So I've spent the past hour or so attempting to finally make a decision on my major/minor, just to get that pesky decision out of the way. Needless to say, my head aches with rules and requirements, courses and categories, regulations and pre-requisites.
I took a class in linguistics this summer in order to decide whether or not I want to major in it. The result? Almost certainly, yes. I could easily be happy studying various aspects of "the discipline of linguistics" for the next coupla years. The downside? There is no chemistry minor, and I haven't yet ruled good ol' chem out as a field of interest. See, no one cares what you actually TOOK in college, only that you took something, and that it resulted in you getting a degree. So it's no good me taking a bunch of chem classes because I'm interested in them if I won't get recognition for it later on, especially since chem is generally acknowledged to be more useful than ling.
This is the type of dilemma that has been raging in my head for the past loooong time, causing me to dither, and click, and read, and hope for some sort of clarity.
The thing is, I am trying to fulfill two purposes at once:
1. To enjoy college as much as possible, and take classes that truly interest me (so as not to waste my time being bored and learning virtually nothing because of it)
2. To end up with a degree that will earn me some respect and a Good Job.
Reminds me of that one bible verse about the impossibility of serving two masters. Sigh. The first option is infinitely more attractive to me, but common sense says that that attraction will pass in favor of the second option fairly soon after graduation, if not before. But in considering option 2, I have to wonder, as Imogen Heap asks in some song or other... is this it? I get a job, I work, I get paid, I have a family, end of story? It seems like an anticlimax, the petering out of a momentum I've been gathering my whole life. Isn't there supposed to be a big explosion at the end? A... a launch? Why do I feel like a rock sitting in a slingshot that's been tensed, pulled back, and is about to let go... and then robbed the rock of the upward part of it's flight?
Ok, so that was a pretty sucky and rather confusing metaphor, but sheesh, it's summer, give me credit for at least still putting my brain to use. :P By rights it should be turning to mush and dripping out my ears right now. it's july!
and i haven't seen ursa minor OR major in a long time. I wonder what's going on up there?
over 'n out.
E.O.
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2 comments:
actually (yes, I know, I'm sorry), people do care what you take, if you take a lot of one area. even if you don't get a minor in it, you can still put on resumes that you have "a concentration" in whatever.
this is something my mom filled me in on. they don't have a psychology minor at uga, so I was having sort of the same thoughts as you :)
also, there are a lot of employers out there who just want smart, educated employees, and don't care so much what they were educated in. obviously, not the case in the sciences or other specialized fields, but most businesses don't just hire people with degrees in business.
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