Wednesday, September 18, 2019 // The Statement
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Wednesday, September 18, 2019 // The Statement
T
he subway screeched to a stop at Sixth
Avenue and I stepped onto the muggy
platform. Walking up the stairs, the
skyscraper sentinels of New York City loomed over
me. The sidewalk of the “Avenue of the Americas”
was crowded with urbanites — talented, successful
individuals who were “making it” in the Big Apple.
Surrounded by these veteran New Yorkers in their
suits and pencil skirts, I could almost pretend I was
one of them.
Even after memorizing the subway map and
avoiding tourist traps, I felt out of place. I was the
Midwestern girl in the big city, but instead of falling
in love with it, my insecurities simmered. It wasn’t
that I was lost or on my own, but that everyone
seemed so professional and self-assured, incapable
of making a wrong decision.
L
ike 17,149 other University of Michigan
students, I’m in the College of Literature,
Science and the Arts. While the college
offers 90 majors and sub majors, a mix of sciences
and liberal arts, I am pursuing a Bachelor of Arts
as an English major with two minors in history
and political science. I had never questioned my
academic choices until I scrolled through the
countless job postings on Handshake and saw the
missing check mark indicating that my major did
not match the “employer’s preferences.”
When will I stop having to defend my major? When
will I stop second guessing what I’m passionate
about? What, exactly, can I do with a liberal arts
degree from LSA after I graduate?
The University of Michigan started with LSA in
1817, and the original college has since remained
the largest of the 19 colleges on campus. The
LSA website boasts an “employed or continuing
education” rate of 96 percent, accompanied by an
interactive graphic titled “What Will You Do with
an LSA Degree.” Like colorful spokes of a bicycle
wheel, the English Literature career path spans a
wide breadth of disciplines — including Medicine/
Health, Technology and Engineering.
However, the University Career Center depicts a
slightly different post-graduation narrative. Every
year the Career Center publishes a First Destination
Profile, outlining the employment statistics of the
most recent graduating class. According to them,
only 89.8 percent of LSA graduates are employed or
continuing their education.
Another survey question asks students whether
they think their new job has “clear career potential.”
This felt very open-ended to me and difficult to
answer, especially if a student hasn’t even started
working yet. When I asked UCC Senior Associate
Director Terri LaMarco to explain what qualifies as
“clear potential” she responded, “We do not define
that … so, that could be defined differently by the
person completing the survey. Which is fine with us
because what we’re after is, ‘Are you satisfied with
the position that you have?’” The survey indicated
only 60.5 percent of LSA respondent’s jobs have
clear potential.
In an email after our interview, LaMarco showed
that the survey for the First Destination Survey has
an average response rate of 32 percent and is issued
three times a year in December, May and August to
account for the varying student graduation and job
recruitment timelines.
“The response rate is low, and that’s also pretty
common for surveys like this. But we’re at a percent
that does make it generalizable... A lot of data
suggests that liberal arts students are more likely to
be employed three to six months after graduation”
LaMarco said.
Perhaps sensing my panic as I began the all-
important job search, LSA published this on
their website, “LSA has offered generations of
students broad and deep programs of study and …
has provided a foundation for successful lives and
meaningful careers. Today, this transformative
approach … attract(s) growing numbers of students
who recognize the value of a liberal arts education.”
Is it the intrinsic nature of liberal arts degree
that enables English majors to become engineers
or environmental science majors to be CEOs? Or
is it a sheer force of will to prove our place in the
increasingly professional world of work?
U
niversity alum Erika Shevchek graduated
in December 2018 with an English degree.
After not being admitted to graduate
school, she decided to stay in Ann Arbor for the
summer and work three jobs while applying for
writing jobs.
“I’ve always wanted to be a writer, I know that
sounds really cliché,” Shevchek said.
Despite graduating a semester early, Shevchek
was the last of her friends to “figure it out.”
“I was never upset that I chose English,” she said.
“I don’t think me being an English major lowered my
chances of getting a job, which everyone believes,
but I don’t think that’s true.”
Shevchek still plans on going to graduate school
eventually, but for now she’s excited to start an
editorial assistant internship in Philadelphia while
also working in a restaurant to “pay the bills.” When
we talked, her first day of work was the following
Tuesday.
“I’m excited not to work a 9-6 job and have a
salary and go to bed at 9:30,” she said. “It’s this idea
that you think you have to do the right thing at 22,
and you have this pressure from your family, and
you have to make the salary. Dude, you don’t at all.
