It seems as though every other week, Yahoo, Huffington Post, Forbes or some other news site claims to know what the top 10 majors for college students are, or the “best” majors leading to lucrative careers. I, being an open-minded intellectual, click on the suggested links and am always baffled by what I see.

The search results that come up when I look for  “best college majors” on Google are usually synonymous with “best paying college majors” and “highest-paying college majors.” It’s crazy that whoever makes these types of lists, which supposedly determine what majors are the best, think the primary factor in determining the quality of a field of study is how much money a major could potentially bring in. I hate to break it to the so-called experts on the Internet, but earning potential is not the most important factor when comparing majors.

I’m a public relations student. Well, technically I’m a journalism student with an emphasis in public relations and a minor in history. I’m going to be the White House press secretary, obviously. I have never seen journalism mentioned on one of these top 10 lists. The reason for this, presumably, is that the average journalist’s salary won’t even begin to reach six digits until one has worked in the field for more than a decade. Entry-level pay for journalists falls somewhere between $22,000 with a bachelor’s degree and $48,000 with a master’s degree according to payscale.com. Those figures aren’t stellar by any means. Regardless, I love my major. I love how it challenges me. I love the people I meet and I love my professors. My major is the best fit for me, which makes it the best.

Last week I stumbled upon an article from U.S. News & World Report that was aptly titled “11 Hot College Majors.” I’m an optimist, so I opened the article hoping to see journalism and public relations represented in all their glory. “Of course they’ll be on there,” I said as I eagerly prepared myself. “Those majors are amazing.” To my utter and complete dismay, I found that the no. 1 major on the list was biomedical engineering. Um, what? The second and third picks were biometrics and forensic science.

For someone such as me, who has hated math since I was seven years old, any of these three majors would be a terrible nightmare. I quickly scanned the rest of the list to see if it would redeem itself, with no such luck. 10 out of the 11 majors mentioned have something to do with math, science or engineering. It may even be 11 out of 11, depending on how one defines “sustainability,” which I didn’t know was a major at all.

I’m a firm believer in doing what makes you happy.  No list on Forbes, Newsweek or The New York Times can ever define what the “best” majors are, because anyone’s subjective ideas about how students should spend their time in college is just an opinion. I mentioned earlier that I can’t stand math, but I have a friends who would rather do anything than write as much as I do. Rankings, such as the ones floating around online, only reflect an estimated monetary value for the career path a student will take by declaring any given major. Now would be a great time for a “money can’t buy happiness” cliche quote. I’m not going to lie, when I have money to buy new shoes, I’m pretty happy. However, it’s important for me to remember my happiness also comes from the therapeutic process of going shopping with my friends.

Be proud of your major if it makes you happy. Don’t feel compelled to think about your future in terms of dollar signs. It’s not just the money that causes your happiness. It’s the journey you take that truly defines the worth of how you spend your college years.