There is nothing wrong with being an Arts student. I, for one, am very proud that I’ll be having this title soon next year. I will be graduating with BA (Psychology and Media and Communication), isn’t that fancy enough?

Sadly, many people think that a degree in Arts will get me nowhere. Many people think that a degree in Arts is for slack people who just want to have four contact hours per week and skip the other eight. People think that it’s an easy degree, considering Science students have at least 18 contact hours per week.

I tell you now, it’s not.

In fact, in my humblest personal opinion, it’s harder to ace in Arts subjects rather than Business or Science subjects. Why? Because Arts subjects are indefinite, while others are finite and consisted of hard truth. If you study hard, it is possible to ace in Business or Science subjects. Even if you study hard, there is no guarantee that you’ll ace Arts subject. No, it depends on luck, and how merciful your tutor is.

Yes, you’ll only have 12 contact hours and two days off during the week. But you have tons of readings and assignments. You have more assignments. More 2,000 words essays, more 3,000 words case studies. Don’t ever tell an Arts student that it’s easy (except for those who are majoring in choir), it’s not.

So here’s why having a degree in Arts is honourable:

  1. You only have four contact hours per week, and can skip the other eight.
  2. You have two days off most semesters, and you can get a part-time job or an intern while studying, thumbs up for being able to have a professional life other than studying. It’s important for the sake of your resume.
  3. You have broad set of subjects to be studied, so it does not matter if you are interested in Psychology and the History of Ancient Mesopotamia, you can still do it.
  4. You are taught to be thinking out of the box. Most importantly, it is not about blunt memorisation of some geekish formula and try to apply it correctly.
  5. You get to analyse real issues and real people, instead of some unseen protons and CH4.
  6. You will meet so many creative people along the way, those left-brainers who have instincts and hunches of how things ought to work.
  7. Life is good when you have a balance of study and social life.
  8. You can go anywhere. Literally. You can end up working in a business firm, or doing any other jobs that you can think of. It’s cool.
  9. You get to do some cool stuffs – which other subject allows you to stop some random pedestrians and interview them?
  10. It’s easy to get in, but hard to get out.

After being a science student (for taking triple Science subjects and Maths back in high school), a business student (for taking some breadth subjects in business), and an arts student, I’m very proud to have a degree in the latter one. I can call myself a journalist; I am able to declare myself as a psychologist wanna-be.

So before you judge another Arts student about their workload, and how easy their subjects are, please kindly think twice. We are also freaked-out students who pull an all-nighter because that assignment is impossible to be aced.