Curtis Westbay
Edwin Day
Jennifer GunterMr. Edwin Day
What was your major as an undergraduate?
B.S. Business Administration
Did you know that you wanted to choose this major in high school, or did you change your major?
Yes, I knew that I was going to study business (or economics if my college didn't offer an undergraduate business program) since high school. Like many high school students who aim to study business, I was enamored with the idea of making lots of money at the time, and saw business as that pathway towards riches.
What was your favorite course in the major, and why?
"Business Communications" with Professor Phillips. I think Professor Phillips was a remnant of Berkeley's hippie days. He was a very spiritual person and insisted that we spend the first 15 minutes of every class in silent meditation. So this was my favorite course in terms of having to do the least work. My favorite course in terms of material learned, however, was Corporate Finance, because it was in that class that I learned that, in reality, all our so called "experts" in banking or whatnot actually have no idea what they're doing, and that revelation was pretty mind-blowing for me as previously I thought investing was more "science" when in reality its more guesswork and manipulation.
What was your least favorite course in the major, and why?
Accounting (both Financial & Managerial). I know some people really love the constant accounting of credits and debits, but I found it really boring.
Did this major lead you to the career opportunities you expected, or not?
At the time my expectation was to enter either an investment bank or consulting firm, which I believe it did help lead me to. But even after college I believe people experience a lot of self-reflection and growth so, after years of being in that industry believing that was what I wanted to do, I realized it wasn't and went in a new direction.
If you had to choose two other majors, what would they be and why?
Economics - I see "business" as more vocational and "economics" as more academic. I'd have also been happy to learn the more "academic" side of business.
Computer Science - There have been periods of my life where I was able to teach myself enough coding to accomplish relatively simple tasks like setting up a website, changing a script in some small way, etc. While I'm nowhere near the level of what one might call a "real coder," I always enjoyed those simple coding experiences, and always wondered what I might have been able to accomplish had I pursued computer science/programming more formally instead of being in love with the idea of becoming a fat-cat CEO sitting behind my gigantic mahogany desk in my top floor office suite while smoking a cigar, looking down from my window upon all the peons below.
What advice do you have for students who might major in the same thing?
Think critically of what you are taught in the classroom and be open to conflicting ideas. Most business schools teach economics, finance and investing as if there is only one "right" way to think or do those things. It was through my own experiences and research after college that I realized that they are wrong, and in fact, I now personally subscribe to certain economic theories and ideas about investing and money that might still be considered heresy in today's business school classrooms. If I could do it all over again, I'd have prodded my professors more about these other schools of thought instead of blindly accepting their teachings as truth.
Ms. Jennifer Gunter
What was your major as an undergraduate?
I majored in English with a minor in Psychology.
Did you know that you wanted to choose this major in high school, or did you change your major?
I changed my major after two years. I started off majoring in Psychology and minoring in English but flipped them after two years mostly because I had come to realize that it was unlikely that I would stay in university for nine years straight to obtain my PhD and become a psychologist, and I saw English as the course I was likely to teach when I became a teacher.
What was your favorite course in the major, and why?
There were many but I think my two favorite were a creative writing course that I took where we used alternative classroom spaces and went to see slam poetry together and a seminar that I took in post-modern literature that really fueled my love of literary analysis and big picture thinking.
What was your least favorite course in the major, and why?
I'm not a huge fan of overly descriptive writing, so my course in 18th and 19th century writers was probably my least favorite class.
Did this major lead you to the career opportunities you expected, or not?
I knew I wanted to get into teaching but I also wanted to explore other options including journalism and editing work. I think my major led me there in some ways, but I do wish I had more specific job-related skills when I graduated. University can sometimes focus on big, broad ideas and discussions but sometimes it leads to a gap in actual job skills. This is why I would advocate for pairing a major and minor that help to fill that gap. If I had minored in business, for example, I may have left university with a more diverse skill set.
If you had to choose two other majors, what would they be?
My first choice alternate major would be business studies. My second choice would be journalism.
What advice do you have for students who might major in the same thing?
I think it's good to have a job or jobs in mind when you go into a major. If you plan to study English, make sure that is connected to an end goal. Also, take a diverse amount of courses. You may absolutely love on kind of literature, but you shouldn't close the door on other types of writing. English is not just a study of books; it's a study of the world, the human condition, and our history as people. Don't limit yourself - explore it all!
Mr. Curtis Westbay
What was your major as an undergraduate?
I majored in Classics (ancient Greek and Roman language and history).
Did you know that you wanted to choose this major in high school, or did you change your major?
No! My high school didn't offer Greek or Latin. I entered college as a Political Science major and I quickly changed to Latin. It was my favorite class and learning about etymology (the origin of words) made me so happy.
What was your favorite course in the major, and why?
My favorite course was probably an upper-level Latin class in which we translated selected works of Ovid. He was a very diverse, talented Roman author who wrote everything from advice for Romans in their love lives (a genre that probably got him exiled to the Black Sea) to, in my opinion, the greatest piece of Latin literature on Roman mythology, Metamorphoses. In our school's Latin class, we use a textbook based on his writing.
What was your least favorite course in the major, and why?
It was definitely any class where we were reading a work in translation, that is, in English. The reason I chose this major was because of the joy I got from learning the actual words. Whenever I had to learn about history without the original Latin, I lost interest more quickly. Also, Greek was kind of difficult for me...
Did this major lead you to the career opportunities you expected, or not?
I am not sure I expected any career opportunities! Everyone cautioned me that Classics wouldn't lead me to good jobs. My father told me not to worry about that, just to follow my passion. Lo and behold, I had a job offer from a BASIS school right out of college.
If you had to choose two other majors, what would they be and why?
I mentioned this in our last post, but I would choose Chemistry or Computer Science. They are both so interesting and useful to me, and I wish I knew much more about these subjects than I do.
What advice do you have for students who might major in the same thing?
Don't let people scare you about how Classics is a dead end. If you study Latin, you will have a way with words in English (and maybe in other languages, too). I never felt like I understood English vocabulary until I studied Latin, but it also made English grammar and syntax comprehensible to me for the first time in my life... even though I am a native speaker!