writing or another course with disciplinary methodology (ENG 505 Classical Rhetoric, ENG 563 Comparative Literature, or ENG 670 The Critical Tradition) should be taken in the first year of graduate study. There are no other required courses, but courses taken should represent a broad range of periods and subject matter.

The M.S. in English for Adolescence Education (Grades 7-12) or Middle Childhood Education (Grades 5-9) requires 18 credits in English, including ENG 510 Research Methods and Critical Writing. Additional English courses must be taken in five of six broad areas of study (early literature and language, literature of the English Renaissance, literature of the Restoration and eighteenth century, nineteenth-century British literature, American literature of any period, and modern literature of any country). There is a comprehensive written essay examination covering this course work in English. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction specifies credits in Education and the culminating experience of a portfolio on this work. Students without Education courses on the undergraduate level may need to take additional courses in Education. For further information contact the Graduate Advisor for Adolescence Education: 516-299-2123.

There also is a graduate program in Teaching English as a Second Language administered by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction: 516-299-2199.

Besides Teaching, What Can I Do?

While English is the proper pre-professional major for those intending to become teachers of English (and there will be a growing need for such teachers during the next decade), English is also an especially appropriate major for those intending to enter a wide variety of other professions. For example, with introductory courses in logic and Political Science, English is an excellent, traditional pre-law major, and with appropriate introductory sequences in the sciences, English is also an excellent pre-medical or pre-dental major. With a minor in Business or Computer Science, a student who majors in English will prepare especially well for many executive positions in business and government.

Courses in English strengthen the career preparation of students entering any line of work. Broad general knowledge, strong skill in written expression, and an ability to learn on the job are the qualifications most often sought by employers in every field. Studies show that an ability to learn new skills and procedures is an outstanding characteristic of those who have majored in English. In addition, a major in English gives a student the writing skills especially in demand in today’s job market.

While many C.W. Post graduates are indeed teachers, both at the secondary level and in colleges and universities (teachers of Spanish, music, and communications as well as English), a recent survey of graduates of the English program at C.W. Post reveals that respondents are working in a wide variety of jobs. Quite a number have published books (fiction, non-fiction, scholarship and poetry), and one works for a publisher. There are a number of magazine editors, and two are librarians. A dozen have earned Ph.D.’s (and one a D.A.). Others are in graduate school, not necessarily in English. Quite a few are lawyers. One is a policeman. One is a movie star. One is a college administrator. One manages a tennis court. One works for a catering service. One is a rabbi. One is a fashion model. Several work in big business, and one works for a big utility. Others are consultants. Two are chairs of English Departments, and two are high school principals. One is an executive secretary. Perhaps the most interesting finding of the survey is that almost everyone says that preparation in English has been helpful on the job–in broadening of understanding even if not more specifically in the interpreting of texts and in writing on the job.

Majoring in English is not a way to get the highest-paying entry-level job, but the records of the work force show that it is the surest preparation for moving up from an entry-level job to greater responsibility in almost any field. And the study of English helps develop a life of mind that improves anyone’s work and circumstances.