Ok, forgive me for that title. I don’t talk like that at all unless I’m imitating someone. Anyway,
“What’s your major?”
You’ll be asked this about a gabazillion times, regardless of where you go to college…because it is important. You go to college first and foremost to study something and to become proficient in it. So, ask me my major!
“I’m Public Health Studies, Natural Sciences.” (NOTE: the NATURAL SCIENCES/SOCIAL SCIENCES distinction no longer exist for the classes of 2013 and onward. The department did this to make the major more cohesive and more focused on public health. Natural sciences merely meant that the pre med requirements were built in, and a number of upper level social science classes were still required on top of the Public Health core courses).
So most students who do Public Health Studies, Natural Sciences are pre med. (here’s a freshman year blog I wrote about what Public Health is: http://hopkins.typepad.com/2012ksas/2009/02/what-is-public-health-anyway.html check it out please!!! )
But I’m not.
ZOMG.
WHY???
Why put myself through the torture of Physics and Organic Chemistry if I have no intention of going to medical school? Especially if I am at the Johns Hopkins University?
Let’s be a bit more open minded, kids. Science does not have to automatically equal medical school. So why did I do it?
- Options. I didn’t want to be pre med, but there was still the possibility of pre health professions–dentistry, veterinary med, and nursing. I can say that now I’ve no interest in any of those but as a freshman, I may have been.
- Self-enrichment. Science is useful! I wanted to be able to read a journal article and have a basic understanding of what was going on if a chemical reaction was mentioned or if a mechanism from organic chemistry was being explained….knowing what a carbon is or what different elements are/do is a useful thing, IMHO.
- Research? Unless you’re completely turned off by the thought of science and math and you know your paths will never cross after college, science may come back again in your work. In the form of research. You never know. I knew coming into college that I did not want whatever I ended up doing to ever completely exclude science (although I certainly did not want it to exclusively focus ON science either) , so I knew that studying them would benefit me. Now that I have completed the basic pre med/health requirements and their labs, I feel like I can handle research oriented jobs that have slight sciency and lab oriented components. I have more options. That was always the key for me–options.
- Teaching career!??! Teaching has been on my radar since high school, and it still is. I am not sure if I want to do it as a career or as a short term thing, like Teach for America–but it is something in which I am veryyyyy interested. And guess what–America has a shortage of good science (and math) teachers. Taking science courses will have prepared me for teaching science in schools! I couldn’t see myself teaching any other basic high school subject in good conscience because I don’t have the training or background for it. This factor is probably not important for most people but it may be for some and it certainly is for me.
I hope that gave some perspective! I am now off to get ready for our pre game rally to our Homecoming game against Loyola !
I leave you all with this very Public Healthy poster on our Hopkins shuttle:
