If you're an English major, you know these struggles to be true. From assumptions to stereotypes, we get our fill. Despite these things, we have a way with words, analyze everything, and probably love escaping reality to read a good book. Regardless, we are the few, the proud, the English majors.
1. People always have an opinion or stereotype about you.
Even if they say they don’t, people have some stereotypical view of English majors. They either see us sitting in some dusty attic-apartment surrounded by first edition hardcover books, tapping away at an ancient typewriter (honestly, we have laptops) or they see us as Robin Williams in "Dead Poets Society."
2. People assume you are going to be a teacher.
Non-English major: “Oh, you’re an English major? What do you even want to do with that, teach?”
English major: “No.”
Non-English major: “What will you do with your degree then?”
3. People think that there are no jobs left for English majors (aside from teaching).
“You want to go into publishing? Is there even a need for that anymore? I mean, everything is electronic now.”
I honestly don’t know if anything else frustrates me more than this one. Just because something isn’t physically printed doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
4. The first question anyone asks you after finding out you’re an English major is, “So, what’s your favorite book?”
This is like asking a parent who their favorite child is. Though an answer could probably be given after hours of deliberation and painful elimination, being put on the spot is pretty painful.
5. People you barely know will ask you to proofread things for them.
I have no problem proofreading papers and resumes, but if I just met you five minutes ago and you’re asking me to help you “get a good grade” on your research paper, we may not have a very promising relationship ahead of us.
6. People will attack you if you make a grammar mistake.
Okay, usually I’m really conscious about the way I speak and write. However, sometimes words are really, really hard. And sometimes “I’m good” will slip out and someone will turn around and say, “Wow, aren’t you an English major?”
7. You become a walking dictionary and thesaurus.
This one might not seem terrible at first, but it can be. You constantly re-think your wording, searching for the perfect way to say something.
8. People ask you questions. Lots of questions.
“You’re an English major, right?” is a constant indicator that a question I don’t necessarily want to answer is quickly approaching.
“Hey, how do you spell…?”
“How do you pronounce this word?”
“Should I put a comma here?”
“Does the ‘i’ go before or after the ‘e’?”
9. You’ll probably have at least one crisis about what you want to do with your degree.
Despite popular opinion, English majors can be so much more than just teachers. English majors can go into education, publishing, marketing, non-profit work, and essentially any career field that values someone who can read and write well. With so many choices, it can be hard to stay committed to a specific career path.
10. Sometimes you’ll wish you were studying for an exam instead of writing a 15-page paper with an annotated bibliography
But then you remember you don’t necessarily test well, which is one of the reasons you’re an English major in the first place.
11. When you have to take gen eds, you can find yourself struggling with the rigidity of exams.
What is a Scantron again? So… I’m not writing an essay? Fill in the blank? I don’t understand…
12. You learn to analyze everything.
One of the major skills you develop as an English major is the ability to analyze a 5-page paper out of a 1-page short story. So, you eventually being to analyze everything.
“Yeah, Ben at work? He definitely has a savior complex. He totally fits the hero archetype.”
Despite all of the struggles you might run into as an English major, at the end of the day, you're comforted by the fact that you get to go home at the end of the day and read your favorite book as your homework.
