Unlike students of other third-level disciplines, Arts student have it pretty rough when it comes to the public’s perception of their prospects.

If you make the mistake of telling someone that you don’t actually intend teaching upon graduation, you’re often met with a mixture of confusion, pity and suspicion.

Oh, and then there’s the endless digs you get about your 12-hour work week while the ‘real’ students sweat over Bunsen burners or slave away in an airless computer lab.

Here are just 8 things you’ll know if you’re pursuing or, indeed, have a Bachelor of Arts degree.

1. People openly scorn your choice of subject.

“Greek and Roman, sure what would you be doing with that jaysusin’ yoke?”

2. People often haven’t even heard of your subjects, and regularly confuse them with something else.

“Anthropology? Is that what Ross Geller did?”

3. You’re not allowed to complain about being tired… EVER.

“Would ya listen to your one? She’s fit for the bed after her two lectures.”

4.  Your timetable never actually allows you a short day because your three classes a day span an eight-hour period.

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just sit on this bench for five hours until the next one.”

5.  If you do a language, you’re regularly quizzed on your fluency by older members of the family.

“Sure I got an honour in that in the Inter. Go on, test me.  BON JOUR!”

6.  Jokes about your supposed lack of prospects no longer rattle you – in fact, you rarely hear them anymore.

“What? McDonalds. Oh yeah, har har har.”

7. You manage to pass exams on novels you haven’t even finished.

“God bless you, Wikipedia.”

8. You are a PRO at hitting your word count with the help of your online thesaurus.

“What? They did have full-sized aortic pumps!”