Should I concentrate in something practical?

Dear CRCers: 

I'm considering concentrating in [insert any non-STEM concentration], but I am worried I will be at a disadvantage when I look for jobs or apply to graduate school; so maybe I should choose something more practical, or double concentrate in a practical concentration, too.

Signed, Betwixt and Between

Yes, doing an independent concentration or choosing English, History, or you-name-it humanities concentration can feel like a leap of faith, a risk.

Parent of a Brown alumna Mike Wallace interviewed former Brown President Ruth Simmons for 60 Minutes, airing just before her tenure. When he asked why she chose to study French / Romance literature, she answered, "Because it was mine."  This exchange came after seeing them walking in front of her (small) childhood home in rural South Texas, a home she shared with her 11 siblings.

Later he asked what she planned to tell parents of students attending a school costing over $40,000 a year (back in 2001) about their job prospects; she answered with a tone of conviction (and paraphrasing here), "You don't go to college to find a job. You go to college to feed your soul.... What you get from a college experience...you can't put a price tag on that."

Of course, we do put a price tag on college, and this coming year it will be over $67,000; each full-credit class "costs" over $5,600. (Incidentally, a full year at Brown at all that it costs to provide an education and the residential experience "costs" well above $67K per student.) Whether our families are paying the full tuition, making a partial contribution, or getting a full scholarship, the price tag of a Brown education weighs heavily on the mind (and soul).

Take into account your own structural or contextual reality and obligations, such as having student loans, the need to financially support family members, concerns the Affordable Care Act will be rescinded, or realities for jobs for citizens of other countries.  

Yet try to distinguish between those and barriers that are psychic, because these are the ones to challenge. We're all familiar with the stereotype of the starving artist, or the one that claims that a career in banking is secure--simply not always the case.

Brown is not a pre-professional school but engage in the process of choosing a concentration and choosing a career path to explore concurrently, with the mindset that the two endeavors are related but may be distinctive, not inextricably linked. This list of skills (provided by Jim Amspacher, CareerLAB Career Counselor & Careers in the Common Good director) compiled by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) indicates that the top three attributes U.S. employers want to see in recent college graduates--leadership, ability to work on a team, and communication skills--can be gained from studying a wide variety of fields (and experiences gained outside of your studies).

If you're a sophomore and still trying to decide, choose three concentrations and go to Focal Point, looking carefully at their description and requirements. In particular, look for the concepts/topics you'd be able to study; the analytic methods or skills you acquire (e.g., ethnography, or creative practice, or lab research experience); and the community of students and scholars there--check out the list of professors and their bios, see if there is a DUG, etc.  When you look at the upper-level requirements, they should excite you!

You'll notice that the concentration descriptions in Focal Point include a link to "Alumni Pathways," providing a list of jobs that seniors got the year after they graduated. But do more than look at that--explore career pathways by going to a CareerLAB alumni panel event, talking to alumni listed in the BrownConnect database, or surfing LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/alumni).  Try something out by shadowing a professional over winter break or working somewhere in a field of interest during the summer; with Brown's LINK award, you can get funding for low-paying summer internships.

Ask around--what do you need to be competitive for a graduate program you are considering?  You may be surprised to learn that X concentration or Y GPA isn't what you thought they'd say. Remember that U.S. job applications usually ask for a cover letter, and graduate programs for a personal statement; this is your chance to translate what you've studied and demonstrate what you've learned. References are almost always more important than the concentration listed on your transcript.

Embrace the fact that you are at Brown, a place that offers the opportunity to explore so many things--and perhaps most importantly, to explore the self, figure out what matters to you, and examine in its full complexity the human experience. Because most certainly you will be a leader in the world--supervising others in the workplace, with the power to affect social change--engage in the process of choosing your concentration joyfully and responsibly, while keeping your power, privilege and positionality as a soon-to-be Brown graduate in mind.

As a junior, pre-med, Sidney Frank Scholar recently said, "I now know what it means to own knowledge."

CRCer Victor Bramble '17 says:

Brown might bill itself and the Open Curriculum as gateways to making your dreams come true or some other such idealism. But that doesn't mean a humanities concentration is a bad idea. This degree, like a degree from any other college, is a tool for accomplishing your goals, not a magic talisman that will make your dreams just come true.

The question then is not what you should concentrate in, but what your goals are. When you've thought some more about what you want and want to accomplish, you can then decide what concentration and courses will help you get there. Also, consider that you don't need to concentrate in something to demonstrate your skills or qualifications in a subject. You could concentrate in Modern Culture and Media and take some advanced statistics classes and say so on a resume or in an interview.

A larger piece of advice in that regard is that you can spin anything as anything as long as you have a grasp of the things you did, what you learned, and the skills you acquired. Any given job, concentration, or class will involve any number of different aspects, skills, and roles, so what is needed when applying is not necessarily some exact obvious fit between what you did and what you are applying for, but the ability to articulate why what you did prepares you to do what you are applying for. And truthfully, in any substantial interview or application, the ability to articulate your qualifications will always put you ahead of someone whose resume and transcript seem to show just straightforward applicability. This is especially true when you consider that you will most likely apply to a number of different jobs in your life.

Even if you only take classes in one particular area in pursuit of "practicality," you will still need to be able to articulate what you learned and what you know how to do when you apply to other jobs both in and outside that field.