Major-shaming ignores hardworking students

When I checked communication when applying to USC, I had no idea the stigma that would be attached to my major for the entirety of my undergraduate years. In case you have not heard, communication is a “joke” major — it is where you will find the most athletes and stereotypical sorority girls, so they say.

I have even had some of my closest friends approach me when I am studying and say, “What are you doing? Communication majors don’t study.”

Despite the countless times I have resented my communication major for the stigma attached to it, constantly playing with the idea of switching majors, I find myself, four years later, defending the communication major and what it stands for. In my four years at USC — do not be too shocked — I have, in fact, studied. I have pulled all-nighters and been stressed to the point of panic. But that’s not the point.

The point is that I chose to be a communication major because it coincided with my passions and career goals. For those of you who do not know, communication “explores the social, political and cultural functions of communication as it occurs in diverse settings ranging from interpersonal interaction to global media,” according to Northwestern University. There’s a lot you can do with a communication major, which is perfect for someone like me who knows a general area of interest, but would like the opportunity to pursue various career niches and areas of study.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of being a communication major — or I suppose any liberal arts major — is having other majors look down on you, like your field of study is trivial in a university flooding with pre-med students and future engineers. What irritates me most is the fact that with that comes the presumption that I am not smart. I am smart, and I could have been a physicist, a doctor or a lawyer. However, I did not want to do that because it wouldn’t make me happy; I want to tell stories, whether by means of journalism, creative writing, film or television.

I could not help but draw comparisons between the problem of major-shaming to a column in Glamour Magazine by Girls actress Zosia Mamet. Mamet wrote about the problem with many people’s perceptions of feminism because women become obsessed with “making it” and going for the gold, that they start looking down on someone if they simply follow their passions, even if those passions do not include becoming the head of a company or running the world Beyoncé-style.

In the article, Mamet writes, “I hate that we look at women who choose not to run a country as having given up.” Similarly, I hate when college students judge another student who has decided to not focus on curing cancer or going to the moon as lazy, unintelligent or incapable. Just like with feminism, the freedom to choose a way of life is not about choosing the “most prestigious” option, but rather, pursuing what makes us happy without judgment from our peers.

This is not a sad attempt to defend my decision to major in communication, but rather, a request for students to stop condescendingly criticizing other people’s majors. By looking down on someone’s field of study, students are undermining the value of personal choice in the process of deciding college majors.

I have no doubt that there are USC students who have chosen communication because it is “easier” than pre-med, and I have no doubt that there are students in the major that slack off and get by easily. However, it is ignorant to judge the whole undergraduate population with those standards — to ignore those who work hard, study late, memorize often and take on extracurricular internships and jobs to gain real-life experience.

Because those people exist and they work hard, and despite how many times you think you are just “joking” with your liberal arts friends, you could really be making them question their decision to follow their interests and passions.

In her Glamour column, Mamet writes, “The solution … is to ask ourselves what we actually want — each of us personally — and stop putting so much pressure on one another. Success isn’t about winning everything; it’s about achieving your dream, be that teaching middle school or flying jets” — or majoring in communication.

Mollie Berg is a senior majoring in communication. Her column, “All in a Day’s Work,” ran every other Wednesday.