A lot of employers will be attending next week's career fair who are interested in hiring English majors for jobs and internships. A partial list of such employers can be found below.
The Fall Career Fair will take place next Wednesday, September 9, from 2:00 – 6:00 pm in the Finneran Pavilion. You can learn more about the fair on Handshake, and peruse a list of resources and events to help you prepare for the fair as well. Please do attend!
Four former Villanova English majors will discuss the work they do, the paths they took to their current jobs, and how their English studies contributed to their careers. The speakers will be Lawrence Flynn '17, Teaching Associate and MFA Candidate in Fiction at UMass Amherst; Lindsay Gallagher '22, Investment Banking Analyst at Barclays; Kashae Garland '22, Paralegal at The Faries Firm, Inc. and J.D. Candidate; and Amanda Gerstenfeld '20, Editorial Assistant at Yale University Press. Please register for the Zoom event here.
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Hi Villanova English!
My name is Amanda McKean and I am a senior English and Political Science major with the goal of going to law school in the future. As spring is around the corner and internship and job season is upon us, I wanted to share a few key pieces of information about my experience as a Career Center Ambassador and all the ways in which the Career Center and English Department work together to help English majors achieve their goals.
As a Career Center Ambassador, my role is to oversee front desk operations, including managing daily appointments and providing help/customer service to students and employees all across campus. In addition, over the past year I have become qualified to conduct resume reviews when students come in during our drop-in hours. During this time, myself, other CCAs, and our professional career counselors work with students to make their resume and cover the very best it can be while also answering questions they may have on interviewing, internship opportunities, and even tech issues regarding out platforms such Nova Network, Handshake, Big Interview, and LinkedIn. Lastly, you may see me around during some of the Career Center events that take place on campus helping out my coworkers to ensure everything runs smoothly.
If I could offer all English majors, from freshmen to seniors, three major pieces of advice based on my experience at the Career Center I would tell them:
SPECIAL NOTE: Career Center Services are for LIFE
● As an undergraduate and eventual alumni of Villanova, the Career Centers free services do not stop once you graduate. We have an entire department dedicated to our alumni so if at any point you want to change careers or jobs and need help, you can always come back or call and someone will help you.
● For more information you can click the link here.
For more information on the Career Center click here or call (610) 519-4060.
***If anyone is looking for a part-time student job, the Career Center is graduating a lot of Career Center Ambassadors like myself so they are looking for new applicants! It's a great way to connect with people who could help you get a job! ***
For more information on a potential student job at the Career Center, email laura.walker@villanova.edu or call (610) 519-4060.
The English major prepares you for so many careers. But don't take our word for it, listen to the podcast, "What are You Going to Do with That?" which interviews young professionals about how their humanities education shaped their careers. There are episodes on forging your own path, legal careers, tech careers, business, and the non-corporate ladder.
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| Will Corliss '25 |
"If I had to only pick one major to go to law school, it would be the English major."
When senior English major Will Corliss signed up for Professor Karen Graziano’s Legal Writing and Analysis course last spring, he probably wasn’t expecting to then find himself sitting in a courtroom, observing a real trial, that coming summer—but that’s exactly what happened. Will, who is currently applying to law schools for fall 2025, sat down with the Nova English blog to discuss his journey from a prospective bio major to a pre-law, psych and English double major—and how his journey with English contributed to his professional development.
In the spring of his junior year, Will took two undergraduate law-focused classes with Professor Graziano: Law and Modern Literature, and Legal Writing and Analysis.
According to Will, In Law and Modern Literature, “We were reading some classic texts and some modern texts. We started out with an autobiography called One L, which described a Harvard student’s experience in their first year of law school, and it’s a very good teaching point for pre-law students because you really get to learn about law school culture, about how it actually operates, and how it differs from college and any other educational setting you’ve ever been in.” The readings in the class not only touch on law in society, but also prepare students for the lived experience of integrating into the law profession.
