QotD: Education, Occupation

What was your major or field of study in college? Did you wind up working in that field or using that degree? If not, what field have you wound up in? 
Submitted by sneuf. 

I was an Arts undergrad at UCD, where at the time we didn't have majors or minors (the UCD Horizons project has since introduced the concept, with mixed results). What that means is, essentially, I did a double major in Information Studies and Philosophy (I also read History in my fresher year, as you have to pick three subjects at the outset, but since you must drop one going into second year, I said bye-bye to History).

Arts wasn't my first choice. It was actually fourth in the list on my CAO application form, behind Journalism and Communications degrees at DCU and DIT. I really wanted to do Journalism, you see. But I didn't get enough points in the Leaving for those (I scored 440 points, due to my difficulties with higher-level maths and any-level Irish, which proved detrimental to my other subjects) and so Arts it was. I was a little disappointed at first, but mostly resigned to my fate, and I resolved to make the best of it -- I could always apply to do a Master's in Journalism later on, I told myself.

And that's exactly what I did, eventually (I graduated from UCD in 2002, and started at J-School two years later). And in retrospect, I'm more than happy with the way things turned out. You see, I had a great time at UCD! For the first time in my life, I was studying things that (with the odd exception) I actually wanted to study, and wasn't being forced into because of a set curriculum. My mind was definitely broadended by the experience, and I feel that I'm far better off from doing an Arts degree before progressing on what is in essence a vocational path, rather than jumping right in without the kind of grounding that a broader education can give you.

Admittedly, a lot of the cliches about Arts students do ring true. (Boy, do they ever.) But some of us had/have bigger goals in mind. I went on to achieve mine, so I have no regrets. In fact, if I could do it all over again, I'd choose exactly the same path. And I'd recommend an Arts degree to anyone, even to those who feel absolutely certain about what they want to do -- because in reality, you only think you know. Take a few years to read and think more broadly, and then you'll really know.