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After telling someone the degree you study, what is their response?

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They say, "Ooh, sounds smart." and swiftly change the subject. Which is sad, cos it's not that complicated, I wish they'd just ask me about it :/

Edit: Molecular & cellular biology btw. Sometimes I say genetics cos that doesn't sound as scary & I might be leaning towards that now.

Are you studying MCB at Glasgow? That was the course I chose for Honours in April, but after looking through some L4 Biochemistry past papers and discovering how they assess aspects of quantitative biology in much more detail than the MCB exams, I sent a frantic email to the biochem course coordinator begging to switch to his subject (and he said yes, woo! :biggrin:

).

Assuming you are in fact studying at Glasgow, do you mind if I pm you with a few questions about the relative merits of the different Group B courses? I received unconditional offers for all of them, so I can - hopefully - still transfer to whichever one I like before the start of my L3 teaching terms.

To the OP: when I tell people I study Molecular and Cellular Biology I just get blank looks and nods, whereas when I say Biochemistry they tend to go for the classic "what, like a chemist?" ("chemist" meaning pharmacist in this case...).

Reply 581

Ari Ben Canaan

Original post by msoynri

ah i just remembered for geology i get: oh rocks so you gonna go around look at rocks and dig? once i had "who would pay you for that?" umm a lot of people?

Instead of agreeing with them when they say 'so you dig for rocks?' tell them you could work for Shell and be involved in oil exploration teams or work potentially in diamond exploration projects.

Watch their demeanour take a 360 degree change.

PS: I always liked geography and geology :wink:

Reply 582

SebMurphy

I usually get "wow that sounds difficult" or "so thats like chemistry?" :angry:

Reply 583

NikNakWakAtak

"Oh...so, you like history then?"

Reply 584

Frenchous

at LSE?

(econ at UCL)

Reply 585

DustBowlDance

Original post by oli_G

Your peers are stupid.

Most of them did AS Law and stupidly think that Law at univesity will be exactly the same (they hated the course) :rolleyes:

Reply 586

Ruthie!

Oh wow!.....*pause*.. What's that again?

I do Midwifery.. It's not hard. I'm training to be a midwife, clue is in the name..
I can't believe how many people haven't ever come across a midwife..

Also, I get "How's the nursing going?" a lot.. Grrrrrr. The only things I do that are the same as the nursing students are taking blood pressure and changing the occasional bed!

EIT: I don't have anything against nurse/nursing students, it's just nothing like!

Reply 587

OMGWTFBBQ

"Physics"
"Oh a scientist!"
"Yeah."

or

"Physics and Maths"
"Wow you must be cleaver."
*smile*

#2 is strictly true, but #1 doesn't kill off the conversation as much so I tend to opt for that!

Reply 588

gethsemane342

Law

"Oh, you must be clever then" (What do you say to that? "Yes, I'm a genius"?)
"Oh great, I know who to ask for when I'm in court" (Never mind that becoming a barrister is insanely hard)
"Hey, I've got this problem with my landlord/shop/employer..." (And you expect me to do what, exactly?)

Reply 589

torchwood

They usually make some comment about money. People assume we get crazy amounts, we actually start on less than £30k, not the £130k everyone assumes.

Reply 590

Pi!

Just remembered one: when I say I want to study Spanish, people sometimes say "Y U NO study Arabic and earn loads of money working for an oil company?".

Because the only reason to study something is to get a job that'll earn you loads of money. Not love of the subject or anything stupid like that. :rolleyes:

Reply 591

toasteh

'Ooh, so you're going to be the next Margaret Thatcher!'

...and that's when I put the gun to my head.

Reply 592

MJay91

'Oh, so you'll be like working in a supermarket?'

Spoiler

Reply 593

msoynri

Original post by Ari Ben Canaan

when i do that they are like ah cool o.O

Reply 594

Catterz

It usually goes something along the lines of

Them: So what are you up to/Uni/Gap Year?
Me: Yh im studying Biomedical Sciences at UWE
Them: Oh im sorry you didnt get into Medicine!
Me: No i never intended to do Medicine
Them: So why are you doing Biomedical Sciences....... :facepalm:

Or alternatively ......'bio-what?'

Reply 595

Ari Ben Canaan

Original post by msoynri

when i do that they are like ah cool o.O

They smell the monies :P

Reply 596

jaydemikaela

I'm doing Accounting and Finance.

My hairdresser asked me yesterday what degree I was going to do, so I told her and she said "Oh you could be the next Carol Vorderman"

:tongue:

Reply 597

mad_about_alice

"So what degree are you doing?"
"Sports Management"
"Oh, so you can manage a football team then?"

Yeah...'cause that's the only sport which needs managers....!?

Reply 598

<3 inbetweener =D

'you're so clever why would you want to do history?'

Reply 599

vedderfan94

Original post by Florence321

Oh my god tell me about it! And then people accuse you of being bad at maths and you're just like "if only you knew..."

The other day I was working in a cafe and was taking a while to count the correct change. The customer was like "See, this is what GCSE maths is for!". I restrained from telling him that I dropped a whole 2 marks in all the GCSE and that I'd got 91/100 in C1 which I took early.
:smile:

This is the problem with the general public today. Most think Maths is just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division when it's soooooo much more.