I am a journalism major. I intend to double major within my department, following both the News and Public Relations track. I also hope to minor in English, which, if all goes as planned, I will complete in London next fall.

I am not like most students.

I only had 11 tests last semester, including midterms and finals, all of which were in core classes not directed towards my major or minor.

I don’t have to memorize, like, anything. In fact, my Art History class was a struggle for me because I had to consistently memorize titles, artists, periods, dates, and places. My brain wasn’t prepared for such a task, but apparently that is nothing compared BIO201.

I wouldn’t change my major for the life of me, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a struggle.

The bio and chem students struggle with their labs and the business kids complain about their math classes. While others struggle through weed-out classes and study hours for giant, life-ending tests, I read, like, seven books at once and balance writing four papers all due on the same day, only to repeat the same pattern the following week.

However, the writing and reading and editing and workshopping isn’t what weighs me down. It’s the unknown stigma that accompanies someone in my field of study, and I encounter it everywhere. From family to friends to people I talk to at work, people seem to have some admonishingly false idea about what it means to be a writer, and I feel that it is my personal responsibility to clear the air off all the utter nonsense floating around.

This is my fight to defend myself in my field of study.

“Writing a paper is easier than taking a test.”

It takes every ounce of restraint in my body to resist screaming a hefty amount of cuss words at every person who has ever said this to me or anyone else in the world.

Let me break this down for you the way I did for my best friend, a brilliant nursing student, who, at the time, did not entirely understand my claim that writing a paper is harder than taking a test.

My whole life revolves around papers, and while I already told you that I wouldn’t change it for the life of me, it is incredibly stressful and, at times, aggravating.

When you take a test, you have definite answers to the given problems. You might have to memorize all the bones in the body, predict the reaction of certain chemicals, or find the derivative of a grossly complicated equation. You spend hours reviewing charts, rereading notes, memorizing formulas, and completing practice problems, but ultimately, when you take that test, there is a correct answer to the question you are presented.

That’s not how my life works.

I slave over a paper. I spend an ungodly amount of time tweaking words so that I sound intelligent without being too wordy. A kink forms in the back of my neck as I spend my afternoon and evening trying to find the hidden meaning in the text I just read, attempting to draw similarities between Gilgamesh and Odysseus.

Yet there is rarely a right answer to the paper topic I receive. It’s all based on interpretation and whether it meets the professor’s standards.

In my first year of college alone, I had a professor who told me that my writing skills surpassed all of my classmates, and I, the only freshman in the class, felt extremely accomplished. I had a professor who copied some of my philosophy short answer essays and hand them out to the class as an example on how to do well on his tests. And still, I had a professor who recommended I visit the Writing Center because my writing was not up to her college standards.

You test takers may get a C on your exam, but you can go back and look up the right answers. I don’t have that liberty.

“Why don’t you just major in marketing or advertising?”

Marketing? Advertising? Why not just switch to Chemistry while I’m at it?

Here’s the thing: I’m not majoring in those fields because that isn’t what I want to do. And no, I don’t want to minor in any of those either.

Do people even understand what journalism is? Because sometimes I wonder.

In marketing, I would take classes directed towards the principles of marketing or sales management.

In journalism, I take classes about social media, the history and predicted future of mass media, media writing, and editing.

While business might look pretty on my transcript and resume, ultimately, my journalism classes are going to help me become better at the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life. Write.

“Okay, but isn’t journalism a dying field?”

What world are you living in?

Yeah, print news sources are dying, but that doesn’t mean news is. My family doesn’t get the daily paper, but my dad still reads it before he goes to work.

This website you are on right now is proof.

I am the editor-in-chief for The Odyssey on Creighton’s campus. It is not a print paper and yet our article view counts are forever climbing.

The field of journalism is blossoming and new opportunities constantly arising. One of the most recent job openings I came across was for a Twitter Writer for BuzzFeed, and that is a prime example of how the field is advancing and adapting to the world we live in.

“But what will you do after you graduate?”

Not go to med school.

Or law school.

Or pursue my life long (AKA non existent) dream of working on Wall Street.

Honestly, who knows?

Maybe I will jet off to Oxford and get my Masters in English. I could always apply to for the graduate program in magazine writing Columbia University. Or move out to California and study global reporting at Berkeley.

I have options. Tons of them, and a vast majority of them involve higher education beyond a four-year college degree.

I may not be pre-med, but I still have ambitions.

“So…is your ultimate goal to work for the Omaha World-Herald?”

I would love to have the opportunity to work for the OWH and am heavily considering applying for an internship there next summer, but is that my life-long dream?

No, it’s not, because to some people’s surprise, writing for the local paper isn’t the only journalism job in this world. I want to write for a magazine. Maybe Teen Vogue or Company in the UK. But my ultimate goal is to publish a young adult novel. I just have to figure out the steps to get there.

I want to write.

I am 19 years old and have no idea what the rest of my life will hold, but I know that I want to spend it writing. That is why I am studying journalism (and English), a field that is full of opportunities beyond many people’s knowledge.

Journalism isn’t marketing or chemistry or biology.

I am not going to be a pediatrician or a lawyer.