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the most annoying stereotypes about your major

edited July 2008 in General
i get very sad when people ask about my major. i sometimes want to lie about it, but i never do anyway. well, i tell them i'm an english major, and the most annoying response i ALWAYS get is, "oh, you wanna be a teacher?" WTHeck... it's not like I'm majoring in education or something. i just want to say back "what's wrong with being a teacher?" though i really had no intentions on being a teacher. English is probably also the last subject i would ever want to teach. i feel very degraded when people do that to me, hence i feel like lying.

I'm interested in what the most annoying stereotypes people say about your major are.
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Comments

  • edited March 2008
    haha I think people in Arts probably get the worst of these stereotypes...
    I'm in Business...Major in Accounting and Finance... I guess I'm a bean counter?
    What stereotypes do people have for Business Majors?
  • edited March 2008
    well it would be more reasonable to assume that the chances of someone being a teacher is greater in education majors than english.. hence i don't see the logic behind why people would assume english majors would become teachers when they can become scholars.. writers.. or even lawyers.. @_@ but be proud of your major.. =) you can always toss big words at the next person who assumes you're going to be a teacher.. =P

    as for business majors.. it's common to hear them being coined as becoming the next Warren Buffett or Goldman Sach.. =\ or sometimes simply people without values but just benefits..
  • edited March 2008
    When I'd tell someone that I was in criminology, I'd almost always be asked if I wanted to be a cop. 80% of the time I as a cop, 20% of the time I was a lawyer. I'm neither interested in law enforcement nor criminal law.

    As for business majors, yea, I agree with siuying in that they're viewed as amoral. Personally, I see a business major as someone who'll likely find work upon graduation and will probably be working in a cubicle for the next 40 years, putting up with a demanding boss.
  • edited March 2008
    i am currently a history major with an english minor.

    majority of the time people ask me if i'm going to be a teacher.

    they're usually surprised when i tell them i plan on working for CSIS or work in forensics/criminalistics.
  • edited March 2008
    i_like_hiking;25628 said:
    i am currently a history major with an english minor.

    majority of the time people ask me if i'm going to be a teacher.

    they're usually surprised when i tell them i plan on working for CSIS or work in forensics/criminalistics.
    You won't be able to do forensics with an arts degree.
  • edited March 2008
    When I tell people that im majoring in Communications, they usually say, "Oh....what is Communications exactly?"

    :/
  • edited March 2008
    Insatiable;25629 said:
    You won't be able to do forensics with an arts degree.
    i'm going to bcit after sfu to do a forensics investigation program.

    going to try to combine this with my A+ certification as well as networking+ certifications.

    the forensics program i want to take deals specifically with computer crime, however, i still need to take a general course i believe in criminal investigations.

    intelligence officers for CSIS can apply with an arts degree whether it be history, english, or humanities, etc...
  • edited March 2008
    People think you can't do much with an English major. What's the easiest thing that comes up in people's mind when they think of an occupaton for an English major? It happens to be teaching (I'm sure this goes for other majors too). You can probably name a few others, like history, philosophy, geography....anyone is Arts, basically.

    I personally don't see anything wrong with being a teacher.

    The view on Business Majors are very unfair. You guys are all equating business and amoral. How does YOUR major prepare you to be less so?
    We just happen to be going to a school that is heavy on Business and well respected in this regard. If you talk to professionals in the workplace, SFU is known as a Business school first. This is the reason their tuition is so much higher than...say someone in an Arts program.

    Now you're assuming I'm in Business, but no. I'm not. Science guy here. I just find it ridiculous that you're all saying Business students are some kind of evil.
  • edited March 2008
    I'm not evil =(
  • edited March 2008
    hahaha.. we know you aren't vonnie.. =) and probably a bunch of other business majors too.. but.. stereotypes will always be stereotypes.. have fun with them.. just like insatiable does.. taking up multiple roles.. =D
  • edited March 2008
    i get the same thing...im an english major and the two things they always ask me are...

