English majors don't get the easiest go all the time. From people constantly questioning what we're going to do post-graduation to thinking we are reading 24/7 and then expecting us to jump at the chance of helping out with papers, it can get pretty annoying explaining these common seven struggles.

1. "Well what can you do with an English major?"

A lot. A hell of a lot.

A lot of people just assume that if you are an English major that you are automatically going to become a teacher. This is not always the case. Sure, it can be common for us to pursue teaching as well (I fall in this category), but some English majors want nothing to do with a career in education. While this assumption isn't an insult, it can be truly annoying as it overlooks all the great fields English majors can end up in. There are jobs in law, marketing, journalism, publishing, medicine and non-profits - among other things - that rely on the writing, communication and critical analysis skills that English majors are taught. These are key components desired in many job fields aside from teaching.

2. We know not everything has deeper meaning.

A lot of time in high school English, students spend time trying to closely analyze the text for its "deeper meaning." Colors were symbolic, character tones revealed more about their past than what the character explicitly said, every word and action was deliberate. Our teachers taught us to look for the deeper meaning in the texts. I swear I spent a week in class discussing how the green light in "The Great Gatsby" represented Gatsby's hopes and dreams for the future; his American Dream. We sure beat that topic to death but I am sure some students were quietly thinking, "No. It's just the color of the light." As English majors, we do look for the meaning behind things but we are well aware that not everything has this "deeper meaning." I am not more inclined to over-analyze events. When I see my friend wearing a purple shirt, I don't think, "They must have been feeling sad today because purple is her grandmother's favorite color and her grandmother happened to pass away."

3. There's a myth we don't use Sparknotes.

A common assumption is that English majors are obsessed with reading. We may be more inclined to love books, but we don't love a book just because it is a book. Reading F. Scott Fitzgerald, I find myself wishing I wrote or spoke at least half as eloquently as him. Reading Chaucer, I find myself contemplating swallowing laundry detergent for satisfaction. There are just some texts that we have no connection with or no desire to read. Pleasure reading is great when you have the time but when you're assigned 100 pages of a text to read for tomorrow's class? No thank you. Confession: We use Sparknotes, too! I found myself living by Sparknotes and Schmoop for a lot of my English classes and, thank the Lord, because I didn't have two hours to spend reading 10 pages of "The Faerie Queene"trying to understand even the most basic plot point. Some of us live by these websites if we find ourselves drowning in too many assigned readings or unable to figure out what the hell we just read.

4. We are more prone to being called "Grammar-Nazis."

Are we more predisposed to find and want to correct errors in spelling and grammar? Sure, maybe. But I am not reading your email or your Twitter post with the sole focus of editing what you have to say. I never reply back to anyone and correct them unless my goal is to be a smart ass as I reply you're* with a sarcastic emoji. Regardless, my family will remark on me being a grammar-Nazi and how I shouldn't want to correct everyone all the time. Newsflash: I don't. I do only when I am being purposefully feisty. I care about spelling and good grammar a lot, but not as much as people seem to think I do.

(And for the record, when my future students ask "Can I use the bathroom?" I will not reply, "I don't know can you?")

5. We make mistakes too.

Segueing from my point on grammar, I'll easily confess that I make plenty of spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm sure there are some in this article even. I am human and have found myself at the end of a five-page paper at 3 a.m., too lazy to reread it to check for errors. We don't all write and speak as eloquently as the literary authors we study. Nobody's perfect. But I've seen a lot of people surprised over my errors, questioning, "Aren't you an English major?" Yes, I am. But I don't have the dictionary memorized. One professor I had, who taught one of my core requirement classes (unrelated to my English major), found out I was an English major. He constantly relied on me to be able to accurately analyze what we were doing and articulate my thoughts well on each topic, among other things. He was an incredibly challenging teacher as is, and I found myself terrified and stressed that he would come down harder on me for errors in my writing than the other students and use the rationale "Well aren't you an English major?" We're just like everyone else. We make mistakes and we will reiterate the same point in an essay or babble in order to meet a page limit.

6. We don't like writing papers any more than you do.

We don't all like writing. English encompasses a lot more than that alone. Some people are more interested in the field because they like literature. I'll find myself complaining about being swamped with three papers due within two days from each other and I'll have someone remark on how that should still be easy for me because I am an English major. I am no faster at banging out an essay than some of my friends in other majors. It all comes down to the topic and level of interest you have in it.

7. You get asked to read a lot of papers.

As an English major, you are more prone to having your friends ask you to read and edit their papers for you. You're like a more elaborate, human spell check and grammar check. Microsoft Word won't tell you, "Hey, this whole paragraph is irrelevant to your thesis" because it is too busy trying to convince you that you spelled your name wrong. I have found myself pushing aside my own essays to simultaneously edit essays of friends and even teenagers I used to nanny for. Personally, however I do love to edit essays, which is why I always offer my help to friends. It is definitely flattering that they trust you enough to read their work.

^We've all been here.