I am not a STEM superstar or computer science protégé, I will not be able to help my future children out with math homework, and I will not be "that kid who finds a cure for cancer." I am part of an elite group of word wizards, grammar gurus, and syntax superheroes. I find it fun to edit your essays, and may privately message you on Facebook if use your when you meant you're. I am an English major, and collectively we are a group of undervalued and misunderstood scholars.

We would like you to know that, no, we are not all aspiring teachers. We want to be lawyers and doctors, PR coordinators and journalists, editors and humanitarian works, and just because we love to read and write does not mean that we want to encourage or (force) others do do so as well. Our degree is so flexible and the fields that we can apply it to are are practically limitless. Contrary to popular belief we are not solely library hermits and obsessive tea drinkers (though occasionally we are).

We are critical thinkers, and problem solvers; qualities that are not exclusive to the fields of math and science. We can grasp vague but profound meanings from text, we can make fact from fiction, and we can apply a feminist or Marxist theory to any text we encounter. We are hard, hard workers and while we may not be studying how to build a bridge or splice cells we spend hours analyzing texts, writing and re-writing papers, and scouring the thesaurus for a word that will evoke the most meaning, pack the most punch. Through rigorous training, via studying literature, we strive to to understand the past, predict the future, and situate ourselves in the present so we can be expansive thinkers and help others to be so as well; something the world needs more than ever.

We understand the intricacy of one of the most used languages in the world, even more so we understand how language shape thoughts, how thoughts shape language, and how words are not a bi-product of humanity, they are our humanity. We believe that language makes or breaks who we are, and we know that sticks and stones break bones, but that words break hearts.

We are are "grammatical mathematicians." We acquaint ourselves with perfect present progressive verbs, gerunds, the oxford common, and dangling past participles so when you publish research or send out an agenda for a meeting we can look it over for you so you don't embarrass yourself with a misplaced common (or lack of one). We are also there to make sure you don't use affect when you meant to use effect, or who when you meant whom.

We have an insight into human nature that many do not. We understand the fundamentals of greed and desire, love and lust, hope and despair and therefore we understand the importance of empathy and pluralistic thinking. We know that the world does not always operate in matters of either or/ this or that/ black or white. We feel that most matters are pigmented in shades of gray and so we questions everything; we know that there is no such thing as obviousness.

And...yes we are bookworms. We burn the midnight oil reading novels for pleasure when we should be chipping away on assigned reading. We will defend poetry when the world has written it off as an archaic art form, and we will write short stories just for fun. We pre-order books from our favorite authors, and yell at the movie screen when Hollywood fails to adapt a book to movie correctly (which they seldom do). We will get misty eyed over beautiful words, passages, and sentences. We will evoke great authors in times of crisis because carefully crafted sentences are the best way we know how to comfort people.

We will defend our choice of major when others critique it for being irrelevant or a waste of time and money. We will study hard and become teachers and doctors, politicians and SNL writers, thoughtful citizens and passionate leaders. We may not be rocket scientists, but we were the ones to tell you when the rocket landed on the moon.