<p>“What are you planning on doing with that?”
Answer: I’ll probably be homeless, maybe I’ll work in target…</p>
<p>That usually throws them off.</p>
<p>Alternatively: “What do you want to become?”
Answer: Become? I don’t plan on changing all that much. Just another, plain old, human being. I know, that’s boring. Sorry.</p>
<p>The worst: “So you’ll be an accountant?”
Now that one bothers me. For heaven’s sake, I have no problem if you never studied higher math, but didn’t you go to high school? Didn’t you learn all sorts of things in math there that cannot possibly be at all related to accounting? Unless you’re in fifth grade, you have no excuse for thinking that math is about adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. What do you think we do, add super-big numbers in college? And to get your Phd in math, you need to multiply a googol times a gazillion. Come on!</p>
<p>I have nothing against accounting. It’s not necessarily easy, and there’s nothing wrong with it. But it has nothing to do with math. That should be fairly obvious. Oh, well. Perhaps my expectations are too high.
/rant</p>
<p>I used to think that that was how math worked when I was in the first or second grade. After they introduced long division, I was like, “Okay, so 8th grade math is probably like learning how to divide really big numbers by other really big numbers, except you have to do it really fast.”</p>
<p>Also, when people say “Oh, so you’re gonna be a rocket scientist! Hurr hurr.” </p>
<p>Not the most annoying thing in the world, but it gets old. Some people in aerospace really play off of this though.</p>
<p>“What can you do with a math degree other than teach?”
“Math research? What could you do research in for math?”
“How does that apply to the real world?”
“Why don’t you just major in engineering?”</p>
<p>I don’t find most of these offensive questions… Just people wanting to know more about your major. Some of these majors I looked up because the “annoying” thing the person said is something I might have said!</p>
<p>Either way, I’m majoring in animal sciences to become a veterinarian. The most annoying questions I get are:</p>
<p>“Why don’t you just become a doctor?” Because I love animals.
“So you couldn’t make it into medical school, huh?” No, vet school is actually more difficult to get into.
“Does that mean you like animals?”</p>
<p>When I tell people I’m a proposed English major, I get all the normal responses, </p>
<p>“And you expect to get a job?”</p>
<p>then I mention a double major…</p>
<p>“And you expect to get a job?”</p>
<p>That’s about their only response. It makes me die a little inside. I then explain I want to get my MFA from University of Iowa, and hopefully a PHD to follow that up.</p>
<p>“So you want to be a professor?”</p>
<p><em>face palm</em> </p>
<p>It gets old. Quickly. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I know that feeling. Although I don’t plan to major in music, I play tuba. “Is that the big one that is all circular?” “No… That’s a sousaphone. It’s more like the marching version, although they’re in the same family. I do more symphonic music”. “Then why do you play tuba?”… It’s rather annoying. People assume the tuba is only an oompa instrument, even within the music world. There are so many woodwinds that I’ve almost shoved in my instrument.</p>
<p>To those people complaining about remarks about job potential and the marketability of a particular major, what is it about those remarks that so annoys you? I’m asking as nicely as I can, not trying to stir up the pot. Cuz ya see, empirically speaking, there is a big pay differential in many STEM and medical majors versus the softer humanities. So is it because you find these remarks to be inaccurate (which, empirically speaking, they aren’t) or because jobs and money aren’t a huge issue to you and you’re majoring in it for love?</p>
<p>I think it’s both a combination of those. While yes, one major will stereotypically be more marketable than another, you know how people are about being stereotyped and shoved in the wrong pigeonhole… Plus, I think when one person asks you this, it’s not a big deal. But when it’s the first thing out of everyone’s the second you mention your major, it starts to get old. </p>
<hr>
<p>Oh I just thought of another one:</p>
<p>Pre-med: “You know after the healthcare reform doctors won’t be rich anymore right? You won’t make millions of dollars…”</p>
<p>It especially drives me crazy when people my age says this and they’re like, “Oh yeah, I was going to be a doctor (cause it’s so easy) but they’re not as rich anymore so I changed my mind.” I really just want to tell them that the medical field won’t miss pretentious jerks like them who care more about their pocketbooks than helping people. Actually I really just want to punch them in the face.</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering:
“Wow that’s tough. You must be smart” - I mean, I guess so…<em>modest</em>
“YOU? Isn’t that like a man’s job?” -…no response
“Oh trying to make a lot of money huh?” - yes because my world revolves around green paper instead of a career I’ll enjoy for the rest of my life
“Wow you must be good at math. I hate math” - so does 99% of the world from what I’ve seen</p>
<p>and when I was in environmental engineering…
“Why don’t you major in something real like bioengineering?”
“Will you get a job?”
“Can you fix the oil spill?”
-_-"</p>
<p>and from reading these posts, I’m so surprised people say “why don’t you just major in engineering?” like it’s easy or something</p>
<p>“What are you majoring in?”
“I am a TV-R major with a concentration in Video Production.”
“Oh,” with a a look of disappoint on their face. It is like they expected better than this. </p>
<p>“So you want to be on television?”
“No I would be Journalism or Broadcasting or Acting. TV-R majors create the television you see. They come up with the ideas and the actors just fill in the space.”</p>
<p>“So you want to work in production?”
“In a way, yes. But in a way, no. I would love to own my own production company and be able to be a producer for CNN or a major network.”</p>
<p>“So you just watch television all day?”
“As TV-R majors we are in the studio or in the field. We don’t just sit and watch television. We do though to analyze and see what is happening and what can be created.”</p>
<p>“Why don’t you major in something else?”
“Because I dont want to. TV-R is a good major with hundreds of careers options. I like all aspects of it and hope to be successful in it one day.”</p>
<p>Which doesn’t answer my question. I can think of a number of possible reasons why a humanities major might be irritated by those cracks, but until I ask I’m not sure which one is the overriding reason.</p>
<p>Tom, I’m not a Humanities major, but I imagine it would be equivalent to someone telling you that engineering is hard, and questioning whether or not you are smart enough for it. It might be a legitimate concern, but it’s not something you want to hear from people.</p>
<p>If “it’s rude” doesn’t answer your question you are hopeless, and the urge to make a joke about the social capability of engineering majors is OVERWHELMING. :P</p>
<p>It’s not a question of social capability. It’s a question of what aspect of the crack is the offending aspect? Is it because it highlights and unhappy but generally true aspect of humanities degrees? Is it because it assumes that your foremost concern is the size of your future paycheck? etc. It could be a different answer for different people.</p>
<p>Just because a person asks “why,” that doesn’t mean they don’t have an idea of what the answer is. Had that ever occurred to you?</p>