Anyone ever confused by your profession?

[Goldwater64]

Be surrounded by all those backbiting hacks who write stuff nobody will ever read on their idiosyncratic pet projects, books that will just gather dust on a shelf somewhere? Do you know that these people all hate each other? They all pretend to be open-minded but can't begin to entertain an opinion they don't already hold themselves. Who's gonna pay for this? Are you sure you want to invest that much of yourself in something that isn't likely to get you anywhere?"

ahaha.. that's what my undergrad professor told me when I said I wanted to go to grad school...

[space-cat]

Personal favorite, from during my undergrad:

Relative: "So what is it you study again?"

Me: "Anthropology. Cultural anthropology."

Relative: "Well I know I wouldn't want to spend my life digging up dinosaurs, but if that's what makes you happy..." (dramatic shrug)

Me: *facepalm*

This is why I'm not that close to most of my family...

[Vacuum]

I've also had the same responses for linguistics as previous posters mentioned, but the best one I ever had was:

Person: What is your major?

Me: Speech Science

Person: So you must be really good at oral speaking.

Me: .......

[UFGator]

Person: So what are you going to graduate school for?

Me: Economics

Person: LOL, HOUSING BUBBLE, LEVERAGING, OVERSPECULATION,RECESSION , blah blah blah blah

My face, since I hate debating macroeconomics:

[LizzR]

I'm in religious studies.

"So, you want to be a nun, or a minister?"

Religious studies here, too.

Do you get this: "Let me ask you a question..." followed by a question that references the DaVinci Code, Creation Science, or Glenn Beck ?

[GK Chesterton]

Interloper: So what do you study?

Me: German literature and film.

-: Oh, great. I love the Frankfurt School. Do you have a thematic concentration, or are you more interested in theory?

Me: Well, I'm mostly interested in structuralist and post-structuralist approaches to texts - for me, it's more important how text and interpretation work than what the actual "content" of the book is.

-: Ah, OK. So sort of a narratology line, then?

Me: Yes, exactly - like Genette or Bakhtin.

-: Right, I love them. I just discovered this great russian semiotician, Yuri...

Me: ... Lotman! Yes, me too, I think he's really interesting, particularly in his rejection of historicist tendencies and necessity in his theory of the event.

-: True, I agree, but I think that one needs to keep in mind a sort of Foucauldian awareness of the discursive structures that place epistemic limits on the possibilities of both action and interpretation - in supporting Lotman and this sort of radical contingency, are we not also rejecting the structuring and constraining influences of society upon the subject?

Me: Right, important points, whose answers I think would probably lie in a recourse to Deleuzian theories of becoming or perhaps Badiou's judgment of what constitutes an event versus what is only an apparent event, or evil.

For a small fee, I'll be happy to send everyone posting in this thread a plaque reading "It's tough being the smartest person in the room, but somebody has to do it." A bit of consideration with regard to people that somehow didn't end up on the fork of life that leads you to getting a Ph.D. might not be a terrible thing.

[Nurse Wretched]

Random Person (or possibly my mother): So, why are you getting a doctorate? Can you prescribe then?

Me: No, I can already do that. I'm a nurse practitioner. I want to study the culture of nursing units and effects on outcomes in perinatal care.

RPOPMM: So you're still going to be just a nurse?

[pawqara]

In my country the average citizen is aware of only a handful of professions, the most prominent ones being an engineer, doctor (med), lawyer or teacher. So once I was talking to these women,

Women: So, what do you do?

Me: I am a biologist.

Women: Uhm, so you work in hospitals?

Me: no, i am field biologist and study monkeys in the jungle

Women: so you treat the monkeys diseases?

Me: no, I study how they behave, how many are left...

after a circular conversation with questions about how humans are NOT related to monkeys...

Women: what are your next plans

Me: I am applying to grad school to continue my education

Women: oh, you seem very intelligent, I am sure if you study hard you can become an engineer.

*facefault*

I said nothing. After a while, another women arrived, and they introduced me to her as a "medical engineer".

(had to endure them while trapped for hours in the US embassy)

[agatheringrose]

I've had three very different experiences. First, there was my undergraduate Anthropology Major with a focus on Gender/Sexuality. I think I've blocked out all the conversations on that one but the Anthropology questions were pretty standard. The Gender/Sexuality got weird and into personal business very quickly with a lot of strangers.

My Masters in Library and Information Science was often pretty funny, though.

PersonA: So you're getting your masters! What in?

Me: Library and Information Science!

PersonA: Really!? O_O That sounds so difficult!

Me: ... I'm studying to be a librarian.

PersonA: ...you need a Masters for that?

