# College major misinterpretations **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392 "2004-12-12T02:42:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/41 "2004-12-13T02:48:56Z")
I am a communications/journalism major. No, I don’t want to work for a newspaper. No, I don’t want to be the next Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh. Yes, hosting a three-hour radio program is work, as is producing a basketball or football game. No, I am not a jock looking to be a sportscaster when I become an ex-jock. Robin ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/42 "2004-12-13T03:24:18Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Which is one of the reasons we all hate you guys who intern in the computer lab. The other is that you don’t know how to use a common business program like Word or Excel. You’re confusing us with the IT majors. CS majors sit in the library and play games. They make a living by beating the CE majors at poker. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/43 "2004-12-13T04:35:47Z")
I majored in actuarial studies. I’ve spent the last 20 years explaining to people that: - I’m \*\*not \*\* an accountant - I’m \*\*not \*\* just a _glorified bookmaker_ - I don’t go around predicting when people will die ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/44 "2004-12-13T04:42:57Z")
I majored in biology, with an emphasis in paleontology and evolution. I’ve often had to explain what paleontology is, and how it’s different from archaeology. Moreover, the paleontology courses did not focus on dinosaurs, but on the principles and methods of paleontology. My actual diploma simply says “integrative biology”, so I often have to explain what _that_ means, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/45 "2004-12-13T04:45:16Z")
I majored in physiology. No, I’m not a physio_therapist_. No, I can’t fix your sports injury, and I’m not opening up a massage therapy place. I got so tired of explaining that to people! ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/46 "2004-12-13T05:20:22Z")
Archaeology major checking in, echoing what **Kyla, Emperor Penguin** et al have said. Back in the day, me and my fellow archaeology students banded together and printed up some tshirts that featured Barney (the big purple dinosaur), the red circle with a line thru it (the universal NO symbol) and the words “Archaeology: We don’t do dinosaurs” on the front. On the back was “…that’s paleontology.” Dunno how many we educated, but we got a dorky sense of accomplishment out of them! But basically, a degree in archaeology means you deliver fast food or do tech support. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/47 "2004-12-13T05:36:14Z")
Man, I’m glad I took Electronics Engineering Technology! At least when I say that, people understand that it’s something about building computers or television sets. Which is pretty accurate actually… one of my projects _was_ building a simple computer from a bunch of wires and chips and stuff. I also learned how to write simple programs, make circuit boards, design antennas, and fix real TV sets. But then they ask, ‘Are you an engineer?’ And I have to explain the difference between an engineer and a technologist and a technician: the engineer designs the thing, I build it, and the technician keeps it running. Theoretically, anyways; in real life, it’s a bit more blurry. Lately I’ve taken to saying that the difference between a technologist and an engineer is one year of school and about $30,000 a year. If someone asks me what I myself work at, I say, ‘I write computer manuals.’ Later on, I will confuse things by mentioning that I went to architecture school or animation school, or I took art classes after work, or whatever. In a way, electronics has been a vast detour… ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/48 "2004-12-13T09:30:49Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > “Oh, I suppose I’d better watch my grammar around you, then? Hahaha” “Yes, because I’ve been known to supplement my income by giving out tickets for dangling modifiers; and also because, as you’ve correctly assumed, I have no tact whatsoever.” ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/49 "2004-12-13T17:57:23Z")
I have a degree in Applied Behavioral Science. Sounds impressive I thought. However, it has absolutely nothing to do with Science, at least not the physical science. it’s actually like a combination of Psychology and Sociology. I like to think it took the good stuff from Psychology and the cool stuff from Sociology and combined them. How it got to “Applied Behavioral Science”, I’m not quite sure. But it sounds impressive enough. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/50 "2004-12-13T18:13:24Z")
I work at an art and design school and I hear about lots of major misconceptions. I had a work study student who majored in furniture and she got sick of explaining it to her family so she told them she was studying carpentry. And all of us get calls asking for the art department. They’re **all** art departments! Someone complained about the misconceptions about her Interior Design major; well, here it _is_ called Interior Architecture and there are still people who think that it trains decorators. That’s particularly sad when people choose it as their major because they want to decorate. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/51 "2004-12-13T18:24:12Z")
Bio-chemistry major here. This means that I know how cells work from a chemical point of view. Examples: how enzymes/enzyme inhibitors work, what compounds will do what to certain parts of the cell, etc. I do NOT nessacrily know how how organisms, as a whole, work. I don’t know any anatomy, or medical stuff. My future career will probably involve using chemical compounds to identify bateria (maybe viri [_plural of virus_]) and then figure out what chemicals will kill the bacteria (or possibly viri) without killing the people that they are infecting. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/52 "2004-12-13T18:46:01Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > (maybe viri [_plural of virus_]) and then figure out what chemicals will kill the bacteria (or possibly viri) without killing the people that they are infecting. Yeah. Pursuant to my grammar traffic cop thing here… _viri_ has no real basis as a Latin plural of “virus.” In Latin, it’s the plural of _vir_, “man”; _virus_ has no plural, because it is a mass noun meaning poison or slime. Better, IMHO, to use the English plural, _viruses_, than to make up a spurious post-classical form. Alas, “viri” does seem to have some misguided currency nowadays, but I’m doing my little bit to stamp it out. Check out [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural\_of\_virus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus) . ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392/53 "2004-12-13T18:46:10Z")
> [@ErinPuff](#): > > I’m a music major, and a lot of non-music people have no idea how much work we do. We end up taking way more classes than anyone else (because a lot of them are half credit, but that doesn’t mean they’re half the workload of a full credit course), and we have ensembles and lessons and practicing like hell. And what do we get for it at the end? No job! Yay! Yes! I was a music ed, then performance major. I typically took 20-21 credit hours per semester. That wasn’t the typical load taken by my friends, who usually had 5 3-credit classes. Typical workload for me in college (I was not a voice major, but their workloads were as packed as ours): 3 credit - Music Theory or Music Analysis 1 credit - Lab (which still met for 3 hours a week) 1 credit - Wind Ensemble (again, still met for 2-3 hours a week) 1 credit - orchestra (same - for us, orchestra was 4 hours a week) 1 credit marching band (for wind and percussion only - this was the killer - 2 hours of rehearsal M-W-F, then games on Saturdays) 1 credit - primary instrument lessons (French horn) 1 credit - secondary instrument lessons (piano - added another lesson in violin my junior year) 3 credits of a required class in History or Science or Math or English 3 credits of another required class of the same 3 credits of another required class of the same 3 credits for either Music History or Music Research There were days I got up at 7 AM and didn’t fall into bed until after midnight, with only enough breaks for lunch, a quick dinner from the student center, and a couple of hours studying. I graduated with a high GPA, but it was VERY easy to fall behind with a schedule like that. Meanwhile, everyone who didn’t see me run all day thought I spent my days banging carefree on the piano and singing in the hallways. E. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-major-misinterpretations/279392.md?page=2)