Every major comes with its own set of struggles that those in that major become familiar with all too well. As for English majors, most of the struggles revolve around writing, reading, and grammar. Many people who have never studied the major see it as just those three things, as writing with the basic sentence structure learned in first grade and reading other people’s thoughts.

In reality, the major is complex and a multifaceted tool that can lead you down many different career paths. I chose the subject because it is the one thing I have always enjoyed (and been relatively good at). Even though I do consider it to be my passion, it can be monotonous and gets the better of me at times.

Here are 16 struggles every English major can relate to:

1. There is always a puzzled or disappointed look on people's faces when you tell them your major.

2. People expect that you can spell everything correctly no matter what word or situation it is.

3. You constantly feel that you need to validate your literary obsession.

4. More phone storage than you like to admit is taken up by crossword puzzles and word games.

5. You have to proofread every text, tweet, and status multiple times because you know you will never hear the end of it if there is an error.

6. You are required to buy and carry around 3 times as many books as other students.

7. It physically pains you when people don't know the difference between there, their and there or to, two, and too.

8. The Oxford Comma is a constant debate in your classes.

9. You feel bad when someone asks you to proofread something because you know you are the harshest critic.

10. You have to read so much [for class] that you don't have time to read [leisurely].

11. It takes so much self-control not to be a TOTAL grammar snob.

12. While others struggle to reach their page limit, you have trouble condensing your essay to ONLY 5 pages.

13. It drives you insane when you see a typo in professional documents and publications.

14. You feel like you can't complain about writing essays even when you have four due in one week because people will say, "That is what you signed up for."

15. As soon as you get a burst of writing inspiration, you HAVE TO write it down because you never know when the next one will come.

16. "So you want to be a teacher?"