- You know the rage of getting a whole letter grade taken off your paper just for a grammar mistake.
You put it’s instead of its and now you have a B-. Your week is ruined. The perfectionist inside you screams.
- You always forget that arbitrary states like Texas and Ohio are spelled out.
“You guys, TX is just really confusing to some people.” – the AP Style Guide in 1953, probably.
- And you will never get used to abbreviating your home state in the strange, strange way that AP Style Demands
I’ve been writing PA my whole life, and now you’re telling me I have to switch to Pa…? Silly AP, that’ll never happen.
- Interviewing someone who doesn’t know how to speak coherent English basically slaughters your whole piece.
“Yeah…so uh, I think this bill, it could be, um…good for our country.” Do you even read the news? Do you even speak English? BYE.
- Creating a witty hed/dek is equally the best and worst part of your job.
The pain and dedication that goes into creating those perfectly combined eight words. The people will never know.
- You’re constantly getting asked the question, “But aren’t newspapers dying?”
I’m sorry, did you not notice the kajillion other ways we receive news? There are magazines, websites (FOR NEWSPAPERS?), television broadcasts, and e-reader editions. I’ll still have a job, but thanks for your concern.
- Getting assigned a boring beat is your worst fear.
You just really wanted that story about NYFW but now you’re stuck with something bizarre and totally un-glamorous, like a sewage leakage. #No.
- Deadlines.
You are now known as the girl who sits in the campus Starbucks furiously typing away at her computer/pulling her hair out. No, I am not doing this right now.
- Your professors expect you to go to great lengths to do their assignments.
If you want me to go to the Bronx to cover this unheard-of gallery opening, the least you could do is pay for my subway fare. I am a broke, broke soul.
- You know that PR reps are slightly evil.
“WE CAN’T GIVE OUT THIS INFORMATION!” they scream at you as you plead them to help you with your class assignment about artisan ice cream.
- Your family thinks you’re famous every time an article of yours is published.
Her Campus isn’t exactly the New York Times, Grandma, but thanks for posting it on your refrigerator.
- Your friends get annoyed with you because your Twitter/Facebook feeds are filled with links to news articles and commentary on current events.
“Sorry I’m cultured,” you say with a pretentious eye-roll.
- But you know that despite all the stress, you
probablydefinitely have the coolest job in the world.
Who else gets to say that they work for CNN? Or Vogue? Or the New York Post? Give yourself a pat on the back, because you are pretty damn awesome.