But Law and Modern Literature is first and foremost a literature class, one with a focus on the role of law in society, culture, and the life of the individual as seen through the texts: “Other texts weave in how we see law in society. There was the classic Kafka novel The Trial, the famous play Twelve Angry Men… race and gender in law, and how that plays a role.” The class draws on a diverse cross-section of Villanova students: “The class is not exclusive to just English and pre-law students. I was classmates with pre-med students, pre-dental students, engineers, and tech majors.”
Legal Writing and Analysis is a different kind of course, one more focused on developing and applying the unique skills involved in legal writing and research. “In our academic setting,” notes Will, “we’re writing essays and arguing of course, but with legal writing it’s a very different style. It’s a different mentality, and a different way of gathering and using information.”
The class is primarily structured around a large, final project. “You create your own journal article,” says Will, “a legal journal article like one would see in a law review. We spent the bulk of the semester working on it, from the most basic elements, navigating Nexis Uni, which is a legal database for undergraduates. At the course’s end you submit your final, which is a polished version of this journal article, with the very first attempts at legal reasoning and Blue Book citations.”
Students are given a great deal of autonomy in choosing research subjects. “A lot of people would choose topics on the emergence of AI... a few people did education with book banning and censorship, affirmative action in the admissions process,” notes Will. “I chose the growing concerns and issues with artificial turf in the NFL. There has been lots of scrutiny in the past few years concerning non-contact-related injuries outside the nature of play. Even recently, the Eagles game against the Packers in São Paolo, Brazil, was under scrutiny—they played on a patchy field that many players slipped on. This made waves within the players’ union, the NFLPA. What I wanted to do was advocate for all teams across the league to use natural grass over artificial turf. I examined the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement and talked about some provisions in there—some alterations that could be made, some possible solutions.”
As part of the research for his paper, Will conducted two interviews with working lawyers: “I spoke with a lawyer named Brian J. Duff, name partner of a law firm based in Tom’s River and Hamilton, New Jersey. I had never met him; I didn’t know him before I read his journal article from 30 years ago talking about this issue. I reached out to him and talked to him for about an hour about this issue. It helped big time, not only with my paper, but also it turned into a networking and professional development opportunity.
“Over the summer, I was able to go to one of his local offices a few times, and most significantly observe him in a trial he was doing. It was a great and exciting experience for me to have, and I’m so glad that that was able to come about all due to a legal writing project.”
Professor Graziano emphasized the importance of Will’s professionalism and writing skills in being offered the internship opportunity. "After Will shared his final legal journal article with a lawyer he interviewed in the research process, I received an email from the lawyer with a glowing review stating how professional Will was and how outstanding his legal writing was as well. As a result of his professionalism and legal writing skills, Will was offered a professional development opportunity with the lawyer's office.”
As Professor Graziano notes, in praising Will’s initiative, "I have only received an email from an attorney who was interviewed for the course on a few occasions, and while over the years several of my legal writing students have created opportunities like Will's at law firms, it's always notable. It’s rare for undergraduates students to be offered an opportunity at a law firm based on their legal research and writing skills."
Will’s second interview for his paper was with a well-known Villanova professor. “I got to go over to the Villanova Law School and talk to the head of the Sports Law department, Professor Andrew Brandt. He was also formerly the Vice President for the Green Bay Packers. He brought a wealth of knowledge. He had some really great things to say about the issue and the Collective Bargaining Agreement, very different too. Speaking to somebody with an NFL background like that provided a lot of help with thinking of solutions.”
As Will describes it, “It was very cool even to get in that room and talk. That doesn’t happen without that project, the motivation, and the investigatory work that’s involved in it. It was a very formative experience in my academic journey here at Villanova.”
In summary, Will has found the English major to be largely beneficial in his path as a pre-law student. Initially, Will majored in Biology, but ultimately changed course. “I talked to a family friend who’s a lawyer. He had always said, ‘Major in the sciences and minor in English, because law school is so much reading and writing. If you can learn to read and write like that, at high volumes like that, you’ll be very well prepared as an undergraduate for law school.’ So I took that into consideration and thought, hold on, why not major in this instead? And also, in high school, I took AP Lit, I took AP Lang, and I liked them a lot. So it all made sense.”
