Careers & Outcomes

Careers after Comparative Literature 

Comparative Literature and Comparative Arts majors find internships and jobs--in the United States and abroad--where they do research, write and edit, or teach, while gaining experience and learning about fields as diverse as the environment and the arts and entertainment industries.

Majors in Comparative Literature can enter degree programs in professional fields including Journalism, Law, Librarianship, and Business. Majors can study Education, to become certified to teach literature or languages in a high school. Or they can pursue a graduate degree in Comparative Literature or a national literature in preparation for a career in teaching and research at a college or university.

Where our alumni are working

With 94% of reporting graduates secured opportunities within 6 months of graduation, WashU CompLit majors have gone on to graduate studies, internships, academia, and have been employed in fields such as education, advertising and media, marketing, research, and journalism.  Here are just a few of the top destinations for WashU CompLit major graduates.

Post-Grad Employers: 

  • athenahealth
  • Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute
  • College Board
  • Epic
  • French Government
  • Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C.
  • Gemdale Group
  • Giorgio Armani Corporation
  • John Wiley and Sons
  • Marvel Television
  • Match Education
  • Meta
  • NASCAR
  • New York Times
  • Overlook Press
  • The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
  • Time Inc
  • US Dept of Defense

Internships:

  • ACRIA
  • Converse
  • Dollars & Sense Magazine
  • DREAM Project
  • Fidelity Investments
  • GCAM
  • Georgio Armani Corporation
  • Literacy Volunteers of America
  • Mission City Community Network
  • National Geographic Society
  • NOW: National Organization for Women
  • Rob Voeman Studio
  • St. Louis Crisis Nursery
  • The Berman Group
  • Viget Labs
  • Washington University in St. Louis

 

I entered college thoroughly undecided on my major and took courses in my widely ranging areas of interest—literature, film, writing, Spanish. Then one day my World Literature professor handed me a pamphlet about the Comparative Arts major. I flipped through it and was astounded to find that my interests weren’t as irreconcilable as I had once believed them to be—they all belonged to one major! I was immediately sold on the Comparative Arts because of the flexibility it grants to students with diverse interests.

―Lily PinchoffComparative Arts Major