You Majored in What? (13 page)

Getting the most out of your academic experience isn’t just about attending classes, writing papers, and taking exams. It’s about delving into fields of study that will expand your mind and help you develop new connections. Your classroom experience can be the start of a new world and open up career opportunities you didn’t even know existed. In the rest of this chapter, we’re going to mine your major and your classes for all the valuable knowledge and practical learning you’ve been acquiring whether you know it or not.

English at Work:

WHAT MOBY DICK AND ESPN HAVE IN COMMON

Are you sitting in English class wondering why the professor is making such a big deal out of
Moby Dick
? It’s just a story. And how about that film professor who spends hours analyzing
Citizen Kane
? It’s just a movie. We spend so much time and energy analyzing works of art, music, films, and books because analyzing them enriches our experience and understanding. We learn new information. We have a deeper understanding of the author or story and what happened. We learn to pay attention, notice details, find meaning, and maybe even understand ourselves better. So if you’re thinking it’s a waste of time to analyze works of literature, consider this: how many hours are spent on ESPN analyzing a football game? What about all those pregame and postgame shows? The commentators who pick apart the game, analyze the players and their moves, and how a mistake likely happened because a rookie was playing? It’s just a football game, right? Right. And that’s why English, film studies, and other courses could prepare you for a great career in sports broadcasting. Or analyzing world events for CNN.

Before we move forward, though, let’s pause for a quick discussion of a common concern for students: grades. Never confuse grades and learning. Yes, it’s easy to make a superficial argument that you learned more in a course where you received an A than in a course where you received a C. But as you have probably know, it’s not that simple, as Angelo discovered:

I had to take a science class and I wasn’t very good at science in high school. I thought I had hit the jackpot when I learned that a particular anthropology class counted for the science requirement. I knew I could handle anthropology. Well, within two weeks I was in over my head. It was fascinating—kind of like the
CSI
stuff on TV—and I was learning a lot, but it was all so foreign to me. For my final exam, I had to enter a room that contained nothing but old—and I mean
old
—bones laid out on several tables. I had to identify whether they were animal or human, their gender, their age,and so forth. I have never worked so hard in my life. I got a B minus and it was the hardest grade I ever earned. I’m more proud of that grade than the A’s I had in other courses. When employers ask me if I can handle challenges, I tell them about the feeling I had when I walked into that room full of bones. They always laugh and tell me they admire my perseverance. And then we talk about the differences between anthropological reality and what’s on TV.

Most studies reveal that ultimately there is little correlation between your college grade point average (GPA) and the salary you receive or how successful you are in your career. And once you’re in the workplace, your GPA will continue to have less impact, except perhaps for highly academic employers such as institutions of higher education or think tanks. But it is also true that the higher your grade point average, the more opportunities will be available to you. Many prestigious programs, including White House internships, FBI programs, pharmaceutical sales positions, Wall Street jobs, and so on, screen candidates by GPA. And obviously, the better your grades, the better the graduate or professional school you will be able to attend. Good grades give you more freedom to select opportunities.

Does this mean if you don’t have a perfect GPA. you’re sunk? Of course not. There are numerous examples of successful people who had poor grades or even dropped out of college. Your GPA is just one factor in the employment and graduate school process and there are lots of ways to compensate. It still makes sense to go for the best grades you can within reason, but you are in college to learn, so don’t avoid classes just because you might not get the best grade.

You’ve been working hard in your classes—studying, writing papers, taking tests, and so on. Isn’t it time your courses did something for
you
? Let’s look at strategies that will help you improve your grades, if needed, as well as present your education in the best possible light to employers.

MAKING YOUR CLASSES WORK FOR YOU

You already know from your Wandering Map and your analysis of your mindsets that you possess a unique set of talents, skills, knowledge, and experiences. Contrary to some people’s thinking, you are not taking refuge from the workplace during your years as a student. You are actively acquiring knowledge and information that will serve you later on, so consider keeping your projects, papers, books, and other records of your learning to create a portfolio for future employers.

If you believe that your courses are not relevant to your life postcollege, you are wrong. Even if the specific information from the courses isn’t directly relevant, you are acquiring metaknowledge: knowledge that teaches you a framework for thinking about a situation. For example, most of us are seldom called upon to solve an algebra problem. But we developed logical thinking and problem-solving skills from working those formulas and we use that knowledge daily. Most courses contain metaknowledge that can be extrapolated and applied to workplace settings. So take some time to examine those courses you think don’t apply to your future endeavors. Are you sure they are “useless”? How could you challenge an employer’s assumption about your classes? How could you sell your potential based on your education? Did you take a class where you knew nothing about the subject but by the end of the semester were practically an expert? How could that skill apply in a job setting?