    1) are u gonna be a teacher?
    2) since im an english major..they assume i know everyword in the dictionary -________-
  • IVTIVT
    edited March 2008
    There are too few girls in Computing Science :( It seems most of the good looking girls are in Arts :(

















    P.S. CS > Arts
  • edited March 2008
    IVT;25675 said:
    There are too few girls in Computing Science :( It seems most of the good looking girls are in Arts :(

    P.S. CS > Arts
    All very true :(
  • edited March 2008
    ^ recently though there have been a lot of women in the labs... I wonder if they’re in comp sci though or just taking a random class
  • edited March 2008
    So what's the stereotype for CS? I'm in CS, and I'm genuinely curious. I hear a lot of "they make a lot of money" thing going on moreso than the "nerd in mom's basement living off of cheesy poofs".
  • IVTIVT
    edited March 2008
    the stereotype is that we can't get any girls, btw the rich thing is not a stereotype, tis truth
  • edited March 2008
    IVT;25695 said:
    the stereotype is that we can't get any girls, btw the rich thing is not a stereotype, tis truth
    I always had a hard time believing that. I checked the average salary for a programmer and it's floating around 58-65k annually. Some exceptions are probably Google (which starts off at 95k) and Microsoft. By today's standards, that isn't a lot.
  • edited March 2008
    Bio is where da chicks at. They're all in ecology so they can work with the fluffy bunnies. And when they're around, I pretend to love fluffy bunnies, too! =P

    Seriously, though, the greatest "hot-chick to course" ratio is without a doubt psychology.
  • edited March 2008
    a lot of people generalize arts students as liberal granola hippies
  • IVTIVT
    edited March 2008
    also as not being smart enough for the sciences (this is true sometimes)
  • edited April 2008
    Hmm...
    When I'm asked what my major is, the usual response is "you're taking the easy way out".
    I'm a toss-up between Communication and Psychology.
    I guess it's true at times, but it's also just where my interests are...I don't think you can ever win!
  • IVTIVT
    edited April 2008
    IMO its best to pick something before getting in. that way you're there to complete a specific goal (BSc/BA in _______). Get'er done and get out, you know?
  • edited April 2008
    vonnie;25640 said:
    I'm not evil =(
    Morally flexible? :wink:
  • edited April 2008
    IVT;25718 said:
    IMO its best to pick something before getting in. that way you're there to complete a specific goal (BSc/BA in _______). Get'er done and get out, you know?
    I thought I wanted CMNS but PSYC is great thus far. The major/minor requirements for both are similar so I don't believe I'm wasting any credits so to speak...a lot of people change their mind anyway!
  • edited April 2008
    I did 2 years in English then switched to sciences. Don't pidgeonhole yourself too early, or you'll get stuck in the wrong thing. I'm so happy I switched. :)
  • edited April 2008
    Insatiable;25719 said:
    Morally flexible? :wink:
    Hahah that would be a better way to put it :smile:
  • IVTIVT
    edited April 2008
    Morro;25722 said:
    I did 2 years in English then switched to sciences. Don't pidgeonhole yourself too early, or you'll get stuck in the wrong thing. I'm so happy I switched. :)
    nicole;25721 said:
    I thought I wanted CMNS but PSYC is great thus far. The major/minor requirements for both are similar so I don't believe I'm wasting any credits so to speak...a lot of people change their mind anyway!
    if this happened to me, i would go nuts for sure. i DO NOT want to spend the next 6 years busing to/from sfu, in fact 5 years is too long imo
  • edited April 2008
    "Oh. Ok."

    "What's is that?"

    "Whats 'actual' science?"

    "OMG you must be really really smart!!!!"
  • edited April 2008
    I'm planning to major in Communication and minor in Business.

    Usually when I tell people I'm studying Communication, they ask if I'm planning to be a news anchor or radio announcer... lol. I actually want to go into advertising or public relations. I don't think there is a stereotype for Communication students... not for people outside of the major to refer to anyway. For people in Communication, I think we many of us would describe ourselves as leftist, pessimistic capitalism bashers. Because so far, that's what all my CMNS classes have been about...

    As for Business, there's definitely the stereotype that we're profit-minded, instrumental people.
  • IVTIVT
    edited April 2008
    flo-ra;25734 said:
    leftist, pessimistic capitalism bashers.
    motivaional_communism.jpg

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