Should I go to college for writing?

As February comes to a close, spring is upon us. For seniors in high school, there is another level of pressure: it’s time to decide about college.

I’m 25 and I still remember the stress and crushing doubt of spring semester of senior year (both in high school and college—yay grad school!). Of course there are lots of good memories from those times, but deciding where to go to school and what to major in are big decisions. One of the biggest questions I hear from younger writers is this: should I go to college to study writing?

It’s a difficult and important question, and I’ll be honest that it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. I have a B.A. in English literature with a concentration in creative writing, so I thought I would take a moment to share my experience of studying writing in college and give you some more info as you make your decision.

Pros

You will learn a lot, if you’re in the right program
This is the most obvious reason to study writing in college. If you put in the work, your writing skills will improve and you’ll be a stronger writer when you graduate than when you started. But a big caveat is that you need to be in the right program. If you decide to major in English or creative writing, be sure to properly investigate what the program requires, how you get along with the professors, what their alumni have published, and other details.

You can find a mentor
When you go to college, you’ll be surrounded by professors and upperclassmen who are further along in their writing journey than you are. This means it’s a prime place to find a mentor to help guide you in your writing. While you can absolutely find a mentor outside of college, in many cases it is easier to find one in college.

Publication opportunities
The first time I had a short story published was in my university’s literary journal. There are, obviously, plenty of places to publish outside of a university, but college offers a unique atmosphere for publication. For one thing, unless you’re at an Ivy League school or something, it will be less competitive, even if it’s open to the public, as my school’s was. That doesn’t mean it’s lower quality however. I still had to go through a couple rounds of revisions to be published, and was rejected the first time I submitted. But it was a great way to learn about the process of publishing and how to take criticism. If you really love it, you’ll probably also have the chance to be on the editorial board which will also help improve your writing and editing skills.

Finding a community
In college you’ll make a community, both with other writers and with people who have never written a word more than is required. Both of these groups are important! Just like there are plenty of potential mentors, your writing classes will be chock full of people who love to read and write. If you’ve never really met people like that before, it’s an amazing experience, and it’s great to make lifelong friends who share your love of writing. Likewise, it’s important to make friends who don’t study what you do. Some of my best friends studied math, physics, or Spanish. While I have no desire to major in any of these things, surrounding yourself with new ideas and various interests is a critical part of becoming a better and more interesting writer. And, of course, I just love these people and they are encouraging in all aspects of my life, not just writing.

Personal growth
This is the biggest reason, in my opinion, to go to college. Regardless of what you study, you’ll grow immensely, just as a human. College is full of ups and downs, and learning to navigate them all will teach you more than you can imagine. Additionally, you’ll likely be required to take classes outside your major. Although it can be frustrating to be forced to take math when you just want to be a published author, these other topics are important and can ultimately help your writing, just like having friends who are non-writers.

Cons

Money
I won’t lie: college is expensive. And only getting more so. The money should definitely be a factor when considering if college is the right choice for you. It may be better to take time off to save, or maybe go to a different college that is cheaper, even if it’s not quite as good. Or maybe not go at all and just focusing on writing and working. It will be different for each person, but don’t discount the cost when thinking of college.

Time
College, typically, takes four years, and might take more if you need to go more slowly or fail some classes. If your goal is to be a published author, going to college doesn’t mean you have to delay that goal (I interviewed author Katherine Ormsbee who got her agent at age 20 while in school), but it will mean you have to focus more to balance your writing with classes, having a social life, and the other parts of college.

You won’t just be writing 24/7
Especially if you’re an English major and not a straight creative writing major, you’ll spend a lot of your time reading classical literature and discussing it, as opposed to writing. This is an important way to improve your writing, but do realize that you may not spend all of your class time just writing and critiquing writing.

Some things won’t feel relevant to you
This is particularly true if you write “genre” stories. I was actually told at the start of a short story writing class that we weren’t allowed to write anything but “literary” fiction. I’d like to think that in some departments this negative view of genre fiction is changing, but if that’s where your passions lie, it will be important to 1) look for a department that will let you write all the fantasy/sci-fi/romance/whatever you want and 2) recognize that you’ll still probably spend a lot of time studying novels that are a different genre than what you want to write. This is still a great way to learn and improve your writing, but it’s helpful to know going in.

A degree doesn’t mean everything in publishing
Ultimately, when you’re querying agents and trying to get published, your story and your writing is going to matter most. Most agents aren’t going to read your manuscript and say, ‘Wow, they’re a great writer and I love this idea, but they don’t have a degree in writing, so I have to say no.’ So don’t believe that you absolutely must have a degree to get published. The benefit of a degree is that it can help you get your writing to that point of ‘wow I can’t put this down’ faster than working through it on your own might.

Whether or not you should go to college for writing will be up to each individual. You might figure out a compromise, like taking a gap year to work on writing and then going to school if you haven’t hit a certain writing goal. Or maybe you should go to college and major in something else, while still taking some writing classes. It’s a big decision, so take time to think it over and talk to your parents. But also remember that no decision you make is final. You can always change majors or even schools. You can drop out of college and rejoin, or not go to begin with and then go back years later. I say this to remind you that while it’s a big decision, it doesn’t have to be permanent.

What do you think about going to college to study writing? Did you get a writing-related degree? Do you regret it or recommend it to people? Let me know in the comments!

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