You’re in your newly pressed suit, donning your fresh shape-up and making sure your cologne is coming off with the perfect pungency (for the ladies). You’ve managed to skip the last two or even three episodes of “Parenthood” (NBC’s underrated family drama) to feign interest in The Wall Street Journal and The Economist. You’ve totally got this whole Greece thing down—Austerity now!—and can even make a few graphs that show how it all affects the banks.
Then the interview takes a turn—“So what do you do outside of the classroom?” You’ve got a few defaults: sports, lax-ing it up with the bros, playing acoustic guitar and that time you spent Fall break in New Orleans (partying).
But that isn’t taking up enough time, and now you’re getting nervous. The interviewer is talking about Tchaikovsky or Kandinsky or the WNBA. You stumble and call Kandinsky one of your favorite expressionists even though he totally is an abstractionist. Game over, man.
In order to avoid conflict, I’ll admit that there are other jobs out there. But consulting jobs devote a portion of the interview to solving a case, and I honestly don’t know about the other ones (Teach for America?). Plus, they aren’t as important since they don’t have large numbers of people in the streets cheering for them. You’re going to need to get (i.e., fake) some new interests if you want that super sweet job, and I’ve got you covered.
In all seriousness, I sought the advice of people much older and/or wiser than myself in order to figure out what courses one should take at this fine University. If they do help you to prepare for your graduate or professional school, or for your job interview, that’s just an added bonus. If you’re in neither the “go to more school” nor the “get a job” camp, then good for you, 1 percent. (Disclaimer: I have not taken all of these classes, but I will take them before I graduate).
Economics 51: Economic Principles. This was the most mentioned class, but that might have to do with the fact that most of my friends are economics majors. Everyone who graduates college should know basic economics, even if it’s to be the smart guy in the Occupy Wall Street protests. No one told you to get a B.A. in Art History (I kid).
Music 55B and Art History 70D/Theater Studies 100S. The music and art history classes are the introductory classes, whereas the theater studies class is called Communication, Improv and Business. Take as “any art or music class that you’re interested in,” though. Branching out not only helps you develop as a person, but also helps you look awesome in an interview. The interviewer might not like sports, but he or she probably donates to some non-profit that gives poor children in Africa pianos or violins.
Literature X. Sadly, I would have recommended Reynolds Price’s gospels class before his passing. You wannabe bankers wouldn’t have gotten in anyways, so just take a literature class to remember how to write, verbalize, think critically and use “theoretical interrogation.” Try not to look like an ape.
Religion 100: Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Take a religion course. Even though this isn’t a particularly popular major, I used a combination of talking to people much smarter than myself and looking at course evaluations (look at those medians!) to decide on this particular one. Seriously, take a religion course, even if it’s to point out in your interview how badly religion corrupts reasoning.
Political Science 118 and History 154: Middle East Politics and Imperial Russia 1700-1917. I have a fascination with Russia, so sorry about that. You should understand how the world works because, surprisingly, things are rather global these days. The Middle East is an amazing place with lots of conflict, so learn about it and enjoy the lively debates you’ll undoubtedly have with friends.
Psychology 100RE-104RE: Take a psychology class in a topic that interests you, and then use it try to figure out how your interviewers tick. (Success is unlikely, but at least you’ll have fun.)
Economics 182: Financial Accounting. There’s a reason so many people take it at 8:30 a.m. There’s also a reason your pre-law advisor told you it was the one class you had to take.
Physical Education X: Be healthy and fit and then talk about how the overweight and chronically-ill American workforce costs US corporations more than $153 billion per year due to absenteeism. Just hope your interviewer isn’t husky.
Also mentioned were Public Policy 146: Leadership, Development, and Organizations and Psychology 108A: Educational Psychology. Generic answers included a math or natural science class with a lab or “learn how to change the RAM and hard drive in your Macbook Pro.” I didn’t know what to do with those. In the end, whether you use this list or not, fulfilling your T-Reqs should be interesting rather than necessary.
Antonio Segalini is a Trinity junior. His column runs every Wednesday.
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