This past thursday I had the great pleasure of attending a seminar with a Cornell Sociology professor, where she spoke about her own path toward academia, and Cornell, and her advice for students pursuing their own career dreams. As many of the students in attendance (myself included) had their own plans for academia, her story was especially appropriate for this group, as well as her advice. For me, one of the most salient things she explained is that being passionate about something is a tremendous aid to being good at it. As someone who wants to become a mathematician, but is worried about the employment potential in academia, this was very welcome to hear. Additionally, it was interesting to hear about her transition from engineering to sociology, which made me think about my own trajectory, and reminded me to never be completely closed off to changing it if it seems called for.
Rose Scholars Fall 2018
Endless possibilities
Finding a passion is quite difficult and you are quite lucky to have your career path planned out already!
I really just want to echo your sentiment about staying open-minded to changes in career path. Probably my biggest takeaway from this event was that I often view different career paths as mutually exclusive, but that’s definitely not the case. I’m glad you enjoyed the event as much as I did!
I totally resonate with the idea of being open minded. Sometimes we put ourselves in a closed box because we think people expect us to be that thing even when we want to go after something else. I think it takes courage to be open minded and explore different options if need arises.