Difficult Decisions
Posted by Nicole Sharp on 22 July 2005 at 11:15Life is full of tough decisions, and I've never relished the difficulty of weighing alternatives, gathering thoughts from others, and, in the end, trying to justify to myself what decision I'll make. Some of my decisions have turned out well in the past. Although I agonized over whether to attend the University of Michigan or Case, I've never once regretted my decision to come here. Last night I made another decision that was very difficult for me, one that may lead to me dropping my second degree.
Right now I'm majoring in two programs, aerospace engineering and German. I plan to pursue advanced degrees in engineering, most likely in fluid mechanics. (So expect entries about graduate school decisions at some point, too.) Until this year, my German degree was very important to me as well, even though I don't plan to do anything with it. Recently, though, I have to ask myself whether I continue to pursue the German degree because I genuinely want a German degree or simply because I like the idea of graduating with two degrees. This is not to say that I'm losing interest in German itself. I love the language as much as I ever have, and I fully intend to keep learning and practicing it. But which is more useful to me: practicing German on my own through activities that interest me (reading, chatting with friends, listening to podcasts, etc.) or taking German courses on topics that are not of interest to me but are of interest to my professors?
For several years now, I've chosen what German course I would take based on what would get me closer to my degree and what would fit in my schedule rather than what I genuinely wanted to learn about. Over the last year-and-a-half my German classes seem to have become less of the fun distraction from engineering that they started out as and more of an obligation. But an obligation to what?
When it came time to put my schedule for Fall 2005 together, I found, for the first time, that no German classes fit into my schedule. (Actually, this is slightly misleading. There is one course that fits in my schedule; however, taking it requires me to drop a P.E. class I've wanted to take since matriculation. What's more, I'm uncomfortable with the subject of the German course.) I tried the route of suggesting an independent study. The details of that experience are unnecessary; suffice it to say that the reception was cold at best.
The issue was further complicated by the offering of EMAE 453 - Advanced Fluid Mechanics I this fall. Last semester's EMAE 359 - Aero/Gas Dynamics convinced me that fluids are where my interests lie. When my TA from that course recommended that I take EMAE 453, I had to consider it, even if it meant endangering my German degree.
I'm two courses short of a German degree (technically a degree equivalent as I haven't completed the Arts and Sciences GER) that I'm not sure I want. It's the German that's important to me and not a piece of paper; who, in the future, is going to ask me if I have a German degree to prove my fluency? On the other hand, I have a chance to take a graduate level course in the field I want to pursue. It won't earn me any credit toward my undergraduate degree, and it's likely that it won't earn me credit toward a graduate degree. But it is certain to be useful to me when I do go to graduate school and likely to be useful as I'm applying to graduate schools next semester. Does that justify possibly negating three years of work toward a second degree? I'm not sure.
I've decided, for now, that I'm going to sign up for the fluids course and set German aside for a semester. There's still a chance that I can get my German degree, provided I can take 18 credit hours, six of them in German, during my last semester. I'm running a strong risk of not graduating with two degrees in May, though, given the scheduling issues likely to occur. I suppose that the best course of action now is the one I always suggest to prospective students: once you make the decision, don't look back.
Postscript: The enormous irony of this situation is this: last year around this time, I was being told by my advisor that it was time to start stepping away from all my general education activities and interests and focus on what would make me a good engineer. At the time, I felt like that was impossible because so many of those outside activities were important to me. Now, a year later, those items remain important to me, but here I am, judging activities that will help my future as an engineer as the ones more important to me. I never cease to be amazed at the difference a year can make.
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Comments
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Nicole Sharp said
On 24 July 2005 at 01:00Ich würde nie sagen, dass Deutsch schlimm ist. Nur dass ich finde jetzt die Kurse hier nicht so interessant. Und, wie gesagt, das ist auch nicht zu sagen, dass ich meine Uni-Abschluss ohne zweites Hauptfach machen werde.
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csh11 said
On 24 July 2005 at 04:29Ja, ich weiß. Ich kann das Englisch verstehen :P
Das heißt ein „Witz“ auf Deutsch.
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Mano Singham said
On 25 July 2005 at 10:39And now for something completely different - a comment in English!
This is a tough choice to make. I too agree with your philosophy of not looking back once you've made a decision, but here you are looking forward.
In general, I am an advocate of taking the courses that interest you and are useful as opposed to meeting some requirement. But since, you are so close, it is tantalizing. I assume that you have enough German for a minor, which should be enough of a credential to get you in the door and prove yourself if you ever end up needing to show fluency for a job.
If so, then the urge to get the German degree may be due to nothing more than meeting a goal you had set for yourself some time ago to get two degrees.
At times like these, I look at the two options and ask myself which decision, if choose it and it goes wrong, would I regret more? That sometimes helps in the decision making process.
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Nicole Sharp said
On 25 July 2005 at 11:37A comment in English! That is something completely different.
I assume that you have enough German for a minor, which should be enough of a credential to get you in the door and prove yourself if you ever end up needing to show fluency for a job.
I have more than enough for a German minor, but I'm told that those aren't considered much, actually, because you can essentially get a minor by taking German from the entry-level onward and only have one advanced class. I, on the other hand, have been taking 300-level German classes for six semesters. I'm tending to think, though, that having lived in Germany for two-and-a-half years is going to count for more later on in proving fluency than any piece of paper.
One of the reasons that I hesitate to switch to the minor, though, is that I'm not sure if that would allow me to finish the full German degree after I graduate. There's an alumni discount once I've graduated with my first degree, and it seems like it wouldn't be tough to take the last couple courses that I'm missing later on.
At times like these, I look at the two options and ask myself which decision, if choose it and it goes wrong, would I regret more?
That sounds like a good tactic to me. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time predicting how I'll feel if I don't graduate with the German degree. I'm tending to think that the urge to finish the German degree is mostly, like you said, the urge to finish a goal I set for myself. But since fluency is more important to me than those classes, I don't see missing out on the German degree as giving up on German. I'd feel a lot different about the decision if it were; I'm still haunted by the results of my decision to quit playing trombone my junior year of high school. If anything, the ghost of that decision hanging over me is what makes me hesitate over this one.
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Jessica Fitch said
On 29 July 2005 at 19:41I won't subject your blog to my German (you can thank me profusely later). Can I bribe you away from the German degree with gelato? I know that at the very least, you'll be happier taking the fluid mechanics course than the German course for this coming semester. As an added bonus, you won't have Mark and I tormenting you mercilessly about the German class material if you take the fluids class. Instead, we'll be the ones running away when the subject of your class comes up. Maybe we could bribe you with milkshakes too?
Joking aside, either way you'll be giving up something that you'll regret for a while. Taking the fluids class is guarenteed to keep you happier for at least one semester. Yes, it's short term, but given your workload (academic and otherwise), it might just be that extra bit needed to keep you (mostly) sane for one more semester.
See you in a couple weeks!
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Nicole Sharp said
On 29 July 2005 at 21:50Jessica, it's wonderful to see you on here again! I can't wait for you to get back to campus. Things just aren't the same without you around.
I'm sincerely hoping that the fluids class isn't going to be the straw that breaks my back because I know it's not going to be easy. Instead, I think I'm clinging to the hope that it will just be so fascinating for me that I'll be willing to pour myself into it. In any case, I think I need to remind myself that there's no shame in graduating with one degree, particularly considering everything else I'm known to do.
Gelato and milkshakes are both welcome. And just think! This way, you and I will be able to commiserate together about grad classes!
csh11 said
On 24 July 2005 at 00:43Na gut! Deutsch ist *so* schlimm.