I was accepted into Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, placed among students who knew they were meant to be in finance, accounting, or management—and also the ones like me, who were in it because they couldn’t really decide on another major. It was a filler in my life, especially as I was more interested in art and writing than I was in most other things. I did not feel a sense of belonging there.
I made the decision to switch at a random time over the summer, two weeks before school started, and scrambled to change my courses. Before this, I was fully prepared to continue as a business student, force myself into a finance-geared course-load, and figure out what I wanted to do after that.
Photo credit: Boston University
Switching over to a STEM major— astrophysics— I still don’t feel a sense of belonging, but I did pick something. I’ve found that the environments in both schools are vastly different, and I don’t really have a preference yet. While the business school was more openly cutthroat, sometimes I prefer that energy over the energy that some of my STEM peers give off— there’s an elementary sense to how some of these people look at themselves and others. I had forgotten the type of men that exist in STEM-driven fields and all I can think is, “Am I back in elementary school?”
While it’s true that businessmen can have a more sleazy reputation, and I’ve had my share of those experiences in the business school as well, I don’t think one is inherently better than the other. It was just intriguing for me to notice the differences between the overall attitudes of the two groups. Where business students are one extreme, STEM students fulfill the other.
Photo credit: ESA/ Hubble & NASA
Because I still barely know any physics and I’m an astrophysics major with an exam coming up in two days, I not only have to sign off, but I have to concede in that while these are my first impressions, they can’t stand as a long-lasting opinion. For now, I have to say that both fields have their pros and cons.
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