By Laura Duclos
With the semester over, students finally have some time to mull the meaning of all their hard work in college.
Choosing and sticking with an area of study is an important part of earning a degree. It can affect your future career. But will it?
Looking back at their college experience, some Tech alumni and students say what you major in is less important than the knowledge, skills and inspiration you gain.
Interviewing at the Career Development Conference in Dallas. Photo from ttudallascareers.org.
Derrick Ginter, general manager at KTXT-FM, started at Texas Tech in the summer of 1987. He graduated in 1996, majoring in general studies.
Ginter said he was given the option to select from multiple disciplines and chose to study engineering, telecommunications and theater, with nothing planned for his future.
“There are degrees that have no rhyme or reason to them,” Ginter said. “Mass communications, public relations, marketing — these are things that we consider to have transferable skills.”
Carefully consider what you are going to do post-graduation, Ginter said, because your degree plan needs to factor in what you want to do and get paid for.
Dylan Lowery, an electronic media and communications major from Garden City, Texas, said his major is important to him because it’s a source of motivation.
Lowery originally attended Lubbock Christian University, where he studied information systems and technology. Realizing he was unhappy with his degree plan, he transferred to Texas Tech.
“After a year of taking classes related to my first major, it was nothing like I thought it was going to be,” Lowery said. “I had zero motivation and really had nothing going for me. I didn’t even really think about my future, I was just upset about how much I disliked what I was taking.”
Lowery said his GPA was so low he had take some time off from school. He sustained serious injuries in a dirt bike accident while visiting home during his suspension.
“During the semester I was suspended, I was stuck on the couch healing,” Lowery recalled. “It was then that I didn’t do much but watch the news and consume media. I then had an epiphany in which I realized I wanted to create media myself and learn how to tell stories effectively and learn how to work a camera.”
Overall, Lowery said, switching his major was worth it because he found something he truly enjoys doing. He plans to work in the media industry after graduation.
Steven Nazworth, a Texas Tech alum who attended from 1995 to 2000, majored in music education, but is now an assistant principal at an elementary school in Cleburne, Texas. Nazworth said he was a band director for 10 years before he got his current job in 2011.
Jordann Fowler/The Hub@TTU
“I would major in music education again,” Nazworth said. “The friends and colleagues that I gained during that time could not be replaced. The knowledge that I learned in my undergrad years translated to my graduate career and ultimately to where I am now.”
Nazworth said many things from his college experience have helped him in life, such as effective communication in large groups and taking the time to get to know people. These skills create better working relationships in the long run, he said.
His advice to students — what is your No. 1 passion may not be the best career path.
“Don’t choose the things that you enjoy the most,” Nazworth said. “Save those for hobbies when your work life gets difficult. Choose your second best — something that you would enjoy doing and are passionate about. Save what is most important to you for yourself.”
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