Career Options In The Arts Stream

Arts is a pretty broad-ranged category, so  we have picked the top 3 professions to  get into after pursuing  Arts.

Arts :

• Writer/Journalist/Editor

There are many jobs a writer can take up – they can be a freelancer or a manuscript writer, an author, a scriptwriter- it’s  your call on what kind of writing you’d like to do. For most jobs, a Bachelor of Arts in English, Journalism or Communications is preferred.  In case you’re going to be writing for a specific field, you should specialize in that field too, for example, writing for healthcare or business. A lot of writers also might have an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts which can be useful for the future.

Journalists are the people who write about current events in a newspaper or talk about it on  news channels To pursue this career, the best course to do after 12th grade would be a Mass Communication degree , which teaches you what journalism is, how to become one, etc.  It also helps in communicating  news effectively and  to a large group of people.

Becoming an Editor is actually one of the last steps in writing and journalism, unless you start your own venture, which take you in the entrepreneurship line as well as being the Editor of the magazine or newspaper. There’s no specific course for this, either Bachelor of Arts in English  or a Mass Communication degree.

An editor doesn’t necessarily have to be that of a magazine or a newspaper,  but also an editor for a movie script or an editor in a book publishing company. An editor is the middle man between the writer and the audience, trying to keep both parties happy. They usually go over the written piece and edit it to check if there’s anything wrong or if something sounds better another way, and  give advice to the writers. Every college has a different percentage needed in 12th grade boards to pursue English, but your English marks have to be pretty good (around 90%).

• Psychologist

A psychologist is a specialist in the  field of psychology, but they are not the same as psychiatrists. Psychiatrists use medicines to help cure people, whereas psychologists use talking as a method of therapy. A Psychologist is someone who diagnoses and treats the mentally or emotionally disturbed. There are three courses you can take up to become a psychologist. At the Undergraduate level, Bachelor of Arts , BA Honours or a Bachelor of Science in Psychology is suitable, all of them being a duration of 3 years. Post your Bachelor’s Degree, a Masters would be preferable. Psychologists are of two types –

Cognitive and Counselling Psychologists – the ones that provide mental health care.

And Research Psychologists – the ones that discover theories and perform them, find more information on the mental diseases, etc.

• Fashion/Interior Designer

To get into  any design school, you should have a portfolio of your art pieces, and you should be able to pass the entrance exam of whichever design institute you apply to. These entrance exams are usually very tough, therefore you will have to practise a lot.

Many schools in India do not offer Art as a subject, therefore to build a portfolio you will have to take time and create the type of art that interests you. If you are fortunate to be studying in a school that does offer Art, you can submit the pieces that were done in school. There is no particular percentage  requirement for your 12th grade boards,  but if you have Art as a subject, make sure you do exceptionally well..

The list below mentions the top colleges to apply to, for the Commerce and Arts streams.

Top colleges for Arts in India

• University of Delhi, Delhi
• Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi
• St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
• Ferguesson College, Pune