Going to a school where science is a dominant major, you will get the strangest looks when you tell someone you are a literature major. We are a very limited group and we know almost everyone by their name in the literature program. With us being such a small group of people, we tend to hear the same things over and over again, and I like to speak for my squad when I say, “we are sick and tired of hearing it.”
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What grade are you going to teach? Just because I am a literature major does not mean that I will teach. Surprise, you can do a lot more with a degree in literature than you think.
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Lucky you, you must have it so easy. Reading books must be easy, except for when it is in old English text, or a 500-page novel that doesn’t have much of a plot to it. Sitting down to read takes a lot of discipline.
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How did I get a better grade than you? You’re a literature major. Surprisingly, research papers are a lot harder than any creative writing that I do, or any papers on critiquing literature. They are completely different forms of writing.
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Can you edit my paper? I would love to, please keep telling me that your sentence fragments are correct, or comma splices. Please tell me why you want me to edit your paper but you don’t accept any of my changes.
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Do you live in the library? What is a library? I actually spend more time going on car rides to read a book or in my bed. And the papers that I need to write usually happen at 2AM. Sorry but my library doesn’t stay open past 12AM.
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Have you looked into changing your major? No. I love what I do, and I have planned to do so much with my degree. Did you know that a literature major doesn’t have to be a teacher or a lawyer? You do realize that you need to read and write for almost any career, right?
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Any jokes about being a literature major. I get it, a bench can support a family of four more than I can, but remember, with hard work and perseverance I can be just as successful as you guys!
Being a literature major has been a great thing in my life. I have been able to learn so much about life and people just from the books that I read. I have learned to let my voice be heard and to be the voice for many people. I love what I do, and you might not understand that, but remember, I don’t understand how some people like math, but I respect it just as much as you should respect my choice of study.