“It’s hard being looked down upon solely because of a choice in major. And getting a good job is more about who you are, who you know and how hard you’re willing to work.” – Emily Manos, second year Communication Studies student

“People underestimate how much work we have to do. For us, 14 hours of class a week is worth six units.” – Enzo Mattucci, third year Construction Management student

“The lack of funding, in comparison to other majors, is somewhat frustrating. That being said, since anthropology is such a young major, I have not heard much criticism from my peers and have watched the major grow substantially. I’ve always felt welcome and never looked down upon.” – Kyle Palazzolo, fifth year Anthropology student

“I feel like a lot of other majors are impressed by engineering majors. Since I’m in biomedical engineering, I don’t really have any issues because of my gender. But in mechanical engineering, for instance, you get looked down upon a lot for being a girl and are more likely to be stereotyped as being incapable.” – Megan Pottinger, third year Biomedical Engineering student

“I think that business majors are smart kids who chose their major based off of how much money they’re going to make from it while not having to do as much work. Everyone just focuses on the lazy aspect of that equation. But business is a great major for someone who isn't quite sure what they want to do because it leads to great job security and covers so many different career paths.” – Jared Ferguson, third year Business Administration student

“A lot of people who aren't in the College of Agriculture think that it's inferior. There’s also an assumption that being a business major is better than agricultural business. It's unfortunate, but it doesn't affect anybody, really. I don't feel stupid or anything because of it. It's really about what we were raised around and what we are passionate about. But my friend had a psychology class and the professor essentially called agriculture students dumb, and that's not cool or accurate.” – Darcie Castelanelli, second year Agricultural Business student

"While architecture is without a doubt one of the more time-consuming majors, I think it's unfair when people bash on the 'easier' majors at Cal Poly. Whenever people hear that I'm an architecture student, the response is generally, 'Oh my gosh, why? I could never do that.' The reality is, if I were a political science major, a business major, basically anything else, I'd probably be struggling more than I am now. Each field of study requires a distinct way of thinking, and I think it's unfair to put down one person's passion in order to build up another's.” – Erica Snyder, third year Architecture student

There are two things that are wrong with this collection of quotes. First of all, some are negative, which is obviously not ideal. But mainly, the problem is that they are all different. There shouldn’t be such a large discrepancy between these students in terms of their feelings about their respective majors and others’ perceptions of them – they should all feel comfortable, welcome and, most of all, equal to the rest of the student body.

We are a polytechnic university, so it is only natural that there is more emphasis on STEM as opposed to other areas of study. But this does not make it acceptable for there to be such a clearly established major hierarchy. We would all do well to acknowledge that some of us are, indeed, better than others – but at different things, that is. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and the sooner we learn to accept and recognize this, the closer we will be to achieving a more inclusive and comfortable academic environment at Cal Poly.

I have a lot of memories from my freshman year. The vast majority of them are quite positive, and I enjoy looking back on them. But one stands out in particular that’s not so pleasant. I vividly remember sitting in the study lounge of my dorm one day, finishing a few chapters of assigned reading. Even with my headphones on, and a continuous flow of gentle melodic tunes in my ears, I couldn’t help but overhear a group of guys talking a few tables away from me. One of their voices rang clearly over the others; and although I can’t recall his exact words, the message was quite clear. He was mocking English and communications majors, criticizing the lack of intelligence they required, and the lack of career prospects they offered. Standing at the head of the table while the rest of his friends – and the entire study lounge – remained seated, he was looking down on liberal arts majors in every sense of the word. Finally, when he paused for a moment, I ripped out my earphones and stood up as well. “I’m a communications major”, I declared. The entire room went silent. His cheeks immediately flushed red from embarrassment to match mine (albeit from anger). He stammered and barely managed a couple of sentences about how he wasn’t talking about me, of course, and that I was the exception to the rule. But that’s exactly the problem; I’m not the exception to the rule. The vast majority of my fellow COMS majors are knowledgeable, hard-working and intelligent students – but most fail to realize this.

However, I’ll be the first to admit that communications is not the hardest major. Compare it to, for instance, engineering. In the College of Engineering, there are 12 different programs and majors – and, for the most part, they all require at least 185 units to graduate, higher than the average 180 units for most other majors. In fact, mechanical engineering can require up to 202 units, depending on the concentration chosen. And it doesn’t stop there. Engineering classes are not typically four units; they usually range from two to four. Accounting for the increased number of units and greater number of classes required, engineering is more difficult just based on these numbers alone. And then there’s the content itself, which is so far beyond my comprehension that I don’t even know how to explain what exactly it is that they are studying.

That being said, communications is no walk in the park. I have countless chapters of reading to do per week. And when I’m enrolled in all major classes, my weekly reading often creeps northward of 200 pages. In the duration of one quarter, when I was in all COMS classes, I had to write 12 papers. This may not be linear analysis, or thermodynamics, or computer programming, but it is certainly still difficult. And while we need to avoid sweeping generalizations, I think it is safe to say that many STEM majors might not enjoy or excel at writing 12 papers in a quarter. Just as I know that I probably would have dropped out of Cal Poly long ago if I were a STEM major. But there have been countless benefits for me as a COMS major. I’ve had more time to pursue outside interests because my workload is mostly manageable. If I were studying something else, I might not be able to enjoy the two jobs I currently have (writing articles such as these being one of them) because I wouldn’t have as much free time. I’m also double minoring in Spanish and Integrated Marketing Communications because I have more flexibility in my schedule and major in general. And I’m truly passionate about what I’m learning. Is COMS the best major? No. But it’s the best major for me.

Another oft-voiced stereotype that I’m more than happy to dispel is that business students are lazy because they don’t have Friday classes and don’t know what they want to do with their careers. I spent most of my time freshman year in the business dorm, Tenaya Hall, and saw firsthand that this is not necessarily true. First of all, not having Friday classes doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t taking as many units – the classes are just concentrated from Monday through Thursday. And while always having a three-day weekend sounds appealing, often this extra day is simply used for more studying. As for the assumptions that business majors don’t know what they want to do with their lives – this is true for many. But, if we all look back at our senior year of high school, most of us were probably 17 years old when we applied for colleges. I don’t know many 17 year olds who have already decided their exact career path. This uncertainty is complicated even further by the fact that Cal Poly requires you to declare a major upon applying. Can you really blame someone for not having an idea of what they want to do for the rest of their lives when they’re not even a legal adult yet? So it’s only logical to study something all-encompassing that will give you the greatest amount of career options and allow you to explore your interests more. Of course, business can be an easy major depending on how much work you put into it. Many majors at Cal Poly can be as easy as you want them to be. But this does not mean we should call them all, without exception, “easy majors”.

At the end of the day, every single major at Cal Poly has its own stereotypes. Business majors are inherently lazy and don’t work hard because they don’t have Friday classes. Liberal arts majors aren’t intelligent and won’t have high paying careers after graduation. Agriculture majors are all cowboys and cowgirls who drive trucks and just do manual labor in the fields. Engineering majors are nerds and lack social skills. But these stereotypes all have one thing in common: they’re completely inaccurate. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and together this diversity makes us stronger. So this finals week, I encourage you all to avoid comparing your workloads in your respective majors and instead simply support each other. And even if someone else in one major has more work than someone else in a different one – so what? This is not a reflection of our character or our intelligence; it is solely a reflection of what we are studying. College is hard enough as it is without the constant judgment from our peers, so let's get rid of this major hierarchy and work to recognize - and respect - our differences.