This is a brief timeline of how I declared my major.
Fall of Freshman Year: Wide-eyed first year plans on double majoring in English and Anthropology, then realizes she dislikes both English and Anthropology.
Spring of Freshman Year: Decides Psychology is an easy way to avoid “real math,” and is promised a spot in an upper level psychology course if she declares a major. So, she declares psych major.
Fall of Sophomore Year: Drops said upper level psychology course. Student takes film course. Declares film major, because why the heck not.
Summer after Sophomore Year: Has film internship. Hates film internship.
Fall of Junior Year: Drops film major. Decides she wants to work in libraries as an adult. Decides to stick out her irrelevant, but still interesting psych major, and then go to grad school.
As you can tell, I’ve jumped around a decent amount during my time here at Kenyon. I strongly considered majors in all four academic divisions, which seems like some kind of liberal arts feat. Part of this feat came from my indecision about potential career paths, for sure, but that’s not the whole story.
In my mind, there are two ways to go through college: pursuing a narrow and deep education, or pursuing a wide and shallow one. Narrow and deep means you focus on just one area and learn as much as you can on that single topic. I opted for wide and shallow, which means I dabbled in many different areas, but didn’t commit myself to a single one.
For me, that’s what the liberal arts are about. Rather than solely providing you with a firm foundation in one subject, you’re encouraged to explore beyond that. You’re allowed to explore your tangential interests and see where they lead. You’re allowed to take any course you want just because it sounds interesting. Simply put, you’re allowed to learn for learning’s sake.
That’s what I wanted to get out of college. I don’t see these four years as explicit job training. Frankly, I’d be shocked if I used any of my actual course material in my career. But I’m learning how to think. That’s the cliché of liberal arts, right? My natural science classes teach me to look at things analytically, to question my sources and push for concrete evidence. My social science classes teach me to synthesize disparate sources and theories into my own, cohesive argument. My creative classes teach me to trust myself, to pull ideas from deep within and share them with others.
I don’t think I would have gotten all that from a pre-professional program, or even from a more narrowly focused experience here at a liberal arts school. No, I didn’t learn the concrete skills I’ll use in a career, but I am a firm advocate for value of my education. I learned how to form an argument, how to present my idea,s and how to manage my time. I learned the soft skills needed to be a good employee and a good person. I can learn the specifics on the job.
Image Credit: Writer’s Own