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Major · English & Letters

The umbrella major for writing as a discipline, before specialization

Writing, General (CIP 23.1301) is the broad-scope writing major — sitting between Creative Writing (23.1302) and Professional/Technical/Business/Scientific Writing (23.1303). About 488 students complete it across 96 institutions, with five-year median earnings of $49,216 across all completers.

Schools offering
96
Annual completions
488
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$49k

About this major

Writing, General (CIP 23.1301) is the umbrella writing major that sits between named siblings like Creative Writing (23.1302) and Professional/Technical/Business/Scientific Writing (23.1303). The CIP definition centers on writing across multiple genres, modes, and media — document design, writing technologies, research and information use, editing and publishing, theories and processes of composing, rhetorical analysis, and communication across audiences and contexts. Coursework typically pairs drafting and revision workshops with rhetoric, editing, and digital-publishing classes, often capped by an internship or portfolio capstone. Programs labeled “Writing” without a sub-discipline tend to land in this CIP; that breadth is the major’s point and its honest limitation.

This major fits students who want to take writing seriously as a discipline before locking into a single track. Strong reading and revision instincts help, along with comfort moving across journalism, professional, and creative modes. Curiosity about a content domain — software, healthcare, finance, government, the arts — pays off later, because the better-paid lanes pair writing skill with subject-matter knowledge. A portfolio and clip file built during college matter more than GPA for most landing roles.

One grounded observation about scale: 488 students complete this CIP across 96 institutions, with five-year median earnings of $49,216 and a narrow associate-to-bachelor’s split ($44,392 vs $49,322). The named SOC destinations point to writers ($72,270), editors ($75,260), and technical writers ($91,670) as bachelor’s-entry roles — meaningfully above the all-completers median, suggesting that early-career freelance and content work weighs the figure down before salaried writing roles pull it back up. The producer list is dominated by regional public universities, signaling that this is a working-student major rather than a private-elite track.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Postsecondary teachers, all other $78k +1.8% Doctoral or professional degree
Writers and authors $72k +3.6% Bachelor's degree
Editors $75k +0.6% Bachelor's degree
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary $78k 0.0% Doctoral or professional degree
Technical writers $92k +0.9% Bachelor's degree
Proofreaders and copy markers $49k -0.6% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$49k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$44k

Bachelor's

$49k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you want a writing-first humanities major without committing yet to fiction, journalism, or technical communication, you read carefully and revise your own work without being prompted to, you’re curious about a content domain such as healthcare, software, finance, or the arts and willing to learn its vocabulary, you’re comfortable building a portfolio and clip file outside of class hours through campus publications, internships, or a Substack with real readers, or you’re weighing a stacked master’s later in technical communication, journalism, or a domain like public health for medical writing.

Think twice if you want fiction or poetry as your primary craft — Creative Writing (CIP 23.1302, 3,403 completions) is the closer match. Reconsider if you want college-level English teaching, since both named postsecondary SOCs require doctoral degrees, or if you’re drawn primarily to literary analysis, where English Language and Literature, General (CIP 23.0101, 26,983 completions) is the better-fit code. Reconsider if you’re hoping that the major itself guarantees the named technical-writer wage of $91,670 — that destination usually requires domain knowledge and a portfolio on top of the bachelor’s. Generative AI has compressed entry-level commodity copywriting, so the durable lanes (regulated writing, B2B trade journalism, UX content, DevRel, instructional design) increasingly reward specialization on top of the writing major itself.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Writing, General

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 0 34 34
Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI 0 30 30
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO 0 21 21
University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA 0 20 20
El Paso Community College El Paso, TX 19 0 19
Western Connecticut State University Danbury, CT 0 19 19
University of Wisconsin-Superior Superior, WI 0 19 19
Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA 0 16 16
Champlain College Burlington, VT 0 15 15
Goucher College Baltimore, MD 0 15 15
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

