When you think of writing careers, how many of us automatically think of English majors?  Surprisingly, most people believe that they’ll need good writing skills for their future careers but completely underestimate the actual amount that they will write.  This causes a lot of student to not develop their writing skills the way that they should – which makes them unimpressive candidates for careers they would otherwise excel in and want to do. In the case that you aren’t an English major, here is a list of some of the top careers that require you to write that may not require you to be an English major.

Careers in law: whether you want to be a lawyer or want to work in a law firm without having to go law school, any career having to do with law will require a lot of writing.

Curriculum developers: For my education majors, whether you’re creating a lesson plan or writing a national curriculum, there is a lot of writing that you will have to do in the future.

Data analyst/researcher: Whether you are planning to work with numbers, create your own research, or analyze previous research, you will find yourself doing this through writing more often than through verbal presentation.

Medical writer: This profession requires you to be able to take complex and specific concepts within healthcare and translate them into more user-friendly phrases.  You should be knowledgable in writing and in science skills.

Content marketing manager: In this job you will be responsible for writing and putting into practice a company’s content whether it’s social media, broadcast, or otherwise.  Both the creation and execution of this career require you to write lots and do it well.

Web development careers: any website you visit was more than likely designed by people in these careers.  And considering that audio and visual haven’t been integrated well into the development of websites, you can expect to incorporate lots of writing into your designs.

Health science professions:  Similar to a medical writer, but most of the writing in this career goes from the business to the consumer.  You must be able to explain medical concepts in a way that the average person can understand.

Historian: If you love history, you’d better learn to love writing as historians are often required to write about the history they are studying.

Scientist: If you plan to go into a field that does any kind of scientific research, you will learn to be well-versed in writing.  From research papers to case studies, to reports, scientist do just as much writing as they do experimenting.

Technical writing: Has the same skills as a medical writer but in a more general sense.  Technical writers are more flexible in transferring their skills because they are often expected to work in several different industries throughout their careers.

So the next time you think that writing careers are only for English majors, think again.  A word of advice, do some research into the career field you want to go into and see exactly how much writing you will be expected to do and at what level.