Twice a year, the eternal questions return to haunt us.
With Oberlin’s vibrant and expansive areas of study, there are never-ending opportunities to fall in love with a new subject. On the other hand, it’s always tempting to home in on one’s area of interest and choose dynamic courses that fit together to form one cohesive curriculum.
So which to choose? As an aspiring double major in politics and philosophy, this semester I have undeniably fallen into the latter. My top three courses (all waitlist success stories) consist of Political Research and Analysis, Queering Politics, and Political Philosophy.
This left me one spot to experiment. Everyone’s heard the classic “major discovery” story of people taking a random class, falling in love, and choosing a major they never thought they would. While I’m clearly passionate about Politics and Philosophy, I wanted to experience a new department. Meeting requirements is a great way to try something new without the risk of wasting time if things go south. To meet my Quantitative and Formal Reasoning requirement, I decided to take an Economics course. Economics plays a significant role in both politics and philosophy, but is sometimes depicted as the enemy.
I am a firm believer in educating oneself on the enemy perspective, this naturally being Introduction to Economics. I’m convinced that professors in every Oberlin department have the capability to make students fall in love with a subject, my evidence for this being Economics. I’ve been enjoying learning about an economic outlook, and have found it extremely useful in my other courses, particularly Political Research and Analysis. To my own surprise, if things continue the way they’re going, I would definitely consider a minor.
To really think outside of the poli-sci box, I decided to take a student-led ExCo on baking, SweetsCo. Every Thursday, after my political philosophy course, I can unwind and bake for credit. Admittedly, I have been in love with baking for my entire life. However, integrating comforting and fun classes into my dense and often heavy workload (both quantity and content) feels very necessary.
At the end of the day, focusing in and exploring both lead to great possibilities at Oberlin. For freshmen, it’s usually beneficial to explore through meeting requirements, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t always room for exploration, even once one declares a major (or two, or maybe even two majors plus an Econ minor).
