<p>i get very sad when people ask about my major. i sometimes want to lie about it, but i never do anyway. well, i tell them i'm an english major, and the most annoying response i ALWAYS get is, "oh, you wanna be a teacher?" WTHeck... it's not like I'm majoring in education or something. i just want to say back "what's wrong with being a teacher?" though i really had no intentions on being a teacher. English is probably also the last subject i would ever want to teach. i feel very degraded when people do that to me, hence i feel like lying. </p>
<p>I'm interested in what the most annoying stereotypes people say about your major are.</p>
<p>LOL, I'm not even in college yet, but when I tell people that I want to major in philosophy, they always ask, "what are you gonna do with that?" or "so you're just gonna think all day?" or worst of all, "you know you don't have to go to school to become a hobo!" Maybe because im such a science geek but geez can't a girl change?</p>
<p>I haven't told them though that I'm actually into creative writing, not that that would change much! </p>
<p>well, i just concluded that, unless you're an engineering or business major, people are going to give you annoying responses. the most popular annoying one i got when i wanted to major in technical communications was, "what's that?". Then I say, "well, it's pretty much like writing out instruction manuals." Then they're like "ohhh". I'd much rather talk about the sky or how them Mariners are doing. haha.</p>
<p>College is not vocational school... your major doesn't determine much of anything regarding the job you'll have eventually- barring maybe elementary education or nursing, but you see my point.</p>
<p>That said, stereotypes don't invent themselves. At some point they're based on truth. For instance, for the most part, any class that college football players like to take is likely to be less difficult. I know someone will probably jump on here and say that they played college football and graduated with a triple major, but statistically, I'd bet they're in the minority. Stereotypes are just statistics in action.</p>
<p>"Do you want to teach?"...No..."Well what are you going to do with a BA in English?"...Editing..."Oh. Like books?"...Yeah, something like that...</p>
<p>"your major doesn't determine much of anything regarding the job you'll have eventually"</p>
<p>That really only holds for things like english, history, philosophy etc where there's not much you can do directly related to your major besides continue the great circle of academia. Besides the fact that most decent jobs require a college education, if your major doesn't have anything to do with your job, what the hell were you in school for?</p>
<p>I'm more worried about what the people in my major will say. All the International Relations (i.e. The College Democrats) people will make fun of me and call me Machiavellian.</p>
<p>Just because I'm a fan of realpolitik doesn't mean I don't have morals.</p>
<p>I just suspend them when dealing with politics. Duh.</p>
<p>Fashion Merchandising...it's funny because all the stereotypes were true for everyone but me. I'm a special snowflake! Airheaded, obsessed with trashy designer bags and interested in nothing but shopping. </p>
<p>Lol, KindlyCuddly I was fashion/apparel merchandising and that's the reason I switched out too! They were all a bunch of blond fake-tanned bimbos and I was like, the only one not. Some of them were nice enough, but they were all very sorority-girl-esque and if I wanted to be around sorority girls all the time I would've joined a sorority....</p>
<p>Haha. As an English major, I can't count how many times I've gotten the "so are you going to teach?" question. It really does get annoying. Then I tell them I'm double majoring in Linguistics and I usually get: "what exactly is that?" or "Oh, so you must speak six languages, then." It's kind of amusing after awhile. But, English and Ling are the things that I love. They make me happy and inspire me, and I'd definitely rather spend four years happy than stuck in a science or math major hating it, so I just take the skeptics as they come...</p>
<p>why do these people who give the stereotypes sound like they've never been to college before. if you don't know much about someone else's major, just be a good puppy and say "ohhh.. cool."</p>
<p>Them: Oh, that's nice. So did you not get in as a business major?</p>
<p>I just find it annoying how so many people think economics majors are just the kids who got rejected from the business school. I only really chose economics over business because I'll have more freedom to pick and choose classes as an economics major.</p>
<p>It's not all great for engineers either...when I tell people that I'm majoring in bioengineering I always get responses so awkward that the conversation usually just dies. For example:</p>
<p>Me: Hi, I'm a bioengineer.</p>
<p>Them: Oh, you must be really good at math and science. I'm terrible at that stuff.</p>
<p>Whatevs.</p>
<p>And although it's kind of annoying that engineers are stereotyped as nerds, it's pretty much true =P</p>
<p>good response: "oh... that's really cool, I've always been interested in psychology..." (and then the conversation takes off with interesting bits of actual psychology... and if they're normal, we get to something more interesting from there...if not... see bad responses below)</p>
<p>bad response: "oh... so you can, like, read my mind" (me: uh...no not exactly) "ah... ok, but you at least really understand people and have a pretty good what I'm thinking right?" (me: yeah, of course! I mean... from what I've learned in some of my classes, I can practically control what you do! -- hey ignorance demands it ;-) )...</p>
<p>worse response: "oh... well, let me tell you about my [broken family, depression, lost cat, loser dad, darkest secret that you shouldn't tell your best friend -- much less a stranger you just met!]"</p>
<p>Music:</p>
<p>Bad: "Oh.... what will you do with that?"</p>
<p>Worse: "So....like, can you play any instruments?"</p>
<p>Pre-Med:</p>
<p>Bad: "So, my [long lost family member who has some random disease they want suggestions how to cure] has [some random disease] and the doctor prescribed [some exotic regime of drug and therapeutic treatments I've never heard of] and I was wondering if I could get a second opinion" (what am I? I freakin' doctor?!)</p>