Undecided/Undeclared

Jeffrey J. Selingo, an editor at large at The Chronicle of Higher Education, has a post in The Choice examining how much a college major matters for students after they graduate from college. Obviously, yes, if you want to go into a STEM field, you should probably major in one of the related majors, but as Selingo argues, “curiosity and the willingness to adapt are more important than what the degree is in.” And even more than what you choose to do, picking up the abilities to communicate well, problem solve and think critically will make graduates more attractive to employers.

Much of these skills, as Selingo points out, can be picked up by engaging in a large research project on campus. For me, that research project was my undergraduate thesis on feminist film theory, which I spent two years working on with three different professors who were all super talented and passionate about their work and in helping me succeed. I actually didn’t need to complete a thesis to graduate from college, but I wanted to conduct research and do something challenging. Obviously, researching and writing a 100-page thesis on feminist film theory has basically zilch to do with running a website about money, but the ability to do research, think critically and approach things with different perspectives have been invaluable to me as a writer and reporter.

In high school, I was a tiger cub, which meant I excelled in all subjects to the satisfaction of my tiger parents. I could have theoretically gone to college and picked a STEM major and done well. But I doubled in English and film and minored in political science and have no regrets about it. I have seen STEM majors become really amazing science reporters and English majors go on to run startups and political campaigns. Does the college major matter? The argument is often yes, stop paying tens of thousands of dollars for a liberal arts degree. But if you are doing good work and can point to that work after you graduate, the college major doesn’t matter so much.

Photo: velkr0

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