I am doing psychology, used to be a philosophy major. Aside from one or two desis and blacks in my classes, I am the only colored person. As I come closer to the end of my degree, I am literally the only one in the vast majority of my classes. A lack of Oriental people in psychology and philosophy as well.
Why is that? Philosophy I can understand, jobs are limited, it is not very “practical” compared to sciences and engineering, but what about psychology? It can be a very lucrative field provided you go to at least the masters level (which is the minimum you need to practice in my state). Plus psychology can be extremely scientific, as evidenced by neuropsychology should you choose to specialize in that. But again, one black in my intro neuropsych class, two desis, a handful of Orientals. And in advanced neuropsych classes, one brown (moi), one Oriental. Sad.
Sarah the trend here is either daaKtar (doctor) or ingiNyer (engineer), these are the best two fields. And sayuns (science) is the real education, arts is considered "taym pass" (time pass) education.
err... I know around 4 girls who're in Psych... two graduated already - one working as a student counsellor in a High School and the other going on to do her Masters.
Two of them still studying...
That being said, I do think that Psych. is more popular in desi girls than guys.
As far as desis in Sciences/Arts, you're right in that the starting point is usually either Health/Life Sciences (Psych may be considered a part of that although I think its an Art/Science area) or Comp Sci (again, taught as a program in Arts at a lot of schools due to its Mathematical nature) or Engineering. Business/Commerce however is fast gaining acceptance with the parents.
Its all about perceptions in our society... I personally am a victim of it :) - wanted to do Actuarial Sciences/Commerce in my undergrad but didn't go too well with the folks. I decided to go for my second choice i.e. Comp. Sci and later go on to pursue post-graduation studies in Business which is what I did.
Missy, that sucks. What did you want to specialize in?
I am doing a BA. Don't plan to specialize as I am not particularly fond of psychology as a long term career. However, plan to do something even more "artsy" hehe.
i wanted to do child psychology... i planned to invent a new theory which would make Freud, Piaget and Vygotsky turn in their graves!!
i can still use my psychology degree for the profession im in now though...or the one i will inshallah be qualifying in. Im a student teacher...so whenever i write essays on child behaviour or learning...Skinner and Howard Gardner come easily to mind.
you should write...i think you'l do mashallah really well in anythiing to do with literature.
I wanted to do Business from high school years but was "brainwashed" or forced, whatever you want to call it by my parents to become a doctor.. sigh.
So i guess I kinda wasted my first year of university doing premed, then got enough courage to tell them thats not what I want to do. It's very tough ruining their dreams.
Just to let you know, one of my good Pakistani friends, who also happens to be a family friend is currently in grad school doing research in Psych. In undergrad, she started out with pre-medicine but decided it wasn't for her and changed her major to Psych with an Arts minor, and it didn't sit too well with her parents initially but they came to accept it. Brilliant girl masha'Allah, and I think she plans on going into Industrial Psych eventually. So there you have an another desi in a relatively non-typical field. Can't say the same about myself though :-D
If there is reincarnation; I want to explore the humanities in my next life. I loved cultural anthropology and theology classes and the teachers loved me back. sigh sigh
Even though parents are one reason why most desi students choose the status quo when it comes to majors, it is also because there are hardly any role models to look up to in fields of art, drama, philosophy. Even in the science the desi kids shy away from the fundamentals like mathematics or physics. Most kids in the US see their elders in the field of medicine, engineering, law and occasionally business and want to follow that. Its really sad though ..
I have a BA in Fine Arts and wanted to major in psychology as well or work in Art Therapy with autistic children. My cousin is majoring in Psych right now and her mother also has a degree in it. I think there are jobs that are considered good 'money making' jobs that Desis tend to aspire to and then there are careers that may help people. Maybe it takes a certain personality to want to help others?
My sister majored in Crime & Deviance (a branch of psychology) and Sociology. My brother did History and Poli Sci and I majored in History too with a minor in English Literature. It’s unfortunate that ‘the arts’ aren’t given as much respect as the sciences. People have no idea what they are missing out on.
I'm an English major, and planning on a minor in Accounting.....
I haven't thought of any careers, what exactly I want to do with my liffe after graduation (no tamatars plz) but I've been told that with an English degree you learn lots of skills that you don't learn in other majors and will come in handy in whatever field you decide to go into....
^ And English degree can lead you into other possible degrees/careers if you so choose.
But Im so fed up with people thinking that English and psych arent worth thinking over. All my med and engineer friends sometimes brag about their fields. I still think mine is better.
Ok ok they’re all equal in their own ways. But Sarah like you pointed out I also seem to be one of the very few desis in my classes. But I do think that the trend is changing.
One thing I was discussing some time ago with a friend:
All desi children are expected to choose something like finance, engineering, law or medicine. However, i think it's expected more from guys than it is from girls, because the prevalent belief is that they will be the primary bread-winners, as traditional heads of famillies. Thus, they need something that will be stable, not a "time-pass" education in English or the Arts. You see more desi girls in english and psychology because they're not expected to reach the same professional level as men are and even if they go on to earn Masters/doctorates/phds, etc, they're still expected to be home-makers. This isnt' to say that they are discouraged from pursuing such fields or that there is a shortage of South Asian females in the medicine/law/corporate fields, but they aren't faced with as much criticism if they were to choose a less-traveled path. This is just my theory so I could be way off...
My sister majored in Crime & Deviance (a branch of psychology) and Sociology. My brother did History and Poli Sci and I majored in History too with a minor in English Literature. It's unfortunate that 'the arts' aren't given as much respect as the sciences. People have no idea what they are missing out on.<<<
Mehnaz, that is awesome! I had a prof once who was in criminal psychology, really inspired me to go into the field and I considered it for some time. Sociology is amazing, I'm currently in a course on Deviance and it's one of the most interesting I've taken.
What are you and your siblings doing now? Would be interesting to see what careers they went into.
You're right, people who don't take any social sciences and arts and humanities courses miss out, if nothing else, these courses teach critical thinking and reading skills, esp. philosophy where without much instruction, we were forced to read first hand texts and do our own analyses.
I have one issue with them though, they are not very practical. There is not much application of the theories we learn. Maybe that comes in grad school but BA is unfortunately all theory, at least in my university. Doesn't give you much direction if you want to make some headway in a career with just an undergrad degree.