Will found that the English major dovetailed perfectly with his professional and educational ambitions, from the aforementioned legal internship to valuable experience tutoring at the Writing Center. “I have accomplished much more in my pre-law journey as an English major,” says Will. “Formally, on my transcript, it will say that my primary major is Psychology and my second major is English, but anybody that’s heard me talk about my academic experience would definitely agree that it’s really the other way around. And it’s not a knock on the Psychology major at all, but I’ve always felt more that English was really my primary major. If I had to only pick one major to go to law school, it would be the English major. That’s because the skills are so liquid. Every essay is an argument. You’re crafting arguments and evidence through the texts. You’re reading a lot. You’re writing a lot. You’re becoming a better orator in class discussion. You are constantly sharpening the crucial skills for law school.”
Having gone through his academic and pre-professional experiences over the spring and the summer, Will is now focused on finishing out his senior year and applying to law school. “I spent the summer studying, crafting my personal statement, collecting input and feedback for my resume,” he notes. “As I continue the application process, I’ve always had the mentality of best fit over best school. It reminds me of my senior year of high school again. This whole way, I am just trying to remember that this is a privilege and a blessing to get to this point in the game. It’s not a bad thing—it might be daunting, but it’s not bad at all. It’s quite the opposite. And I am very grateful for the faculty of Villanova’s English department to allow me to tap into my potential.”
U. S. News and World Report just published an article, "Why Majoring in Humanities Can be a Great Career Move."
From the article:
It turns out that your parents were wrong. English majors – and others in humanities fields often seen as even less “marketable,” like philosophy and film studies – can get great jobs right out of college.
“The reason why our humanities interns are wanted is because they have research and writing skills,” says Jeffrey Cohen, dean of humanities at ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Those skills serve companies well.”
"I have little doubt that my late nights in Falvey prepared me for the pressures of the White House press briefing room (the West Wing could use a Holy Grounds, though)..."
-Thoughts from VU English Alum and current financial journalist J.D. Durkin
J.D. Durkin, VU English '09, has worked as a journalist and news anchor, and has recently begun anchoring the morning show for TheStreet live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He kindly took the time to answer some questions from us about his career path from English major to financial journalist (with pit stops in comedy and more).
Please describe your current job and what a typical day might look like.
I host a morning business show from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, so my prep starts the night before -- getting a jump on stories, gathering elements, and writing questions for my guests. I (try to) wake up in the 5am hour and read up on premarket data, and see if any big stories overseas may impact US news/markets later on. I'm at the NYSE by 8:30am and coordinating elements with my amazing producers (who are remote!), ready to go live for Opening Bell at 9:30am -- "The bell waits for no one," as they say. I usually write and shoot some packages in the afternoon, and spend a lot of my day researching and writing.
Before this, I was a White House and Capitol Hill correspondent where my days consisted of regular live shots, wrapping breaking news, attending press conferences/briefings, and talking to sources for my own reporting. I then pivoted to anchoring a nightly show, where I spent all day writing with an awesome team, followed by rehearsals, quick hair & makeup, then popping into the anchor chair.
What got you interested in journalism?
I sort of fell into it -- I always knew I wanted to work in TV, but the start of my career was on the comedy development side. I was hosting news-driven/late night shows on stage in New York, which meant learning a lot about politics/the media... in order to poke fun at it. In 2015 I was offered an actual newsroom position by Mediaite; with polish along the way from great mentors, I realized that although my path to get there was unique, my skills were well-suited for TV journalism. I quickly fell in love with the thrill of a good scoop, or a well-delivered news-making interview with a member of Congress. I've also been drawn to news jobs where I don't have to take myself too seriously, so I can still have a little comedic point-of-view. It's fun, but it's a huge privilege you can't ever take for granted. The viewers/readers/voters are the most important part of the work.
How did you develop your journalistic and anchoring skills?
