Believe it or not, I do know all the statistics. And I have heard all the jokes. Your obvious skepticism when I mention my English major during our awkward small talk is not a new response, nor is it the one that’s going to enlighten me about the error of my ways.

Here’s a plot twist: I don’t find my ways erroneous. My choice of majors is not the result of some delusional belief that I will succeed because employers are looking for English students. We all know that isn’t realistic; me included.

For people like you, whose majors will in fact open doors and blaze paths, choosing a major devoid of a monetary light at the end of the college tunnel seems ridiculous. Hence the general derision toward English majors (and any other non-STEM lines of study). We are foolish for not thinking ahead.

We are careless for not picking a degree that will earn itself out. And we are stupid because we cannot do calculus or chemical equations, the apparently singular signs of intelligence in human beings.

But I want you to imagine for one moment that when you look at a physics problem, your brain goes foggy. Or that when you are presented with a math problem, you can’t wrap your brain around the movement of the numbers and letters.

That you have become cursed with the plight of so many humanities and arts students.

What then? Would you spend four years sitting in classes devoted to those subjects, floundering for the sake of a degree which will funnel you into a field that is just as impossible as the courses that led there?

Would that be the responsible decision? Would that make you smarter than the person who knows their own boundaries and capabilities and works within them?

You probably still believe that with the right amount of effort, we can all do what will earn us money and recognition and the pride of our parents. But some of us are only good at doing what will earn us condescending smirks when we talk about it.

If I could do literally anything besides write, do you really think I would condemn myself to a life of financial strain and smug advice from strangers? Please.

You, with your heavy biology textbooks and medical school anxieties and your electrical engineering classes, are the lucky one. I don’t say this to belittle the hard work you’ve done to get where you are and where you want to go; you are smart, and you are perpetually weathering intense stress, and you do deserve credit for that. But I work hard too. My classes are hard too—just in different ways. And I have the added stress of having to defend myself for taking them.

You and I are both doing what we are good at and what we like to do. But you don’t have to add that explanation as a footnote justifying your major selection. You are also doing what will earn you money and respect, so people don't challenge you.

Don't take that for granted.

Trust me, I’m fully aware that I may not get a job, and if I do, I might never in my life earn your starting salary at the fancy engineering one you walked into while still wearing your cap and gown.

But I can only do what I can do.

So who really has it easy?