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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2000)
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas Newsroom: (541)346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Thursday April 20,2000 Volume 101, Issue 135 Effierald Deciding what major to declare should involve more than just weighing future incomes; students should take the time in college to find out what they enjoy doing It’s probably the second most popu lar question asked at IntroDUCK tion, just after “What’s y5ur name?” Whether it’s asked out of sincere interest, as a conversation starter or just as a pick-up line, no one leaves campus the first day with out hearing the all-too-familiar inqui sition: “What's your major?” The answer to such an inquiry au tomatically identifies a student and is supposed to expose a person’s inter ests , but more and more this isn’t the case. Most students feel much better about themselves if they know they have a solid path to follow, one that will eventually lead them to a secure job even if it’s not what they enjoy. Unfortunately, this way of thinking causes many to choose their majors for the wrong reasons. And these hopeful souls could end up very dis appointed later in their lives, because instead of experiencing the college life, they concentrated only on where it would take them. So many students focus on the destination that they for get they’re here to actually learn and to find their passions. No one wants to hear, “What can you do with that major in the real world?" And this fear and pressure pushes some students to desperately grab onto any career path that is re motely close to what they want to do and has potential to one day bring in the cashola. You can spot these gold diggers by the bright green dollar signs that flash in their eyes when they learn of the salaries their major could someday bring them. And while such a motive works great when one has true interest and devo tion, others are stuck in a miserable rut. Nelly Ganesan, who recently changed majors from computer in formation science to math, knows how it feels to be in a major for rea sons aside from personal satisfac tion. “ I picked computer science be cause of pressure from my parents and also because it’s security based,” Ganesan said. “You know that if you graduate with a degree in CIS, you don’t really have to worry about get ting a job. But I didn’t like it.” Sarah Bartlett, sophomore journal ism major, also admits that if it weren’t for financial factors, her ca reer path would be different. “I’d have a major in English with a creative writ ing focus and get a masters in fine arts. Poetry is what I love. But there’s the pressure from my parents and my own mindset that I need to be able to get a job. For poets there doesn’t seem to be many opportunities besides teaching or living on tire streets.” But having a major that sounds promising is not a guaranteed ticket into a secure job. We have alumni that have graduated with business degrees and ended up being lead cashiers at Gap. But then we have English majors that went on to be come account executives or graphic designers. Also, there’s no assurance that jobs will be closely related to the students major. According to the 1997 Career Survey at the University on baccalau reate graduates, 32 percent of respon dents had jobs highly related to their major while 28 percent said that their jobs had no relation. You never know where your major will take even if it’s known to bring others success.Soyou may as well study some thing you like. Even iflost souls who de clare a major for monetary reasons find the successful job that their major prom ised, eventual Beata ly the glory and M OStaf avi happiness will - fade. They will spend time they could have spared searching for something that does please their heart. Lynn Antis, now assistant director at the Eugene Mission, graduated from San Diego State with a bachelor of science in business. But he then went on to obtain a masters of art in religion at the Northwest Christian College when he saw that his major didn’t bring him satisfaction in the workplace. “I went to work for Graybar Elec tric, a very large electrical sales com pany,” Antis said. “Financially, it went very well, and I bought a new home and new car and that was great, but I didn’t feel fulfilled. The busi ness world has good lucrative, but it was too shallow and empty for me. When I started at the Eugene Mis sion, I was making one-fourth of what I was making in sales. But I can still say that I have no regrets.” The truth is that many of us will be forever undeclared. What sparks your interest today may turn to smoke tomorrow. Just do and learn about what makes you happy today. If you’re always thinking about the end of the road, you’ll never enjoy getting there. I’m not trying to be an idealist, and I’m definitely not giving you the good old kindergarten phi losophy of “You can be whatever you want to be.” Just don’t set limits for yourself for the wrong reasons; do what excites you. Otherwise you could spend the rest of your life in “what if’ mode if you end up unhap py But don’t let skewed expectations lead you to your destiny. Study what interests you because there’s plenty of time to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life. This may mean hearing the dreaded, “Why would you want to study that? That major won’t take you anywhere. ” But that’s when you can’t be afraid to say “yeah, but I love it.” Beata Mostafavi is a columnist for the Ore gon Daily Emerald. Her views do not neces sarily represent those of the Emerald. She can be reached via e-mail at bmostafa@ gladstone.uoregon.edu.
