Wednesday, September 18, 2019 // The Statement
6B

Trotter feels that liberal arts is truly 
an education, not training. “If someone 
is looking for a broader education that 
is not going to prepare them just for one 
particular job, but prepare them for a 
lifetime of multiple careers, then an LSA 
degree really can be a way for someone 
to go,” she said. 
During our interview, Trotter was 
careful not to downplay the other 
colleges on campus. She said she’s 
always surprised to see what students 
do with their major after they graduate, 
in a good way. 
“The degree that you’re getting here, 
regardless of the major, sets you up to 
be able to exercise so many different 
skills and areas of knowledge,” Trotter 
said. 
I unloaded all my worries and 
anxiety about finding a job after I 
graduate. “Sometimes half the battle 
… is to figure out what is it that you 
want,” she said.
D

ylan Lange, however, knew 
exactly 
what 
he 
wanted. 
Graduating in 2019 with a 
BBA from the Ross Business School 
and a minor in global media studies, 
Lange did not follow the traditional 
Ross recruiting route. After graduation, 
Lange moved to Los Angeles and spent 
two-and-a-half months applying for 
jobs before landing a role as an assistant 
to a talent agent at Paradigm Talent 
Agency. 
Over those 75 days, Lange interviewed 
at five of the seven major agencies, and 
with each rejection he found himself 
wondering if he had made a mistake. 
“There were definitely times where 
I was like, ‘Yeah, totally, let’s go down 
a different route. If I wanna get back to 
this down the road then I will.’ It was 
something I was thinking about, for 
sure,” Lange said. 
“Well, it sounds like you’re happy 
with what you’re doing now,” I said. 
“Are you?”
“I’m glad you asked,” he said. “No, 
I’m so not happy with what I’m doing.” 
Think scheduling meetings, answering 
phones and getting yelled at every day 
by a very intense boss. Lange went on 
to explain that in Hollywood “everyone 
starts out as an assistant, unless your 
uncle is George Clooney.” 
To me, the idea of moving across 
the country without a job or place to 
stay sounds terrifying. The instability! 
And to hate your job after months of 
searching and years of education feels 
like some sort of sick joke. But maybe 
that’s what people think when I tell 
them I’m an English major. Or maybe 
it reminds them of their first job after 
graduating. 
“I think (with) any job, and especially 
entry-level, you’re gonna have great 
things that you’re excited about, and 
you’re going to have things you’re not 

excited about, things you’re gonna have 
to work harder on,” Lange said. 
Lange’s 
advice 
was 
refreshingly 
simple: “Stay positive. At the end of 
the day, it’s just a job. If you don’t 
find the perfect job for your first job, 
you’re gonna find a job that you love 
eventually. Whatever you do, make it a 
step forward for you in some way.” 
A

t the Alumni Association of the 
University of Michigan, Louise 
Jackson, 
associate 
director 
of the Alumni Career Program, Louise 
Jackson, oversees the career program 
available to the more than 600,000 
living alumni. 
“We try to serve all our alumni as 
much as we can, as well as in concert 
with our colleagues on campus,” says 
Jackson. 
Jackson stated in an email that 
there are over 100,000 members of the 
University Alumni Association. Despite 
the push for membership, the career 
programs are open to any University 
graduate.
“Our 
job 
seekers 
are 
typically 
underemployed, unemployed,” Jackson 
wrote. “They’re, in many cases, under 
significant financial restraint. As a 
result of that, we have made the very 
intentional decision to make all of our 
programs available to all alumni, with 
only one or two member benefits.” 
One 
program 
the 
association 
provides is a virtual Career Change 
program that guides alumni through 
identifying 
strengths 
and 
skills, 
defining their ideal career, finding new 
career possibilities and creating an 
action plan. This program also serves 
as a metric for measuring how often 
alumni are changing the course of their 
careers. 
“We have seen, as a result of that 
program, that our alumni are pivoting 
careers earlier than they were in the 
past,” Jackson said. “(Millenials and 
Gen Z) are only in jobs for 2-3 years 
versus the typical ‘old-school’ where 
you’re at a job for 10-15 yrs.” 
Jackson attributes this change to a 
shift in employee expectations.
“There’s less of a focus on loyalty 
for the specific employer and less 
dependence 
on 
the 
employer 
for 
determining the career path,” she 
said. “A lot of alumni and individuals 
are realizing that … they’re the people 
who have to create their future. As 
such, they’re not depending on their 
employer 
to 
provide 
that 
career 
development.”
U

