Books and words have always shaped my life. When I was a kid, I used to drag my mom to our tiny local library, burning through several multi-book series over the course of a few weeks. You can see how it was a major switch for me to be admitted to UCSB as an Environmental Studies Major in March of 2023. I had — and still have — a deep love for our natural world and the way humans interact with it. Nonetheless, I thought being in a more STEM-based field would give me a leg-up as a postgraduate.
So, come my first fall quarter at UCSB, I met some amazing people, explored the local area, and took some interesting courses. Despite feeling so much better being out of high school, and building a new home in a somewhat alien space to me, I felt like something was missing. I dreaded attending the classes that were prerequisites for my major, and couldn’t understand why I was feeling this way. While I have always loved learning, and was going to have to take much more challenging courses in the future, how was I going to make it through the “best years of my life” at UCSB if I hated what I was learning?
Four people saved me: the amazing UCSB English Department advisor, Jessica (shoutout!), my parents, and my baby sister. Despite dreading the STEM classes I was in, I really enjoyed a Greek Myth course I was taking, and reading various ancient works of literature and analyzing them with other students. So, after a few meetings with Jessica, and endless phone calls bugging my family, I made the switch at the beginning of winter quarter of my freshman year, and was a recognized English major at UCSB.
While I didn’t have to declare my major so early, I felt such a weight lift off my shoulders when my Gold finally reflected what I had been thinking about for months— and maybe even years, back to when I was a little kid holding my mom’s hand in our local Santa Cruz library. I could now go back to reading and analyzing literature—one of my favorite things in the entire world—and make progress towards a degree!
I never felt bad that I was leaving a STEM field to pursue my passion. I am incredibly grateful to have such kind, understanding parents, who were so supportive of me switching my major — and who are both first-gen grads from UCSC with degrees in English Literature. They now both have successful careers in the field of public education, and give back to their community through their jobs — with their B.A.s in the humanities, masters degrees, and several professional certificates, behind them.
While I hear from a lot of fellow students about how they are worried about their employment opportunities in the future, I figured that everyone is going to have to face this challenge- whether you get a degree in Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, or anything in between. I would rather follow my passion and enjoy my four years in beautiful Santa Barbara, than hate what I learn in hopes for a job post-grad — that I don’t even know if I’ll enjoy!
While the people I love have been super understanding of me following my passion, I have had a few encounters with people who think that I’m making a mistake. Last quarter, someone in my dorm building asked what I was studying and what my major was, and I told them I was majoring in English. They were visibly taken aback, and said, rather rudely, “Really, English? Why are you studying that? Don’t we all already speak English?”
While there are (many) ignorant things about this statement — including the fact that “we” don’t all speak the same language — and there are many students at UCSB and in universities across the world that are studying English and other humanities while not being native speaking, I was not particularly bothered by it being directed towards me. The English major teaches so much more beyond a better understanding of the language — like how to analyze a text, create better communication skills, and become a more eloquent speaker and writer, among many other important skills employers desire in an employee. I know that my brain is not built to be a beautiful “slay STEM baddie” like many of my girl besties — who we desperately need in their field — so I will leave the ALEKS, coding, and calculus up to them, while I cozy up with a cup of tea to read my 300 pages of assigned reading every night. At the end of the day, we are all getting an education. So does it really matter what we’re learning, as long as it’s impactful to both us and society?
In the words of Robin Williams playing John Keeting, “We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for” (Dead Poets Society, 1989). I live and breathe writing, fun books, and that feeling you get when the words you put together just click — so I will stick with the humanities, and enjoy the time I have here studying them, before life gets a bit too real.