People extremely underestimate English majors. Here is a short list of all the things we go through.
Scoffing. When people hear you’re an English major, they automatically feel a sense of superiority, because English is considered one of the soft subjects. Little do they know all of the hard work that goes into our major and our careers.
All of your peers are so GD good at what they do! It’s overwhelming being in a class where every other student can seemingly write circles around you, have already written three novels and have an internship with a publishing company over the summer.
Writer’s Block. There is nothing more stressful than knowing you have to write something and having absolutely nothing come to your head. With other majors, there is a formula of sorts that you can follow to do your work. Writers must constantly have the creative juices flowing!
I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. No English major likes what they write, at least not at first. You hand in your work to the professor with a look of disgust, disappointment, and apology. You wonder if you’re even worthy of being an English major, having just written such filth.
“You only have fifty pages to read for our next class!” Says all five of your teachers!
The green squiggly line underneath a phrase in Microsoft Word. I know what I’m trying to say. I am right, Microsoft!! You are wrong!
Where do I submit my work? Do I shoot for the stars, knowing I’ll in all likelihood be rejected from the New Yorker? Or do I play it safe, aim a little lower, and hope to say I’m published at all? It’s all so stressful!
“An English major? What are you going to do with that? Teach?” I don’t know how many times I’ve been asked that question. Teaching is not the only valid career option for an English major! In fact, we probably have a greater variety of options than most, because employers want people who can write.
Poetry. All English majors run into it at some point, and unless it’s your calling, it’s hell. Rhyming, oh the horror!
Reading and editing your non-English major friends’ papers. It’s terrifying
Hating some of the classic novels and feeling like a fraud. I don’t know, man, "Catcher in the Rye" just really didn’t speak to me. I’ll stand by "Gatsby" to the end, though.
