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[quote=Anonymous]I was a cultural anthropology major. I chose the major because it combined so many fields I was interested in: philosophy, art, economics, psychology, history, quantitative analysis like statistics, religious studies, literature, and communication.

As it turns out, I have been able to use professionally many of the skills I practiced in my undergraduate classes. My job allows me to work extremely closely with some of the most fascinating people imaginable, including literal geniuses from different parts of the globe. My work is interesting, often very fun, and usually fulfilling. I’m able to bring value in part because of things I first practiced consciously in college: leaning into ambiguity, shifting deftly between multiple perspectives, listening both to what is being said and also what’s left unsaid, finding hidden layers of order within the seemingly chaotic or even incomprehensible, communicating across multiple platforms and audiences, etc. While an anthro major isn’t the only way to hone these skills, it was part of how I did so.

But it’s also true there’s not an obvious career path upon graduation, so my friends who were on “tracks” (med school, finance, CS, etc) found their ultimate vocations more quickly than I did. I always worked and contributed, and I had some really interesting jobs, but there was some zigging and zagging, too. (A high tolerance for ambiguity was helpful for this too!).

If you’re the type who thrives while wayfinding along an ever-forking path, anthro isn’t a bad way to go — especially if you have broad and diverse interests and faith in the long haul. If you prefer a major with a more reliable/clear next step, and with more concrete resume skills (C++, etc), this probably isn’t it.

Lots of different possible paths; this happened to be mine. I hope this is helpful. [/quote]

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