Living with liberal arts (what will your major be?)…

Posted by Denali

Now, judging by the title, one might assume I am a liberal arts major so wrapped up in studies and so passionate about my degree that I have no free time.   Or by the lack of punctuation and grammar, you might think otherwise.   I am actually a petroleum engineer living in an on campus student apartment (http://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/buildings/cutler-apartments/), with 3 roommates and hardly any free time.  These roommates are all studying different areas, all in the College of Liberal Arts.  We take none of the same classes and probably never will at this point in our college careers.  The four of us represent the majors of: psychology, journalism, foreign languages and linguistics, petroleum engineering. 

Picking a major for some students is a long thought out logical process, a childhood dream, or just opening a catalog and pointing at a major.  My roommates and I all had different ways of picking what we were going to study at college.  Each method worked out pretty well though, since we would be lost if someone switched our shoes for even a day.  When comparing homework, Russian, Spanish, and even English look Greek to me… but low and behold my journalism roommate thinks I am an Excel master, when crunching numbers for a lab report.  My roommates and I are all juniors this year and we all seem to embody our majors.  Now the real question is, do our majors influence and shape who we are, or when picking a major do we pick who we want to be? 

No matter what the answer is, picking a major is important.  I would never want to be looking for typos in a newspaper and my roommates wouldn’t want to calculate the permeability of a reservoir.  So when choosing a major make sure to think to the future and what the title means you will be doing, not just how the words look in the catalog or online(http://www.uaf.edu/catalog/current/majors.html).  Ask questions about majors to the UAF Student Ambassadors (http://www.uaf.edu/ambassadors/), talk to people in your community, take a tour of the college campus and get connected with resources that can help you through your transition to college!  I lucked out when an engineering pamphlet showed up in my mailbox and I decided that was the day to choose my major.  Honestly though, I had no real idea of what petroleum engineering or what a petroleum engineer was.  I knew I liked math and science so I figured engineering should be the path for me.  The petroleum industry was an area of interest for me spurred on by growing up in Alaska, but I had no idea that petroleum engineering has four main branches that can be pursued, after and during college. 

I really enjoy what I am studying, but petroleum engineering isn’t for everyone.  There are so many choices, because we are all individuals.  I urge you to explore them and find the one that will grasp your attention and possibly define who you are.        

My roommates and I before heading to the toga dance together! :)