A while ago, somewhere around my senior year of high school, I had decided that I wanted to be an anthropology major. Now the problem with anthropology is that for a lot of people there isn’t a direct path in life. What I mean by this is, there isn’t a direct carreer path besides deciding to be an academic.
I never found this lack of a direct connection to a job a problem; I figured I would develop skills over time and that potential employers would find me and my skills. What I didn’t expect was the constant need to justify my choice of major to everyone.
Often (usually around older people), I would be asked about my major. They would look at my blankly, smile, then ask, “yes, but what do you do with that?” For anyone dealing with this I have come up with an official list of answers, the ones that I most commonly use.
- I shall become Supreme Ruler of the World- The key to saying this is to smile and walk away after responding, it leaves people unsure if you are being serious or not
- Well, I will develop critical thinking skills and other skills that are widely applicable to many jobs
- Forward them an article that says how awesome your major is or a job that uses your major
These are all viable options when dealing with people. Though admittedly the last two are probably the more productive. People have trouble figuring out what you are supposed to do with a liberal arts degree sometimes, or they are expecting some concrete plan for the next five years of your life.
Honestly, the amount of life-skills I have gained from a liberal arts degree is amazing. I am developing critical and interdisciplinary thinking, , writing, communication and countless others. Perhaps the degree doesn’t have a specific job that I know I am going into (like accounting), but I will be able to find a job that utilizes all that I have learned.
Now, part two of this story is certainly interesting. During my sophomore year of college I took my first Computer Science Class.
PSA: At this point I believe that most people should try computer science at least once in your life. It is probably not going to cause you physical pain, maybe some emotional turmoil. You could hate it, you could love it, but you should try it.
My computer science experience was one of those odd experiences where I thought it would be something I was completely horrible at (not just me, but my mother also) and it turned into something that I enjoyed. So I decided to take some more computer science classes, and I added a second major, Science, Technology and Society.
People’s reactions changed too. If anything, they got moreconfused, and it seemed that everyone thought I should have more of an idea of what I was doing with my life.
“Oh wow, your taking computer science classes and you have this weird humanities thing, wait, where do you see yourself in five years”
“Cool sounding major, what do you want to do with your life?”
Unfortunately for me and everyone else, making my major sound more complicated has not actually done anything to help me know what I want to do with my
life, and I usually still give the same responses. People don’t typically understand when I tell them that I don’t think I really want to be a software developer, but coding skills are useful.
At the end of the day it’s okay if you don’t have a five year plan. It’s okay to not really know what you are planning on doing, maybe in a month two I’ll know what I am doing after college, but not right now. And who knows where I’ll be in five years.