Why I hate telling people I’m a Psych major

There’s this really cute thing that people in college do where they try to flex their intellectual superiority by shaming yours, once they figure out that you’re incapable of filling out a unit circle on the spot.

When making polite conversation with someone new, you are, more often than not, going to be asked what your major is. At which point I’m already taking my earrings off and getting ready for a fight, because I know they’ll have something slick to say about my major- psychology. Yes, in the true Failed Bio Major fashion, I turned to psychology as a back up plan. But in all honesty, I always felt in my heart I was meant to be a psych major. Biggest indicator? My crush on Robert Sapolsky, but I’ll save that for another article.

Couldn’t get this lit as a bio major

I always get the same responses when I share my major with somebody: “You won’t get a job with that,” or “That’s not a real science,”  or my personal favorite, “You’re not trying to wait tables forever, right?”

First of all, there’s nothing wrong with waiting tables to provide for yourself and your family, so you can take a seat. Secondly, if there was a guidebook on the art of delightful conversation, you would be the model for what not to do. Yes, all psych majors are aware of the disheartening truth awaiting them post-graduation. That’s exactly why the majority of them pick up a second major, pick up a minor, and pursue a higher degree.

Art majors are totally so much cooler than everybody else

Even STEM majors can be discriminated against. Not so much for not having a possible job in the future, but more so for their interests. Applied and Pure Math majors are often asked “You do that for fun? What are you?” as if doing math for the love of it, while also being good at it is the most alien thing they have ever encountered. It elicits the same kind of response out of someone as telling them you love to run, exercise, and eat sadness salad. People are flabbergasted and slightly afraid of you.

brb, suffering from extreme existential doubt

People will always have something to say about the interests of others. These comments bounce right off of some, and they’re not really offended at all. But when somebody is struggling with extreme doubt and uneasiness about the uncertainty of the future, constantly being told that your major will get you nowhere in life is just as bad as saying that you’re a failure. And then imagine being told that in almost every novel conversation.

So the next time you meet somebody with an unconventional major or interest, try to ask instead why they’re interested in it, or why they chose to go into that particular field. It might even be the first time they get a positive reaction from it.

@TheTab