I started performing at a pretty young age, silly stuff like school musicals (not to brag, but I was a mean Nathan Detroit in 8th grade). Most of my early performing was high school forensics, or speech and debate (my mother made me do it -- and man, she was right; mom's always are). I competed nationally for four years, and my event -- Original Oratory, or OO -- is how I started writing for myself. Being a TV news correspondent is adult forensics.
As an adult, my jump back into performing was improv/sketch comedy for years, often bombing on stage. It builds character, or so they say. I just kept going, and adding crafty little skills to my toolbelt along the way. Years later I started really studying the great anchors and TV personalities I admired -- their cadence, pacing, non-verbals. Properly studying the greats in the arena is a fun and important part of the process.
Do you draw on your English major skills or perspectives in your current role? If so, how so?
Sure, being an English major taught me that no matter how tight of a deadline I was facing, I could pretty reliably crank out a 10+ page paper in a pretty short amount of time. In broadcast, sometimes the deadlines are as tight as minutes, and you have to turn out accurate, solidly-sourced, smooth-sounding scripts/packages on the fly. I have little doubt that my late nights in Falvey prepared me for the pressures of the White House press briefing room (the West Wing could use a Holy Grounds, though).
What was your journey like from undergrad through to career?
Aeneid-sized twists and turns. But more or less:
The morning after graduation I moved to LA to make it "big" in TV, Entourage-style, because of course I did; there were big ups, and big downs; I slept in my car, performed basement improv shows to an audience of 3 people, and handed out my resume to every street vendor on Hollywood Boulevard to find work... but also somehow booked a movie and got into SAG. I moved to NYC, became a bartender to pay the bills while my main hustle was writing/performing live shows and could be closer to my family in Jersey. In my mid-20s, I focused a good bit of time teaching myself the parts of the industry I never learned, like how to shoot with a decent DSLR and edit my own videos. I was a writer's room PA for a few TV comedy shows, and joined Mediaite as Senior Editor, where I covered the historic 2016 election. Cheddar News launched as a TV network, and it was a well-timed fit; I started at the NYSE, but quickly moved to DC as a correspondent, anchor, reporter, you-name-it for 5.5 years. I covered two impeachments, Supreme Court nominations, countless White House briefings and Hill gaggles with grumpy Senators, and traveled to cover the President in Helsinki, Belgium, and Normandy. Now I'm back in New York at the NYSE for TheStreet, an incredible Wall St. institution, at a crucial time for the economy and our future, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Though I may have used the word "I" often in the last paragraph, the journey was only made possible by an astounding list of supportive family members, producers, stage managers, editors -- and friends from Villanova who came to my shows to support my career. I'm wildly grateful for them all.
Has there been culture shock involved in going from studying English at Villanova to reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange?
Not so much -- this is right for the moment I'm in. If I had gotten dropped onto the floor of the NYSE after graduation and asked to anchor a live TV show… I'd be clueless. But I've been out of school now for 13 years (what?!) so that's a lot of time to fail, learn, and hustle. As an English major, I had to learn the daily discipline of getting the icky stuff done, because the reading/writing load demanded it. I do the same thing now: the daily discipline of doing my best work.
What kind of advice would you give to current undergrads thinking about studying English? Or, if you’d prefer, what kind of advice do you wish you could go back in time to give to yourself as an undergrad?
You don’t have to have it all figured out right now! Don’t put too much stock in how your major “determines” your career path – things change. Just be open-minded, work your tail off, be a kind person, and don’t forget to put the work down to go to a ball game or an amazing concert. A beautiful part of the journey is responding to things as they pop up, and saying yes to challenges and opportunities as they arise in your life and career. I went from sleeping in my car to questioning the President in the same lifetime – neither of which I thought I would ever do when I was at Nova. I don’t know that my map is the best blueprint for others, but if it helps even one student, then it’s worth it to share.
And by the way… the correct answer to the endless question, “But what are you going to do with an ENGLISH degree?" is: literally anything I want.
