My Major, My Choice

“THAT’S your major?” 

“ I could never do that major.” 

“Good luck finding a job.”

From the moment I declared my major, I have heard everyone’s opinions about it. Every time my major is brought up, someone has something to say about it. I do sometimes get support, but it’s mostly judgment and concern for my future. 

For context, I’m a history and women’s studies double major with a political science minor. 

People’s biggest judgment is that I’m not an education major. Most of the time when you come across a history major, they’re also studying education. That’s not the route I’m going, it’s just not an interest of mine. Not to knock my education major friends — you are killing it. 

With my history major, I’ve been told it’s going to be hard to find a job that isn’t teaching. Don’t get me started on how little I’d make, too, but I’m not here to talk economics. 

As for my women’s studies major, I get the bleak interest from people. By this, I mean that people show interest for five minutes before they’re uninterested or they have something to say. I fully understand that my major isn’t the most interesting thing in the world, but it hurts a little when I start getting put down for it. 

The amount of times I’ve been called weird, or a feminist (in a bad way) and I’ve even been called slurs — those actually tore off a piece of my soul. I have come across people that go out of their way to make fun of me for studying something I care about, and it hurts. I don’t understand the point in making fun of a person for what they choose to study.

But I’ve learned that it’s still my major. 

I chose to study history and women’s studies for a reason: a reason that wouldn’t necessarily only benefit my future, but something I want to share with the world. Growing up, I knew I wanted to study history and that I wanted to share history with others. 

Women’s studies came after I started college and I wanted to learn more about the history of the rights I’m fighting for. 

After hearing the negative comments towards my majors, I realized I needed to work as hard as I can. I’m not choosing this path to prove those people wrong, but to prove to myself that I can do this, and I will.

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