Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved to read and been fascinated with history. When I was applying to colleges during my senior year of high school, I knew that I wanted to major in History and ultimately become a teacher. However, thanks to all my AP credits, I would have plenty of room for a second major.
I thought it would make sense to choose the other subject I'd always excelled in, English. On the other hand, my parents made a very convincing argument for business, a more practical choice that would expand my horizons beyond teaching.
I decided to get the opinion of another adult I respected, Mr. Rundell (my English teacher, who later awarded me the English Honors Cord out of the thousand other students in my graduating class). He said the even though I was one of the best English students he'd ever had the pleasure of teaching, he thought my second major should be business. In his opinion, I was just too smart to limit myself to teaching.
So, I began my college career with majors in History and Business. All business students had to choose a concentration within the field - accounting, finance, marketing, or human resources. I assumed I would stay far away from the numbers side and choose either marketing or human resources.
Everyone had to take two basic accounting classes in their sophomore year. I did surprisingly well in the courses, and while I didn't find the subject fascinating by any means, I liked the money and security that accounting offered. Before taking intro classes in the other subjects, I chose accounting as my business concentration.
When I started taking advanced accounting classes during my junior year, I realized that the subject was more boring than I originally thought. While studying abroad last spring, I thought about starting over with a different business concentration in marketing or human resources, but I ultimately came back to the money and security of accounting.
Last week, I had some interviews for accounting summer internships. I met with a girl who spends twelve hours a day, six days a week filing tax returns and never has time to see her loved ones. I met with a guy who was leaving the firm to follow his dream of becoming a math teacher. I realized that no amount of money and security are worth giving up my life for a field I find horribly boring.
I would like my career to make the world better in some small way. I still feel called to be a history teacher. I know the world could use more intelligent, dedicated educators. Adam and Allison's statistics teacher, Ms. Golden, went to Stanford. At such an elite school, she got a lot of flak about her choice of career. She would always retort that didn't America want it's children educated by smart teachers?
Even after all my indecision with accounting, I am glad that I chose business over English. Through the business school, I discovered non-profit fundraising and received over $10,000 in scholarships to complete internships in the field. I've had great experiences in my three summer internships and believe I would find development to be a rewarding career path.
With this extremely lengthy post, I am trying to say that I will not continue my studies in accounting. I've also decided that neither of my potential career paths (teaching or development) would require a concentration in marketing or human resources. Therefore, I will graduate from Pitt this May with a degree in History and General Business.
Adam will still have another year of undergrad, so I will have to find employment in Pittsburgh. It's difficult and costly to get a teaching certificate in Pennsylvania, at least compared to Texas, where Adam will hopefully go to grad school. For next year, I am going to look for a position in development or with Americorps.
Of course, when I wasn't devouring Betsy-Tacy books as a little girl, I was playing with my Cabbage Patch doll and dreaming of being a mom. I read the last book in the Betsy-Tacy series, in which the girls get married and have babies, so often that my dad forbid me to check it out of the library anymore.
I know that the best way to leave my mark on the world is to have lots of cute babies and raise them to be upstanding citizens. No matter what kind of job I find after graduation, my real goal is to pay off my student loans, build up a little nest egg, and go into the baby-making business.