The concept of deriving skills from majors is hardly new. Career counselor and writer Dr. Howard Figler offered groundbreaking advice by identifying the importance of deriving skills from majors more than twenty years ago. But unfortunately, his brilliant ideas have been turned into trite lists of commonsense skills from majors: for example, English majors are great writers, history majors are great researchers, and so on. You need to get beyond identifying basic skills such as communication and thinking because it’s all too easy to apply them to any major. Business majors can be just as good at writing as English majors, depending on the individual. It’s more important to focus on what
you
learned and what skills
you
have developed from your classes and your major, rather than accept a few stereotypes (which every interviewer has heard a million times from other students, by the way). Here are just a few examples of what you could derive from some classes you might have taken:
English

• What books did you read? Did any book stand out for you? Why?

• Were the books written from a particular ethnic, cultural, or other unique perspective? What did you learn from that perspective? How could your knowledge apply to the increasingly diverse workplace?

• What characters did you analyze? What did you learn about those characters? Into what situations were they placed? How did they respond? What motivated them?

• Atticus Finch in
To Kill a Mockingbird
has inspired many students to become lawyers.

• Langston Hughes’s poetry often speaks to the hard work of the laborer and would help managers better appreciate the life challenges of the people who work for them.

• Arthur Miller’s play
Death of a Salesman
is an interesting study of the role of the salesperson in a company, and the need for strong training and human resource services.

Sociology

• Did you study the concept of social Darwinism? How could that theory be applied to a workplace? Why and how do certain organizations survive while others fail?

• What about structural functionalism? What structures exist in a company because they serve a purpose? What structures have outlived their purpose? Is the company able to see this? If so, how does it go about changing the situation?

• How does self-fulfilling prophecy apply to the stock market?

Biology

• How would you apply the scientific method in the workplace?

• Why is it important to follow a logical thinking process?

• How do you analyze a situation?

• When decisions are made, are they based on sound research or on hypotheses, beliefs, or guesses?

Economics

• How does Pareto’s 80/20 rule apply to the workplace? What could it say about productivity in the workplace?

• How does the concept of supply and demand apply to the career field you’re pursuing?

Anthropology

• How do cultures operate in a workplace?

• Have you ever worked for an organization that has a union? Did you notice a cultural difference between the union workers and the management? Did any communication difficulties arise? How were they handled? Was each culture appropriately validated or did you perceive a power struggle?

Psychology

• What do you know about motivation?

• What factors influence an individual’s behavior?

• How might the concept of extinction apply in the workplace?

• How could cognitive behavioral techniques be applied in the workplace?

• How could your knowledge of psychology help you reduce stress in your employees?

History

• What period did you study? What significant events and changes occurred during that time period? How did it influence today’s situations? What did society learn from the events?

• Who were the leaders during the period? Were they strong, weak, charismatic, memorable, egocentric? How did their leadership style affect the events of the time?

• History teaches us to pay attention to who’s in charge and the scope of their influence. The same holds true in the workplace. Who’s in charge and how do they lead? What language do they use?

• Studying Martin Luther King’s speeches, for instance, can teach you a lot about charismatic leadership and its role in rallying individuals to a cause or mission. You can even learn about the value of rhetoric and inspired communication. For instance, what if, instead of saying “I have a dream,” Dr. King had said, “I have a thought.” Notice how the impact of his speech would have been greatly reduced.

MAPPING YOUR MAJOR: MAKING YOUR MAJOR WORK FOR YOU IN THE WORKPLACE

Regardless of your major’s relevance to your future, it contains a vast amount of information ready to be mined. And you’re well skilled at mining by now. All you have to do is make another map. Even if you have selected a preprofessional major and you plan to work in that field, you still need to know what’s special about your pursuit of the major and what you learned from it so you can set yourself apart from your classmates. So get out that blank piece of paper and your pencils or crayons: it’s time to analyze your major.

STEP 1:

In the center of your paper write the name of your major and draw a circle around it.

STEP 2:

Scatter the following words on your paper, drawing a circle around each one:

• Courses

• Skills

• Theories or ideas

• Interesting items

• Knowledge

• Related courses from other departments

Add extra circles if a category hasn’t been mentioned above.

STEP 3:

Jot down ideas related to each of the categories and draw circles around them as well. Write as much as you can, filling in everything you know about your major.

STEP 4:

If you’re stuck, consider doing this exercise with other students in your major. Sometimes your classmates will think of things you forgot or didn’t consider important.

STEP 5:

When you’re done, take a step back and look at your map.

• What pops out for you?

• What is the most interesting part of the map? What “speaks” to you?

• How have you done something unique with your major?

• How have you tailored it to fit your interests?

• Did you take a series of courses that focused on a particular aspect of the major? Why? What did you enjoy about them?

• What skills did you learn?

STEP 6:

Pull your thoughts together. What are the most important aspects of your major? If you had to identify three characteristics you’ve developed or acquired from your major, what would they be?

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