The worst parts about being a Liberal Arts Major at a research university

When you’re a student at a research university, everyone assumes that you’re a science major. What does that mean for me? As an English Literature major, it means that nobody takes me seriously.

You are constantly second-guessing your decision to change your major

More than once, I have considered the idea that I made the wrong decision. I am living in constant fear that I am never going to get a job someday. I am a woman and I am getting a degree in English literature. The thing is, the common assumption is that I want to be a teacher. As much as I would like to shape the minds of America’s youth, I would rather publish as many pieces of writing as I possibly can before I die.

The English Building at Virginia Tech is Shanks Hall

You are constantly being told that your major is easier than everyone else’s

My friend: Ugh, this assignment is going to make me kill myself.

Me: What is it?

My friend: You wouldn’t understand, it’s not like your work. It’s complicated.

Look, I won’t attack your differential equations if you don’t tell me that the story of Heathcliff and Catherine isn’t the most tragic love story/best revenge narrative in the history of British literature. Being an English major at a research university really brings all the know-it-alls out of the wood works. Not everyone is judging me. There’s definitely a crowd that takes the “you do you” standpoint. But like any good survey proves, the only people who are going to rustle your feathers are the people who feel strongly about the subject. So it’s the people who feel strongly that English is worthless that ridicule me. How do I retort? The fact is, I don’t. I’ve never been good at witty comebacks. So I get to deal with it every couple of days from various individuals.

The majority of my life is comprised of reading and writing. Right up my alley.

Everyone is complaining about Calculus and Chemistry while you’re fangirl-ing over your assignment on Wuthering Heights that’s due in a month

I dropped Chemistry in my first semester of college. Needless to say, I don’t like it and I’m not good at it. I managed to scrape a B- in Elementary Calculus (please take note of the word elementary) but not without extreme difficulty and multiple sessions of tears and hyperventilation. But since I’m at a research university, pretty much everyone is still chugging through his or her higher-level Chem and Calc classes.  While my friends complain in unison about “organic compounds” and “integrals” and other things that make sense to all those smart science-types, I’m annotating and analyzing literary masterpieces… without anyone to talk to about it.

Your parents keep asking you what they’re paying for, and what you’re ‘planning on doing with this later in life’

My mother asks me frequently how I’m planning to get a job with this. She has also frequently suggested that I become a professor, because that’s obviously the only way to earn money with a degree in English Lit. I can’t help the stereotypes that drive my mother’s thoughts, but I can help how I respond to the question. I have plans. I’ve researched internships and applied to work for publications. Some company published every piece of writing. I just have to work on becoming one of those people who work for one of those companies. But no matter what, I know that my mom is still rooting for me, even if she let’s her maternal worries get the best of her every once and a while.

There are several “annotations” on posters and flyers all around Shanks Hall – English teachers and snarky students doing their finest work

Your friends will never stop teasing you about your future

A real conversation between my friends and myself:

“So you enjoying your new major, Rach?” asked Kyle.

“Yeah, I love it!” I grinned. As a newly christened English Literature major, I couldn’t be happier.

Ben looked up from his phone and opened his mouth, “So you’re planning on becoming a teacher or what?”

I grimaced. “No,” I answered. “I want to go into publishing.”

“Yeah, Ben,” Kyle remarked, “she’s planning on becoming a secretary!”

Commence laughter at my expense. Cue my exasperated sigh.

At the end of the day, more than half of college freshmen change their major more than once before they graduate. I am one of the few that realized what she wanted to do pretty early. Even so, we don’t all switch into the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences from the College of Science. I take some teasing. Okay, I take a lot of teasing. But even though I took a different path, I’m actually glad that I got a semester of science in at Virginia Tech. (Even though I withdrew from Chemistry and only managed a C in Biology.) Taking a real science class at a research university was an experience that I won’t soon forget. And I groaned over my Chemistry homework just like the rest of them. It’s just not where my heart is. But hey, when I write the Great American Novel, I’ll give you all a credit for making the university I attended smart as hell.