Edited By: Mythili Kamath
Okay, I’ll say it. Economics and Finance is the most hated major. And before the three people who disagree try to convince me otherwise, I am majoring in it too. As an eco-fin major, life is like a video game. The rules of the game are simple: you have three lives and if you lose all of them you change your major OR WORSE end up with a pure major in Economics. *shudders* The horror. This isn’t going to be easy. Grab your best controller and LET’S BEGIN!
Level 1: Academics.
You are ready with your stationery, calculator and notes. Nothing can stop you from finishing this homework assignment. You read the first question and BAM! You lose 10 points. You could retain nothing from the last class…or wait was it the one before that? You lose motivation and try to procrastinate. 10 more points gone. You collect all your doubts and get them cleared by your TF. This stage is cleared.
15 minutes. That’s it. You have 15 minutes to submit the take home quiz. None of your friends are answering your texts or calls. You are losing your strength. You don’t have any time left. You desperately try to call your friends one last time. You read the questions and try to solve them. There is no hope. You have no choice but to draft an email to the professor faking an illness to get an extension. As you are about to send it, the time is up. You lose one life.
But wait. The game isn’t over yet. You have an email from your professor. What is it? You have received a two-hour extension on your assignment. Phew!
Your life has been restored.
This level is cleared.
Level 2: Peers.
Most clubs have just started functioning with new inductees and the first meetings are always awkward because of introductions. You are sitting in a group of 15 people and you are 8th in line. The first 4 people have introduced themselves. Not one eco-fin major in sight. How is this possible?
Okay this is getting difficult. You can say that you are majoring in Philosophy. No one will come and check. You lose half a life, two and a half lives remain. You are seriously contemplating this because there had been jokes on your kind earlier in the meeting. Before you can decide your final strategy, the 6th person introduces themselves as an eco-fin major. Everyone gives them the ‘oh so you are an eco-fin major’ sympathetic look.
Something in you changes.
You introduce yourself as an eco-fin major too. The 6th person looks at you with the gaze of a tortured soul, the horrors of eco-fin clearly flashing in their eyes. This is obviously followed by the mating call of all eco majors – asking each other who their professors are. You stood by a fellow eco-fin comrade.
You gain 20 points!
Level 3: Registration Day aka The Bane of Our Existence.
19 major courses, 9 foundation courses and 2 co-curriculars. No room for a minor or even a concentration. You can’t afford to not have the courses you spent 50 hours shortlisting based on their timings, professors, course content and grading. Pre-registration is done and 10 of your 5 courses are oversubscribed. You lose half a life, two lives remain. You check other courses of certain majors (which won’t be discussed here) and you see them being undersubscribed, with over 20 seats left. You are just done with this race. How easy would it be to just leave and pretend this phase of your life never happened. Start over with a new major, one that doesn’t suck the joy out of your life.
Half a life is lost. Just one and a half lives remain.
You are running low on lives and registration day mayhem ensues. You compromise on some of your shortlisted courses and now 3 of your 5 courses are oversubscribed. You are an expert now – refreshing your laptop with one hand and your smartphone with the other. 30 minutes are left for the portal to open but you can’t take any risk. You are adamant this time. Nothing can stop you from getting all of your courses.
It’s time.
The portal opens.
AMS crashes.
Everything falls silent for a second. The world stills. It’s like the universe is preparing for the funeral of your degree.
You frantically try to get a seat. Refreshing AMS on repeat, you get all your courses except one. You were really looking forward to taking this course.
You lose an entire life. Just half a life is left before the game ends.
Level 4: Mindset.
With only a half of your 3 lives remaining, what can save you from changing your major? There will be more assignments that won’t be submitted on time and you will lose this little semblance of life too. The final and the most difficult level of all is you against yourself. Do you have it in you to make eco-fin – the most hated – a part of your personality? Can you live with the fact that you fought with hundreds of your peers on registration day to get a course and then go on to receive a B- in an assignment in that very course? What about the fact that you’ll have to endure this torture every semester?
Yes, it’s stressful and everyone secretly judges you for your life choices even when they don’t show you directly, but you think you can handle it. Sometimes the best you can do is just hang in there. It’s okay if some levels didn’t get you many points. You are willing to play each level again and again to improve yourself and win the game.
Congratulations, you have cleared the final level.