1. Asking us to fix things if we’re engineering majors.

We are students, not tech support.

2. Getting mad at us when we don’t answer our phones.

We aren’t deliberately ignoring you; we’re just very busy people and part of having a life in college and trying to get decent grades is never having time for anything else, ever.

Also, when you call or text us during class it makes everyone look at us funny.

3. Assuming things about our efforts in college based on our GPA.

Getting a low GPA doesn't mean we didn't try; it means our classes were really hard. There are a myriad of other things that could have also affected our GPA as well, such as emotional problems, being low on energy a lot, or having very little time to do homework because we also have a job, club meetings, and on-campus events to attend. It is also worth mentioning that intellectual disorders such as ADHD can make it difficult for us to finish our homework as fast as people who do not have intellectual disorders. When homework assignments take longer, it's difficult to finish all of them and do quality work.

4. Making statements that begin with the phrase “Well, in the real world…”

First of all, most uses of that phrase are condescending and make you sound like a jerk. I can only think of one use of that phrase that isn’t condescending and doesn’t make you sound like a jerk. Second of all, I don’t think anyone honestly thinks life in “the real world” is exactly the same as life in college.

5. Trying to decide our major for us.

I know you like to think that just because you conceived us you know us better than we know ourselves, but guess what? You will not be living our lives during or after college. Therefore, any major decisions regarding that should be left to us. (Pun intended.)

6. Talking about how broke we’ll be after college if we’re art majors.

Even if you mean well, the message you are sending is still “I neither believe in you nor support you, and I feel personally attacked because you’re doing something you love.”

7. Doing unnecessary things to show us how Hard™ the world is.

We are perfectly capable of learning this on our own. So please stop doing things like spending our job money on your groceries or refusing to pay our tuition next semester thinking it will teach us a valuable lesson about the cost of living. It will just piss us off and make us feel like you don’t want us to succeed.

8. Rolling your eyes when we tell you what courses we’re enrolled in.

Just because we’re not enrolled in nothing but STEM classes or whatever it is you find “respectable" doesn’t mean we aren’t challenging ourselves. In fact, most of the classes you roll your eyes at are the ones that require the most work.

9. Asking us if we're seeing anyone.

Not all of us are comfortable talking about our love lives or being reminded of how painfully single we are, and it’d be really awesome if you could respect that.

10. Overdoing it with the check-ins.

It's all right to ask us about our day every once in a while, but we do not want to talk about our day every day and constantly having to do so becomes tiring.

Special thanks to UW-Milwaukee Yik Yak for contributing their ideas to this article.