When I found out Marshall Curry studied comparative religion for his undergrad, I already felt a connection with the accomplished filmmaker. I came into Cornell as a Fine Arts major, I was going to concentrate in digital media, get an internship at the Whitney for the summer, spend a semester in NYC and Rome, and also find time to finish a Computer Science and Computing in the Arts minor. But now, my sophomore fall semester, I find myself about to transfer in to A&S to complete an Information Science major, PAM and Computer Science minor, and with applications ready for Google and Microsoft. After testing out what I liked my spring semester, I realized I liked coding more than painting; both are honest forms of “creation” but the I realized the first made me more excited than anything else I’ve tried. So I followed what excited me instead of what I knew.
Marshall Curry went from majoring in religion to becoming a filmmaker and winning awards at the Tribeca Film Festival and at the IDA, almost a 180, and a successful 180 at that. I think it’s really inspiring hearing people like him speak because he honestly followed what he was passionate about. I know too many people that are pre-med just because their parents want that future for them, and who have passions elsewhere, in music and in literature, but stifle those passions because they’re not practical, they’re not careers and because they’re not enough. And I think we should put more worth to what makes us happy.
This is such a vast change. I’m glad to see that Cornell has opened your eyes. I, too, have gone in a different direction when it comes to my academics and future endeavors. All the best to you!
You’ve really made a big change in what you want to do with your life, so congratulations on that! I came in to Cornell thinking I would be a physics major and it almost hurt me when I finally realized that physics was not my passion and that I wouldn’t be happy spending my life like that. I think just being brave enough to evaluate your life is such a huge step in itself, because it really is like you say that some people just go in doing what their parents want for them. And even if you go in doing what you think you want for yourself, there is no guarantee that you know what you truly want when you are so young, and it honestly takes a lot of courage to re-evaluate all of your goals and your future dreams. But it is so worth it when you do and when you finally find something that you are actually meant to do!