Describe yourself in one word. Impossible task, right? So why is it that during our four years in college we allow ourselves and others to put us in a box based on what we are studying? It’s happened countless times; you’re making conversation with someone you just met and so naturally the question of majors comes up, and you are either the victim or the culprit of stereotypes and assumptions.
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So, why do we succumb to this brand of labeling? I believe it is human nature to be somewhat wary of things unknown, and so naturally, we invent things in our minds about what people different than us are like. Science majors hardly ever go out because they don’t know how to socialize, English majors think they’re better than everyone else because they use big words all the time, Communications majors… well, you get the picture. What people don’t realize, however, is that your major is just one tiny part of all the great things that make each one of us unique.
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I’ve heard so many people say that they don’t like to mention their major at parties because they will automatically be deemed as nerds. We should all really be working at learning more from each other and taking advantage of the fact that we are not all studying the same thing. Can you imagine if college was like high school, and everyone just took the same classes? Where would we be in four years? What job options would be available to each of us? Instead of focusing on what a person’s major is and how that defines them, we should really get to know the person for everything they are, including but not limited to, their field of study. So now, when people ask me what I’m majoring in, I tell them that I am a French and English major, but I am also so much more than that.
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