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Musings of an English major


Life is not a prescribed formula.

Believe it or not, when first coming to UB, I was certain my fate would succumb to being dropped off in the middle of nowhere by the proverbial college bus come graduation time.

Visions of hot, dusty winds with rolling tumbleweed and the relentless sun beating down on me flashed before my eyes, and my future seemed as uncertain as the black snake of roadway running blankly for miles in either direction.

"What can I possibly do with an English degree?" I forlornly thought to myself. With little patience to be a teacher, having too big of a heart and conscience to be a lawyer and ruling out becoming a doctor or pharmacist, where is my place out in this big, cold, world?

Like many other young scholars, I was an undecided major for some time, all the while envious of my friends, who were then and still are budding young businessmen and women who seemed be on a direct course for the land of success.

They will earn a degree and work their way up to taking over a business or perhaps ruling a corporation someday - there's no question as to where they figure into the scheme of things after school. Structure, order and discipline, it is the name of the game.

This goes double for all those who are enrolled in medical and other scientific majors.

Who wouldn't want the chance to know their efforts have made a difference? The sense of fulfillment, respect, and pride to know a life has been saved as a result, or learn enough to be able strike it rich by age 30?

But blood tends to get pretty messy, and it takes years of schooling and student loans to become a certified pharmacist. And crunching list after list of numbers can make even the most seasoned accountant go cross-eyed.

As intriguing as the fundamental themes and topics of these majors are, I just couldn't fathom myself spending my time tossing around fancy theorems, complex logarithms, and other sorts of intricate equations.

Truth be told, after completing the required general requirements, I had discovered the right side of my brain finally arm-wrestled the left half.

So when it came time to choose, I hesitantly said goodbye to my days of math and science and turned at the fork in the road headed toward liberal arts.

While the courses themselves were enjoyable and taught by a range of knowledgeable experts, there was a constant nagging in the back of my mind on how the major was viewed.

Traditionally approached as a fairly laid back, straightforward and "easy" major, saying I was "ashamed" to claim it as my own I suppose is a bit strong. Perhaps apprehensive.

I once told a fellow student my major and was met with genuine surprise when I said I did not smoke pot.

"But I thought that's what all English majors did," he said, his eyes wide with disbelief.

I remember wryly thinking that misconception was probably never applied to a pre-med student.

I could almost feel the sand blasting me across the face and see the vultures circling overhead on the side of that highway.

So what is an English major to do?

Enter the prospect of a career in journalism and chance at a test-run with The Spectrum. With the experience last semester and a writing opportunity this summer, I began to reverse my apprehension as being identified as an English major.

Working as a summer intern writer at local Buffalo company rooted in technical operations, the number of engineers severely outnumbered me.

But yet it didn't matter I lacked foreknowledge about pressures, measurements, equations and other particulars.

Case in point, Dr. Scott Horowitz, a former astronaut with NASA, came to the company to speak about the future of space exploration. Afterwards, getting the chance to meet him, he asked me what I studied.

Smiling warmly when I admitted English, he reassured me that writing skills and good communication are just as invaluable as the math and science aspects, and that they are key components to business programs everywhere, especially with the space program.

That makes sense. It's hard to picture an engineering major writing a research paper without falling over.

Reaching a decision on the future can be half the battle for anyone. After all, it's the human condition to experience doubt, anxiety and uncertainty.

Life comes with no certainties. But stick to your guns, regardless of your field of academic interest.

It just might be your golden ticket to an oasis of success.





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