I will be the first to admit, when I choose the College of Humanities and Social Sciences I thought I would be dodging the serious hard work. But I, and plenty of others, have found that I wasn’t actually dodging any bullets. I realized that I have to work just as hard as any engineering major in order to make the grades I want.

CHASS has always seemed to have the reputation of being the easier college and that women are the main occupants. But each day of this new semester these stereotypes have been proven wrong, with the amount of hard work I have to do and the number of guys I see in my classes.

When people ask me what my major is and I tell them it’s Communication and Media and Women and genders studies, the follow up question is always without fail, “and what exactly do you plan on doing with that major?” As though those two majors really won’t take me anywhere in life or guarantee me a sufficient career.

College students, or even graduates, lack the ability to see the importance humanities and social sciences hold in our world. They only see a very small picture containing the newest technology, which was clearly formed by those who study some form of engineering. Instead of realizing if it were not for those who study advertisement in college they would not even be able to see what the next hot thing was to come out. 

Being my fourth semester here at N.C . State, I am just now really getting into all of the courses required for my major. These consist of communication classes and women and gender classes, and for some reason I am shocked at the amount of work I am expected to do.

I was not expecting it to be easy, but I also was not expecting it to be this difficult. Unfortunately, the reason I am so astonished at the amount of work and thinking I have to do for my communication classes is because for so many years I have been reminded about how easy communication is, according to an outsider’s view. But now I realize communication is far from simple.

I believe those who are in the communication department and many other departments in CHASS do not get the respect of those who are majoring in some field centered around science, math or some form of engineering. It’s as though many people look at those who choose the humanities and social sciences as just choosing the easy way out.

When in reality, we work twice as hard to get the esteem we deserve and prove the importance of CHASS majors, while at the same time we illustrate how equally important we are to the creation and foundation to our society. Although we may not solve the next biggest formula, we do write stories about things going on around the world, or we educate generations after us about the history that came before us. 

Being in CHASS , along with being a communication major, I realize I have a bigger battle to fight than the amount of readings I will have to do over the course of my college career, or all the writing and constant citing I will have to do with every single class I take. I will have to remind people who doubt the prominence of those who choose the humanities and social sciences route, just how truly imperative we really are.