Major Selection (Veteran Voices)
Major Selection (Veteran Voices)
Transcript
I suppose some of the things that I was trying to uncover whenever I was determining where to go to school, whenever I decided I wanted to go to school was what I wanted to do with that degree after I got done with school, which was a little difficult, looking six years in the future at that point, been in the Marine Corps six years. At this point, looking ahead another six was-- I don't know-- kind of shot in the dark.
But I started thinking about where did I see myself then in six years? What did I want to know at that point that would enrich my goals going forward? So I knew with my job that I wanted to go out. And I wanted to return back to Africa. Or I wanted to work in development. And I knew I wanted to help out with some of these things. But I didn't really know what I wanted to learn to help out with those.
I originally came to school, thinking I was going to get a political science degree and go be secretary of state someday. And then I met everybody in the political science department once I got here. And I decided I didn't want to go into politics. Then I got into, OK I'm going learn like green energies and sustainability, and things like that.
And then I got in there. And it just wasn't for me. There was too much subjectivity and too much-- there wasn't enough science at that point. And then I started really looking into it. And I realized what I was searching the whole time was not really a subjective opinion. But I wanted the hard truth a lot of times. And I got started studying economics for that reason.
I wanted some numbers to cut through the BS. I wanted somebody to make me uncomfortable with facts instead of just their opinions being shoved down my throat. So that's how I ultimately came to the degree that I'm in now. And I see the world differently. But it's also ultimately still been towards that same direction that I wanted initially.
It was definitely a growing process the whole way. But I just had to go with it. I had to just play it by ear. With the overall goal that I was looking for at the beginning is kind of a guiding light. My decisions were kind of made for me the more I was exposed to my different opportunities in school.
I decided to stay in the Midwest, because I was comfortable there. I had already been living there for three, four years. Yeah. And so I applied to a four-year there. It was a private institution. But because of the state I was living in the school itself was military friendly. I didn't have to pay out of pocket.
So the benefits in that school-- they all evened out. So I didn't have to pay out of pocket, even though it was private. But I was there for a year going to school. I was majoring in pre-health sciences. In high school, I was doing pre-med stuff and taking honors anatomy.
I tore my ACL in the Navy. So when I had to recuperate and go to sports therapy, I thought that that's what I wanted to do. And then I realized that I hated writing lab reports. I could not for the life of me write an appropriate or something good for my purpose of the lab report. And I couldn't write that.
Nothing would come to mind. I would stare at the screen for hours. But if it was a paper on women's and gender studies, if it was about social injustice, if it was about politics, if it was about philosophy, I was all over it. I ended up dropping that semester, which was one of the most embarrassing things that I've ever done.
I didn't tell my family. My mom would ask me how was school. And I was too embarrassed to say that I did all of those Navy for seven years. And then I got out to go to school. And I don't want to do what I'm doing. So for a month, I just thought and thought and thought.
And I decided that I couldn't waste my GI Bill and getting a terrible GPA, and then not being able to transfer anywhere maybe more competitive. So I dropped out. I ended up having to pay the VA back, obviously, for that, because it was the middle of the semester.
But I would rather pay the VA back than pay with my GPA. That was a decision that I made. And I had to live a little frugally for six months, but it worked out. Let me see. Once I decided that pre-med was not the route I wanted to go, I took a timeout from school. My time off was maybe two months.
And I moved back East and kind of started over. I went to a community college for a semester. I went from pre-med classes to taking all sciences to taking an intro to politics class, an accounting class, a business law class. So I'm talking about just the most diverse type of coursework that I could take to really figure out what it was that I wanted to study.
I did not want to waste my GI Bill at all. And that was my first experience at the first four-year. So when I finally decided on philosophy, I tried again for a four-year. And I'm very happy where I at. I am very happy with my decision. And sometimes it may seem like you're working backwards. And it may feel like rework, like you're not progressing. But so long as that end goal is there. And you should be fine.
But I started thinking about where did I see myself then in six years? What did I want to know at that point that would enrich my goals going forward? So I knew with my job that I wanted to go out. And I wanted to return back to Africa. Or I wanted to work in development. And I knew I wanted to help out with some of these things. But I didn't really know what I wanted to learn to help out with those.
I originally came to school, thinking I was going to get a political science degree and go be secretary of state someday. And then I met everybody in the political science department once I got here. And I decided I didn't want to go into politics. Then I got into, OK I'm going learn like green energies and sustainability, and things like that.
And then I got in there. And it just wasn't for me. There was too much subjectivity and too much-- there wasn't enough science at that point. And then I started really looking into it. And I realized what I was searching the whole time was not really a subjective opinion. But I wanted the hard truth a lot of times. And I got started studying economics for that reason.
I wanted some numbers to cut through the BS. I wanted somebody to make me uncomfortable with facts instead of just their opinions being shoved down my throat. So that's how I ultimately came to the degree that I'm in now. And I see the world differently. But it's also ultimately still been towards that same direction that I wanted initially.
It was definitely a growing process the whole way. But I just had to go with it. I had to just play it by ear. With the overall goal that I was looking for at the beginning is kind of a guiding light. My decisions were kind of made for me the more I was exposed to my different opportunities in school.
I decided to stay in the Midwest, because I was comfortable there. I had already been living there for three, four years. Yeah. And so I applied to a four-year there. It was a private institution. But because of the state I was living in the school itself was military friendly. I didn't have to pay out of pocket.
So the benefits in that school-- they all evened out. So I didn't have to pay out of pocket, even though it was private. But I was there for a year going to school. I was majoring in pre-health sciences. In high school, I was doing pre-med stuff and taking honors anatomy.
I tore my ACL in the Navy. So when I had to recuperate and go to sports therapy, I thought that that's what I wanted to do. And then I realized that I hated writing lab reports. I could not for the life of me write an appropriate or something good for my purpose of the lab report. And I couldn't write that.
Nothing would come to mind. I would stare at the screen for hours. But if it was a paper on women's and gender studies, if it was about social injustice, if it was about politics, if it was about philosophy, I was all over it. I ended up dropping that semester, which was one of the most embarrassing things that I've ever done.
I didn't tell my family. My mom would ask me how was school. And I was too embarrassed to say that I did all of those Navy for seven years. And then I got out to go to school. And I don't want to do what I'm doing. So for a month, I just thought and thought and thought.
And I decided that I couldn't waste my GI Bill and getting a terrible GPA, and then not being able to transfer anywhere maybe more competitive. So I dropped out. I ended up having to pay the VA back, obviously, for that, because it was the middle of the semester.
But I would rather pay the VA back than pay with my GPA. That was a decision that I made. And I had to live a little frugally for six months, but it worked out. Let me see. Once I decided that pre-med was not the route I wanted to go, I took a timeout from school. My time off was maybe two months.
And I moved back East and kind of started over. I went to a community college for a semester. I went from pre-med classes to taking all sciences to taking an intro to politics class, an accounting class, a business law class. So I'm talking about just the most diverse type of coursework that I could take to really figure out what it was that I wanted to study.
I did not want to waste my GI Bill at all. And that was my first experience at the first four-year. So when I finally decided on philosophy, I tried again for a four-year. And I'm very happy where I at. I am very happy with my decision. And sometimes it may seem like you're working backwards. And it may feel like rework, like you're not progressing. But so long as that end goal is there. And you should be fine.