Any college-aged student can attest to having friends from a wide range of academic fields. From English to Biology and Business to Psychology, a university is home to thousands of students, each with their own interests, passions and goals.
Because every student is an individual being, I have never noticed a definite trend amongst my friends of similar majors, but usually, certain personalities or methods of thought are better paired with certain majors.
Curious as to how people of different fields approach reasoning, problem solving or simply life, I decided to hold interviews with some students at Brandeis. I chose the interviewees based on their field of study, attempting to include a wide range of majors.
The questions are random, mostly chosen according to my curiosity. I asked the students to take into account their major but not to let it dictate their answer. I wanted them to answer as themselves, hoping that their field of study would have some influence.
Meet the students!
Theresa. Majors: English and Creative Writing. Fun Fact? "I graduated last May and I am now working in publishing."
Valerie. Majors: Chemical Biology and Biology. Fun Fact? "I enjoy choreographing more than performing so I choreograph a lot of dances for different dance groups.”
Abu. Major: Computer Science. Fun Fact? "I make and produce music."
Alex. Major: Psychology and Women and Gender Studies. Fun Fact? "I love photography."
Eric. Major: Business and Law. Fun Fact? "I'm single :)"
Here are the questions!
1. Why do you study what you study?
Theresa: In high school, even though I was relatively good at all subjects, I enjoyed English the most so I just kept doing it. My parents have blue-collar jobs so I don’t necessarily revere the “I can change the world” positions like doctors or lawyers.
Val: I want to be a doctor. I want to help people. And I’m pretty handsy, so any profession where I can use my hands is best. Medicine is the perfect career for people who think well on their feet and like to use their hands.
Abu: Cause I think it’s cool. It’s cool to make the stuff that seems hard to make to the general population.
Alex: I entered as a psych major. I have always been attracted to the field of mental health. I find it upsetting that mental illness is so stigmatized. I like learning about people’s psyche and learning what makes them tick. I like learning about psych because it is so easily applied to my life...learning how people interact with other people behaviorally and really how they interact with themselves. And I study Women and Gender Studies because I took the intro class my first semester at Brandeis and it changed the way I thought about a lot of things. The department kicks ass and my professors and fellow WGS majors have shifted the way I navigate the world and bettered me as a person. WGS classes force me to confront my own privilege and think about intersectionality, both things I am thankful for. They honestly challenge me to think critically about everything. Before taking these classes, there were a lot of things about our culture that bothered me but I wasn’t sure how to articulate or express that. Upon taking these classes, I have been able to better understand the systemic issues that shape people's experiences and have been equipped with the language to interrogate and discuss them.
Eric: Because I am looking into sport management so that means I need management and business skills.
2. What is one of the best classes you have ever taken? Why?
Theresa: “Ann Sexton and Sylvia Plath.” I enjoyed reading the literature because I actually liked it. It combined issues that I like reading about like feminism and mental health. It was very interdisciplinary.
Val: “Medicinal Enzymology and Pharmacokinetics.” We looked at drugs and their effects on the brain and body. We got to learn cool stuff that people don’t see at the surface. We learned things like where it binds, where it doesn’t bind, what can prevent binding or reverse its effect. Basically the chemistry behind the drugs. I learned a lot about the body. It made everyone in our class think about what we put into our bodies.
Abu: “Study of Hip-Hop Culture.” It was interesting to learn about the history of Hip-Hop. I have been listening to it my whole life, but I have never really studied it.
Alex: Depends. “Behavioral Neuroscience” because I had a really engaging professor and I never thought that I could handle science, but because I was so into it, I loved studying for it. I understood things that I never thought I would be able to. The brain is so cool! “Documenting Race, Class and Gender through Photography” because I love photography. We had important conversations, and we were able to connect personal experiences to political/sociological concepts. It was deeply personal and that was really cool; it made the material more accessible. “Anthropology of Gender” because I had an amazing professor and the readings were fantastic. When we talk about gender, it’s through our own cultural lens so it was nice to see how varied it is cross-culturally. It was interesting to see gender through non-western lens.
Eric: Probably “Business 10a” because the professor was very engaging and got us to think on our own and figure out the answer to problems within groups, using our own personal strengths. He made us work together in order to answer the problem.
3. Most important piece of advice?
Theresa: Take classes outside of your comfort zone, outside of your major. It makes you realize that 1) you are in the right major 2) it makes you aware of other subject matter and how those subjects inform your own area.
Val: You learn more from failure than succeeding. If I fail, I go back and see what I did wrong and I fix what I did. It is something that you want to hear in science classes.
Abu: I don’t know. In high school, everyone was picking majors and I still didn’t know what to do and one of the upperclassman told me “Just wait, you have time,” and it turned out to be true.
Alex: My dad recently wrote me a letter about relationships. He talked to me about how to balance my independence with nurturance; how to demand respect and give radical love to myself while still giving love and attention to the people I care about.
Eric: You don’t have to be great to start something but if you don’t start, you’ll never be great.
4. What is the perfect pizza?
Theresa: Pizza with mac and cheese... but I have been enjoying Hawaiian lately, but I don’t like ham so I feel conflicted about that. I really love pineapple so maybe pizza with chicken and pineapple.
Val: I like pizza that looks healthy but tastes unhealthy. Anything Mediterranean or fancy cheese. Must have peppers. Four cheese pizza is too boring and I am not a boring person.
Abu: Either straight pepperoni or straight cheese or bacon and pineapples.
Alex: I really like mushrooms. Personal pizzas are super cute and thin crust.
Eric: A free one.
5. What kind of problems are you best at solving?
Theresa: I think I’m good at crisis situations, under pressure. Creative problems, too.
Val: Anything that requires numbers or some kind of puzzles. Where there is one right answer... I like to be right, I don’t like things to be up in the air. Real world problems with trial and error is not my forte.
Abu: Ones that have an answer. Kind of like if you know what the answer should be and you just work until you get the right answer.
Alex: Interpersonal. 100%. Math - no, but people problems, I can handle that.
Eric: I am a swiss army knife of problem solving. I’m good at solving all problems. I’m like the windex in My Big Fat Greek wedding. I fix everything.
6. If you could do one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Theresa: Watch TV. No I'm kidding... Maybe publishing or working at a non-profit. Something useful and somewhere I can feel like I’m helping people but that I can still go home at the end of the day, having regular hours.
Val: Watch TV. I watch TV every day.
Abu: Probably travel.
Alex: I have a passion for photography and I miss it all the time. I would love to travel and not be rooted anywhere. Id love to go with people that I think are awesome.
Eric: General Manager of a basketball team. That’s what I want to do.
