English Language and Literature at Willamette University

Willamette's English program lands graduates in the 60th percentile among Oregon English degrees—a meaningful achievement given the small sample size. First-year earnings of $32,863 beat both the state median ($28,836) and the national benchmark ($29,967), suggesting the program and institution's reputation translate to slightly better career outcomes than typical for this major. The $20,250 in debt sits below both state and national medians, though at the 78th percentile nationally it's higher than ideal.

The real concern here is what these numbers mean practically: earning $33,000 while managing $20,000 in debt is tight, even with a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.62 that looks reasonable on paper. For context, Willamette's 79% admission rate and solid SAT scores suggest a respectable private institution, but you're paying private school prices for outcomes that, while above average for English majors, still land squarely in liberal arts territory. The relatively low Pell grant percentage (22%) indicates this school primarily serves families with means.

If your child is passionate about English and you can afford Willamette without excessive borrowing, the program performs competently. But the small sample size means one or two outlier graduates could be skewing these numbers significantly. For a risk-averse family, Oregon State delivers comparable outcomes at likely lower cost, and its larger program size offers more reliable data.