Selecting my Major: Taking the Left Turn from Human Development to Mathematics
This blog was written by Hadassah Mativetsky, BA Harpur ’07 MS Watson ‘12
I came to Binghamton University with a major but it was dramatically different than the one I finished with. So different in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I learned that I was the only one who has made the switch.
I came to Binghamton University as a human development major in fall 2003. My high school guidance counselor had directed me towards the major because my dream was to work in law enforcement with a social services perspective. I wanted to help people when they were in their darkest moments as victims, perpetrators or bystanders and I wanted to solve problems.
My mom had told me that it didn’t matter what I majored in as long as I took calculus, statistics, and a programing course. While I had already taken calculus in high school, my only good way to rebel was to absolutely not take statistics or programming as an undergrad. Side note, a few years later when I realized she was right and I took both as a graduate student. I was lucky to have parents that were supportive of me pursuing my academic interests wherever they took me.
My academic interests took me all over the place both figuratively and literally. Between undergrad and grad I took coursework in every college except the pharmacy school (which didn’t exist yet). I did short term and longer term study abroad programs to Senegal to learn about their culture, Belize to intern with their government, Poland and to Belarus as a Judaic Studies independent study, and Costa Rica for tropical ecology.
I came in with many credits but instead of using them to rush through I used them to give me the freedom to explore interests and to reduce my course load allowing me time for both paid jobs and student leadership opportunities. Generally taking around 14 credits a semester with the occasional summer or winter course.
I found I needed a balance of dramatically different subjects. When I wanted to procrastinate work from one class, I could do completely different work for another class. Most semesters I took a course with a lot of reading, a math class, and a Russian language class. My fourth class was 2 credit course ranging from a physical education to Indian geography to African drum ensemble to an internship mentoring Binghamton High School students. I choose classes by considering my interest, the professor, and the class size using time of day as a tie braker.
At one point it looked like I was going to triple major. I was a few courses away from a human development, an independent major in Russian and Eastern European studies, and math degree. It was a hard decision but senioritis won out. I decided graduate with a BA in mathematics and a minor in Russian Studies with what I could honestly describe as a concentration in human development.
After battling depression and anxiety as a student, I knew I wouldn’t wear a badge and I would instead starting post-college life as an AmeriCorps volunteer. I felt that the jobs I would be applying for wouldn’t care about my specific major and that perhaps being a math major would set me apart.
I went through picking a major all over again in graduate school a few short years later. I used my AmeriCorps education award to be a non-matriculated graduate student in both Public Administration and Systems Science. I ended up graduating with a MS in Systems Science with coursework from Decker, Harpur, CCPA, Watson, and SOM.
And if you think that would be the end of these types of decisions… I worked in higher education and non-profit for years before switching to engineering.
As I write this now, I am a quality engineer at technology company. When I first started in industry at age 29 I had a fantastic trainer for my new position. The kicker? His bachelors was in human development!
You may think that picking a major is going to determine so much about your future. For some careers your major matters. For most of us, it makes some doors open a little easier and other doors take a little more work but it isn’t nearly as big of a decision as we thought it was when we were making it.
Reach out to me through mentor match if you want to discuss picking your major!
