When I started applying to colleges and telling people that I wanted to major in creative writing, I got a lot of weird, sometimes even dirty, looks from people. Everyone seemed to ask me the same question on repeat: what kind of job is that going to get you? Nobody really understood why I wanted to major in English, let alone something as silly as creative writing, because the career path for that field is incredibly uncertain. Eventually, I got people on board when I told them that I planned to pick up a second major in Professional and Technical Writing because that seems like a more marketable skill.
When I started telling people that I was planning on applying to Virginia Tech, the weird looks started all over again. Nobody could understand why I would ever think of applying to a STEM school like Virginia Tech in order to study the liberal arts. The two images don’t really line up with each other.
You know what my favorite part about being at Virginia Tech is, though? The fact that my major makes me stand out. Usually, when I’m meeting new people here in Blacksburg, they are either business, engineering, or agriculture and life sciences majors. When I introduce myself, I can comfortably assume that I am the only person there with my major. It’s kind of cool to see the way people react when I tell them what I study.
The best part about being part of a small program? The people. On my very first day of my first year experience class during freshman year, I met people that I have seen almost every single day since. I have classes with these people; we all go to the same readings, we work together outside of our classes, and we even hang out together for fun (crazy concept, right?) In a school as big as Virginia Tech, I know so many people who study business and engineering and who are a part of the large programs. Somehow they always seem to tell me they feel like there is no sense of community within their major.
Being in a small program in a huge university is kind of awesome. Despite all of the crazy looks I get when I tell people that I double major in a creative field, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
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