English Professional Writing
Go All In With Writing and Literature
Are you captivated by the beauty and potential of the written word? Turn your passion into a career with a major in English Professional Writing at Elizabethtown College. Etown's program prepares you for future success with specialized writing skills and client-based projects.
English Professional Writing majors have found fulfilling careers as book editors, social media managers, lawyers, content creators, and more.
What Can I Do With a Degree in English Professional Writing?
Hands-on learning through an internship will help you know what you really want out of your future career. Our English Professional Writing internship coordinator can help match you with industry contacts in Harrisburg, Lancaster, Hershey, and the surrounding area. We know you care about career outcomes. The English Department partners with Etown’s Career Development Center to provide you with a host of professional development experiences. You can count on career counseling, opportunities to learn from recent alumni, access to mock interviews, and application support throughout your time as an English Professional Writing major.
Develop Marketable Skills to Boost Your Career Prospects
Begin curating your portfolio of experiences while you complete your English Professional Writing degree at Etown. You can write for our campus newspaper or literary magazine, complete on-campus internships, or learn from course projects that serve the needs of real-world clients.
Immerse Yourself in Rich Literature and Learn with Passionate Mentors
The English Professional Writing major gives you access to practical communication skills in the writing-based courses and deeper literary awareness in the accompanying literature courses. When you learn alongside our literature experts, reading a text can turn into unraveling a captivating mystery. Recent literature courses have included Indigenous literature, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Romantic poets, and medical themes in graphic narratives.
Unleash Your Creativity with Creative Writing at Etown
Etown alumni recognize the value of the creative writing classes they took at Etown. The experience aids them in thinking outside the box when they write on the job. As an English Professional Writing major, you will find supportive writing faculty who will challenge you to think and write in new ways. From poetry to fiction to memoir, you can continue to develop your voice and nurture your passion for creativity.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
English Minors
The Creative Writing Minor at Etown gives you access to gifted instructors—published poets, fiction writers, and memoirists. Maybe you never want to stop writing. Consider adding a Creative Writing minor to your English major.
The English Literature Minor and the English Professional Writing Minor are structured as condensed versions of the fully-fledged concentrations. A Literature minor takes several literature courses to develop a basic understanding of literature. A Professional Writing minor takes courses to gain fundamental skills in both writing and reading comprehension.
Clubs and Activities
English offers major and non-major students a number of ways to engage in industry-related experiences right on campus. Our students can hone their writing abilities outside of the classroom with a wide variety of extra-curricular activities.
The Etownian
Etown's Student Newspaper
Our student-run newspaper is published weekly during the academic year. Join the editorial staff and contribute your writing to campus conversations.
Fine Print
Etown's Literary Magazine
Student editors curate poetry, prose, and visual submissions to the magazine from students and members of the college community.
English Honors in the Discipline
Meritorious senior students work side-by-side with faculty mentors on advanced projects of their choice. In the past students have designed graphic memoirs, written YA novels, analyzed Indigenous literature, and conducted research on web marketing.
The Bowers Writers House
The Bowers Writers House at Elizabethtown College, founded in 2010, serves as an interdisciplinary hub for creative expression, study, presentations, and performances. It fosters a culture of "creative curiosity" by hosting free public events, including dramatic readings, musical performances, and interactive sessions, promoting intellectual diversity within the college and the wider community.