The other night, Min asked what I would do differently, if I were 17 years old and beginning my university education.
Where to begin? Well, I would certainly keep my writing major, but I would stop being such a chicken-sh*t and sign up for as many fiction workshops as would have me. The double major in English would have to go. All those classes in Victorian novels… they were lovely, but I could have read those books on my own, and developed critical reading skills while studying other subjects (one would hope). I would choose Political Science, Women’s Studies, or Anthropology, so that, upon graduating with a writing degree, I had a knowledge base from which to write.
Okay, let’s be honest. I would have failed out of Poli Sci. I’m sure Women’s Studies or Anthropology would have been great, though.
Min said he would have ploughed through and done a PhD in his twenties, before becoming financially responsible for a wife and kids. (We’re a bit of a bummer that way).
Who knows, though? We’re not THAT old. Maybe I’ll become one of those annoying mature students waving her hand in the air and quoting from her personal library in first year anthropology. Or maybe one of my books will sell millions of copies and I can subsidize Min’s PhD.
One can always dream…
What would you do differently, if you could go back in time?
When I was about to start university, my dad suggested that I become a pharmacist. I was horrified — he obviously knew nothing about me! A masters in poetry and a couple of decades of book work / freelancing later, I kind of get it. Not that I’d do that, of course, or even change anything… although I might get myself a landscape architecture or landscaping sub-career though, to get me away from the computer and outside more often!
First, I never knew you had a masters in poetry. Interesting. Second, as a pharmacist, you could have given out drugs along with your edits. I think your dad was on to something.
Ooooh, now that’s an idea. And have access to all sorts of stress-relievers at deadline time!
I’m happy I took engineering, so I wouldn’t change that, but I wish my engineering degree had included more things that I actually use in my work – stakeholder engagement, report writing, graphic display of information, even marketing. I could use those things way more than the fluid dynamic courses I took.