Well, you might find that you like teaching. If you want to do this when you get back stateside, you’ll need a degree and a teaching credential (that’s how it is Cal. anyways. Not sure about the rest of the country, although I assume you’ll need a degree and some sort of credential). It depends on what grade/age level you’d want to teach, along with what subject(s).
If you want to teach English in high school or junior high, I believe you need a degree in that subject, along with a single-subject teaching credential. If you want to teach a different subject, I’m not really sure what you can do with an English degree, but you’ll probably have to take some minimum amount of units in that particular subject. You might not have to actually get another degree, in say, math if you want to teach that. I could be wrong though.
So if you want to teach, you won’t be too far away once you get back, especially considering you’ll already have some experience under your belt.
If you don’t want to teach, to be honest, I have no fucking clue what you could do with an English degree. There’s always some thread on here about someone who has a degree, or is about to get a degree or whatever, and they are absolutely petrified to the point of paralysis about the possibility that they might not be able to get a job in their field when they graduate or by the possibility that they’ll graduate and then realize they have no fucking clue what they want to do in life.
In all honesty, this mindset isn’t uncommon at all for people in your position. Keep in mind that you don’t have to have some sort of master plan ready to enact once they hand you that piece of paper on graduation day. I hate to say something as meaningless as “you’ll figure it out”, but…you’ll figure it out. Or maybe you won’t. Who knows? The point is that at 24 y/o you don’t have to have everything figured out and have your life mapped out for you. Uncertainty should be embraced because it represents the unknown, adventure, change, etc etc. With a degree firmly in hand, you’ll have much more options at your disposal, so I’d say the most important thing is to get the degree first and worry about what you’ll do with it once you have it. As you start going back to school you’ll probably start to figure things out more anyways. Attend job fairs at school, talk to some of your professors, talk to your fellow classmates about what they’ll do with their English degree (assuming this is the degree you go back to earn).
Just don’t turn into one of these whiny motherfuckers totally disconnected from reality who’s ready to commit suicide over a lack of good job prospects once you graduate. Stick with it and keep in mind that whatever disillusionment you experience with the job market or your future is easier to come to terms with when you have a college degree.