This is your one time in your life you are so free. You
can literally work wherever, you can move wherever,
you can do whatever. It doesn’t matter what I do at
22, because as long as I have some form of income
and a story to tell, that can make me a writer.”
Shevchek was the only other English alum I talked
with. Immediately, I felt a sense of camaraderie —
that we were “in this together.” She unapologetically
embraced her major and her choices, never wavering
in her decision to choose liberal arts and work as a
waitress. I listened to her story with admiration and
clung to her parting words of advice.
“Do what you want, live your life,” she said.
“You’re going to be 21 when you graduate? Oh my
god, dude, you got the whole world in your hands. If
it’s meant to work, it’ll work.”
U
niversity alum Pat Ray received a Bachelor
of Science in Computer Science through
LSA in 2018. He now works for Domino’s
Pizza Corporate Team in their I.T. department.
“Yeah, it’s kinda funny, a lot of people, when I say
I work at Domino’s, they’re like ‘Aw stick with it,
man,’” Ray said.
Logically, I know it’s the company and not
the major, but I couldn’t help but compare this
comment to the ones I receive when I tell people I’m
an English major. “What are you going to do with
that, live in your parents’ basement?” I guess even
computer science majors can’t escape the stigma of
a liberal arts school.
At his side gig, however, Ray leads a very different
life than the one at work. When he’s not at the
office, he can be found splitting his time playing in
five different bands and running a concert booking
company out of his bedroom.
Because he received a degree through LSA,
Ray had to fulfill the 30-credit distribution
requirement, including courses in humanities, math
and quantitative reasoning. Ray largely credits
these classes for giving him the skills he needed to
navigate life after college.
“I was able to use some of the stuff I learned in
creative writing to help with writing songs. It’s
been nice having math and statistics to help with
finances, too,” Ray said.
Ray seems to have embraced his diverging career
paths. In explained how he guilts his boss and
co-workers into going to shows. When I asked him
about cutting back on his I.T. career and focusing
more on music, it felt like I struck a chord.
“That’s something I’d like to do; I’ve thought
about it a lot. I want to, at some point, maybe in a
year or two, save up some money from work, take
a year off and focus on the booking group and my
band,” he said.
While talking with Ray, I couldn’t help but
feel envious. A directly applicable job right after
graduation and a money-making hobby on the
side? It sounded ideal to me. I asked Ray if he ever
imagined himself doing what he is doing now.
“It’s definitely what I wanted to do. I think I’m
kinda surprised with myself, that I’ve been able to
pull it off,” he replied.
Can that be attributed to personal skills like
organization, time management or even luck? Or
can liberal arts take the credit — preparing Ray with
a broad range of classes and topics from EECS 281
to “Video Game Music.” Ray’s path after college is
reflected in his final bits of advice to me.
“I’d say work hard and don’t be afraid to take
chances. … Prove that you’re a hard worker, and
trust in what you’re doing, and don’t be afraid to
take a risk,” Ray said.
B
oth Shevchek and Ray used the University
Career Center while they were at Michigan,
with varying degrees of success. At career
fairs, Shevchek confessed she felt out of place
as a liberal arts major, while Ray learned about
his current I.T. role by meeting with a Domino’s
recruiter at one.
UCC Director Kerin Borland, sat down with me
for an interview and offered a different perspective
on undergraduate majors.
“The major is a field of study; the person is the
one who’s going to be doing the job,” Borland said.
There is no unmarketable major; there might be
some unmarketable people, but most times that’s
correctable.”
Before I talked with Borland, I had a chip on my
shoulder. I badly wanted her to confirm my notion
that liberal arts majors have a more diverse skill sets
than other pre-professional majors like engineering
or nursing. Instead, she corrected my prejudices.
“See, we don’t think like that. There are skills
that are going to be transferable to a professional
setting that are gotten through every academic
experience,” Borland said. “The type of skill may be
different, but each academic discipline is going to
provide transferable skills.”
When I told her my goal of securing a job before
Christmas break, she cautioned me against setting
a deadline.
“Don’t put that pressure on yourself,” Borland
said. “We’re not looking for the perfect job,
we’re looking for a really great opportunity that
capitalizes on existing interests and skills and
allows for growth to be a stepping stone to the next
great opportunity. That’s how careers are built —
one great opportunity after another.”
The LSA Opportunity Hub is another source for
internship and career advice. Created specifically
for LSA students, the Hub aims to work with
students throughout their time in undergrad. Kierra
Trotter, director of student engagement at the Hub,
talked me through her perspective on liberal arts.
BY FRANCES SMITH, STATEMENT CONTRIBUTOR
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PHOTOS BY DANYEL THARAKAN