For a very long time, I resented the question, "What is your major?" As a freshman, I went into school undeclared. I knew that I did not want to do anything in the science field, so I decided to look into the liberal arts side. During my first semester, I decided to take Introduction to Public Relations. Despite having to stay up for hours preparing presentations, writing papers and analyzing case studies, I fell in love with the class and decided to officially declare myself a public relations major.

At first, I was expecting for everyone I knew to be happy for me. However, to my surprise, many people around me greeted me with doubts and laughs rather than praise and congratulations. I heard all of the following:

"You have such a brilliant mind, why would you not want to be an engineer or a surgeon?"

"So, what do you do all day? Just sit in class and doodle?"

"Public relations? Isn't that a part of Communications? You are paying to learn how to talk to people? Don't you already know how to do that?"

"You got a 3.6 GPA in a major that was equivalent to coloring, congratulations!"

While yes, I do not have to spend hours in clinical or encrypting program code on a computer, I still have to create presentations (which sometimes will take over 12 hours to put together) and public speak in almost every class. Did you know, according to the Washington Post, public speaking is the most prominent fear of those living in the United States? These skills are two out of dozens I will have mastered by the time I receive my bachelor's degree next May.

Public relations is my passion. I can spend hours researching different cases, building campaigns and writing business proposals because I enjoy what I do. While yes, content wise, STEM majors do have it harder, Public Relations is still extremely important in the business world.

Stop putting down people for embracing their passions. Not everyone is destined to be a doctor, engineer, nurse or computer scientist.

Now, whenever anyone asks me what my major is, I proudly say, "Public relations."