Through a course on Information Communication Technologies I decided that I wanted to pursue further education on the affect of ICTs globally and locally on communication and culture. Most of the time this actually gets understood--I just point out people's cellphones and the use of Twitter or Facebook (or whatever communication technology they prefer) and the light goes on. Occasionally, however, there's a brick.

Law Student: So you're applying for Doctorate programs in what?

Me: Communication--I want to study Information Communication Tech. Like...the use of cellphones and Facebook and how they change communication blahblah

Law Student: ... and you think you can get a job with that? That's useless.

Me: ... but the more you know about how people use technology to communicate blah

Law Student: Nope. Its useless. It'll be obsolete by the time you turn around.

Me: ... but... you've been using your cellphone to check facebook, comment, and like things since I met you, constantly, for the past 40 minutes. ???

Law Student: If I could use magic to do the same things I would. Does not make a bit of damn difference

Me: /gives up/

[qbtacoma]

Law Student: So you're applying for Doctorate programs in what?

Me: Communication--I want to study Information Communication Tech. Like...the use of cellphones and Facebook and how they change communication blahblah

Law Student: ... and you think you can get a job with that? That's useless.

Me: ... but the more you know about how people use technology to communicate blah

Law Student: Nope. Its useless. It'll be obsolete by the time you turn around.

Me: ... but... you've been using your cellphone to check facebook, comment, and like things since I met you, constantly, for the past 40 minutes. ???

Law Student: If I could use magic to do the same things I would. Does not make a bit of damn difference

Me: /gives up/

"Stuff changes so there's no use understanding any of it!"

[Sevi]

I had an independent project in my undergrad studying cell cycle regulators in yeast models, but as a member of the lab also had to occasionally change mouse cages. When anyone asked my parents what I did they'd answer, "She plays with mice all day!"

For the past year I've been working in a cardiovascular genetics lab where I perform rat abdominal implantations. My parents still say I play with mice all day.

*headdesk*

Nowadays, when I say I'm getting a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, most people have an idea what that means. But my favourite reply was:

Woman: "When do you graduate?"

Me: "I graduated a few years ago from college."

Woman: "From college?? I thought you were in high school! So are you a nurse now? Or want to teach?"

Me: "Actually, I'm pursuing a PhD in Biomed."

Woman: "Oh! But why...? You're so pretty..."

o.O Uuuh.... Is that a compliment...?

[electrifice]

SCENARIO 1

Person: Oh, you're in college? What are you studying?

Me: Electrical Engineering

Person: Wow! So can you fix my toaster/laptop/lamp/dishwasher or other mundane electrical device?

SCENARIO 2

Person: I heard you're doing engineering? What kind?

Me: Electrical...

Person: Oh, so you're pretty good at, like, wiring up things around the house, right?

Me: Err... no, that would be an electrician!

SCENARIO 3

This time with a more "knowledgable" person who thinks they know it all...

Person: Why electrical engineering?

Me: Because I love studying one of the most diverse fields of study, allowing me to combine my interest in basic science and modern technology

Person: But you'll be obsolete before you know it... the semiconductor industry is expected to decline soon!

Me: Uhh... not really.

Person: But I read it in *insert random science magazine here*

Me: Yeah... about that... (At this point I usually agree and extract myself from the conversation because this couldn't end well)

SCENARIO 4

With a person not too sensitive to the finer qualities of life...

Person: I heard you're pretty smart... and studying engineering?

Me: Yeah, electrical engineering

Person *In a hushed voice*: Listen, take some advice from someone who's been around. You're a smart guy, don't waste your life... go to law school or business school!

Me: Why would I do that?

Person: Engineers are just tools... you're a smart guy, you'll make a lot more money in business or law (and you won't have to work as hard either *wink-wink*)

Me: *Rolls eyes and walks away*

I sometimes feel very lonely after hearing these responses... Do other people not have legitimate genuine interests in things that they want to learn/study just because they want to learn/study them?

[psi456]

Try being an accountant.

Can you help me with my taxes?

No. I've never seen a tax form before in my life, other than my own in 2009... definitely a mistake- I just amended for the third time.

OR

Oh. Wow. You must be good at math?

Yes, I do know how to add and subtract if I have a calculator.

[LadyBug]

When I tell people I want to study entomology...

A) So, you're going to work in pest control?

You want to play with bugs?? Ewww...

C) Wouldn't you rather be a doctor?

[i.am.me]

This thread is so funny and cute!

When I was an undergrad in Anthropology/Archaeology:

Mom's Friend: So what is your daughter studying?

Mom: Trash and dirt.

Now I'd like to get into an international and comparative education program to help inform educational policy in developing countries.

Mom's Friend: What does your daughter want to get another degree in?

Mom: Teaching. She wants to be a teacher.