Artistic and Analytic
How My Creative Writing Secondary Major Has Added Value to My Degree
Written By Olivia Peters, Arts Staff Writer and illustrated by Jessica Tenenbaum, Graphics Team Member
A creative writing major is generally not something that’s thought highly of by our society. It’s lumped together with a pool of other liberal arts majors such as art, dance and theater. I’d describe all of these majors as catering to the finer things in life. They’re essential for a beautiful culture; however, most parents dissuade their kids from pursuing artistic majors in the context of university. Why? Because these majors don’t always have a clear path to steady income like business, science and engineering do.
Negative public opinion and pressure from my parents is probably why I enrolled in the Wisconsin School of Business for marketing. I had a desire for stability. I genuinely do like this major, and I’m good at it, but it’s not my passion. I love to write.
My sophomore year, I was absolutely busting my butt. I was in a lot of analytical classes, joined a very active business club and had a job. Yet at the end of each day, I wasn’t left with the feeling that my work was building towards something I was going to be proud of. I wasn’t happy. So I declared a dual degree.
I was going to get degrees in both marketing through the Wisconsin School of Business and creative writing through the College of Letters and Sciences. It would mean a ton of extra work for me — there’s zero overlap between the two — but I knew it’d be worth it. Even if I didn’t use writing in my career, I could develop my craft and write for fun. Little did I know, however, how useful my creative writing degree would prove to be.
I’ve taken classes about dialect and grammar. I’ve read and written critically about historical texts, racism and feminism. I’ve learned and been graded on editing others’ work and giving and taking adequate feedback. When people think English, they probably don’t realize how holistic of an education it is. The tools I’ve gained from the major are invaluable to employers; I just have to be able to articulate what being an English major truly means in order to get my foot in the door.
Marketing is a broad field with a lot of different positions within, depending on a person’s aptitudes. Combining it with English actually positioned me to get exactly the sort of jobs I wanted within the marketing industry: the copy and communications ones. Pairing an artistic degree with a more analytical degree has set me apart from other marketing majors.
I was hired as a merchandising marketing intern for this upcoming summer with a large company. In one of my rounds of interviews, a manager told me point-blank that they felt the combination of my two degrees was valuable and intriguing. After the interview, I called my mom to share the news and sat in my car smiling. This is the moment that I realized writing doesn’t have to be a hobby for me. I can make it a part of my everyday life.
Writing is a valuable skill no matter what career path you choose. What I’ve discovered beyond that though is that everything you are passionate about can add great value to your learning. Art history, sculpting, interpretive dance — it doesn’t matter what it is. Each interest or passion you pursue sets you apart. The key to professional success is to know how to spin and present your experiences to employers in a way that shows you’re an asset. An unconventional educational path may be your point of difference that ends up getting you the opportunities you once thought were out of reach.