niversity alum John Wang 
is 
still 
searching 
for 
his 
passion. Wang graduated in 
2003 with a triple major in Philosophy, 
Biopsychology and Cognitive Science, 
and Mathematical Physics. The summer 
after graduation, he took car mechanic 
courses 
at 
Washtenaw 
Community 

College and later moved to Texas. He 
made money gambling online, playing 
pool and going door-to-door selling 
water. 
 In 2005, he enrolled at Yale Law 
School and graduated with a dual 
degree 
in 
law 
and 
business. 
He 
confessed to me, “To be frank, I’m not 
a very great student in some ways. I 
really hate classes.” 
After working at a prestigious law 
firm in Manhattan for a couple of years, 
Wang quit to run a marathon in Paris. 
Fast forward through a couple of failed 
start-ups and business partnerships 
to today, Wang now operates Queens 
International Night Market in New 

York. QINM attracts 10,000 people every 
Saturday and celebrates the cultural 
diversity of New York and Queens with 
independent vendors selling food, art 
and merchandise along with small-scale 
performances. 
Given 
his 
employment 
history, 
I asked if he thinks 
he’ll stick with Queens 
Night Market. 
“I have no idea. I’ve 
been telling everyone 
every 
year, 
half-
jokingly, that, ‘This 
is my last year. I can’t 
do it anymore.’” This fall will mark 
the end of Queen Night Market’s fifth 
season. “There’s always this question in 
the back of my head which is ‘What am I 
gonna do when I grow up,’ and I realize 

I’m nearly forty now,” Wang said.
I wondered aloud if Philosophy, 
Biopsychology and Cognitive Science, 
and Mathematical Physics have any use 
in his day-to-day life. He laughed and 
said maybe in some 
abstract way, but “to 
be quite frank, I’ve 
forgotten to how to do 
99 percent of what I was 
doing 
in 
theoretical 
mathematical physics.” 
 
He 
followed 
up 

by saying he uses his Washtenaw 
Community 
College 
car 
mechanic 
training more than anything else. His 
parting words to me were peppered 
with “I don’t knows” and long pauses. 
He joked that he probably wasn’t the 
best person to be giving career advice, 
but I disagree. 
“Life is long,” he said. “If you’re happy, 
great; if not, take risks. Who cares if it’s 
related to your major or not?”
I

n a way, I’m comforted by these 
stories. Even more reassuring is 
the beautiful block ‘M’ soon to 
be stamped on my diploma — a symbol 
that represents my work ethic and the 
universal gold standard of all University 
graduates. 
Yet, as with 
many of my 
peers, 
the 
question 
of 
what life holds 
after I throw 
my graduation 
cap 
remains 
unanswered. 
When I set out to answer this 
question, I was searching for validation. 
I wanted to know that deciding on a 
liberal arts degree was the right choice. 
Now, I recognize my bias as an English 
major — it was my own self-doubt that 

made me desperate to prove liberal arts 
was worthy of respect. 
After talking to the alumni, not one 
of them voiced regret about pursuing a 
liberal arts degree from the University. 
All of them admitted 
to 
doubting 

themselves 
or 
feeling lost at one 
point or another. But 
is that particular to 
the experience of a 
liberal arts major, 
or is it just being 
human? 
When 
I 
think back to all those New Yorkers, 
radiating confidence, I have to believe 
there’s some part of them that questions 
their path. That “making it” in NYC isn’t 
perfectly linear.

From Page 5B

remains 
unanswered.”

“Yet, as with 
many of my peers,

the question of 
what life holds

after I throw my 
graduation cap 