English Language and Literature, General

26,983 completions/yr

Communication, General

9,537 completions/yr

Journalism

8,274 completions/yr

Mass Communication/Media Studies

6,797 completions/yr

Creative Writing

3,403 completions/yr

Rhetoric and Composition

1,071 completions/yr

Broadcast Journalism

672 completions/yr

Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other

660 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Writing, General majors actually study day-to-day?
The CIP definition centers on writing across genres, modes, and media — document design, writing technologies, research and use of information, editing and publishing, theories of composing, rhetorical analysis, and communication across audiences and contexts. Day-to-day, that means workshops where you draft and revise across non-fiction, professional, and digital formats, paired with rhetoric and editing courses. Many programs build in internship sequences with campus publications, local papers, nonprofits, or campus marketing offices so students leave with a portfolio rather than just a transcript. Read the syllabus before you commit — two “Writing, General” programs at different schools can look very different in their tilt toward journalism, professional writing, or creative work.
How is this different from Creative Writing, Professional/Technical Writing, or English Lit?
Creative Writing (CIP 23.1302, 3,403 completions) is fiction, poetry, and literary craft, and feeds MFA programs. Professional/Technical/Business/Scientific Writing (CIP 23.1303) is applied — documentation, technical writing, and corporate content. English Language and Literature, General (CIP 23.0101, 26,983 completions) is canon, literary analysis, and the broader English degree that ramps to teaching certs, MA-English, or pre-law. Writing, General (23.1301) is the umbrella code that sits across these — many programs that label themselves “Writing” don’t fit cleanly into one named sub-CIP, so universities use 23.1301 as the catchall. If you’re weighing this against a sibling, read the syllabus, not the CIP.
What jobs do graduates end up in?
The named SOC destinations are writers and authors ($72,270 median, bachelor’s entry, 3.6% growth), editors ($75,260, bachelor’s entry, 0.6% growth), technical writers ($91,670, bachelor’s entry, 0.9% growth), and proofreaders ($49,210, bachelor’s entry, -0.6% growth). Two postsecondary-teaching catchalls round out the list at $78,490 and $78,270 but require doctoral degrees. Off-list landing spots common to this CIP include content marketing, UX writing at SaaS companies, developer documentation, grant writing for nonprofits, scientific or medical writing (usually with additional study), instructional design and corporate L&D, and trade-press journalism. The better-paid lanes pair writing with subject-matter depth — finance, software, healthcare, regulated industries.
Is generative AI compressing this career path?
Yes, at the entry-level and commodity end. Generative AI tools (GPT-class models, Claude, Gemini) have collapsed pricing for product descriptions, basic blog posts, social-media calendars, and routine knowledge-base content — hourly content-mill rates fell sharply in 2023-2025. The durable lanes are writing where liability, regulation, or specialized access matters: FDA-regulated medical and pharma writing, FAA and aviation, financial disclosures and compliance, B2B trade journalism (Politico Pro, Bloomberg Industry, Stat News), UX writing inside SaaS product teams, instructional design, and developer documentation at companies with complex products. The named technical-writer growth of 0.9% and editor growth of 0.6% reflect this slow-churn picture — not a booming hiring market.
Is the $49,216 median earnings figure realistic for this major?
It’s the honest five-year median across all 488 completers, including freelancers undercounted by tax-record matching, copywriters at mid-market firms, junior editors at trade publications, and content marketers at well-funded startups. The named SOC wages — $72,270 for writers, $75,260 for editors, $91,670 for technical writers — are the destinations the better-paid graduates reach later, often after a portfolio plus city presence (NYC, SF, DC) or a domain pivot. Don’t read the CIP-level median as a guarantee. The best-paid writers from this CIP typically come from programs with strong internship pipelines, build a clip file before graduation, and pivot into specialized lanes (UX, regulated writing, B2B journalism, content strategy) rather than staying in general copywriting.
Which programs produce the most graduates in this major?
Top producers are The University of Texas at Austin (34 bachelor’s completions), Grand Valley State University (30), University of Colorado Denver (21), University of Washington–Tacoma (20), El Paso Community College (19, associate’s), Western Connecticut State University (19), and University of Wisconsin–Superior (19), followed by Georgia Southern, Champlain College, and Goucher College (15 each). The 488 total completions across 96 institutions is small for a humanities CIP — most universities roll their writing students into the broader English Language and Literature, General code (23.0101, 26,983 completions) or into the named sibling CIPs (23.1302 Creative Writing, 23.1303 Pro/Tech Writing). The producer list is mostly regional public universities and a few liberal-arts colleges; this is a working-student major rather than a private-elite boutique.