Degrees don't restrict graduates' future options

When Tom Ayres graduated from the University of Virginia in 1968, he thought he wanted to pursue a career using his history degree. Thirty years later, he has worked for daily newspapers and now specializes in environmental media relations.\n"History involves writing and reading, so it does have some relation, but a loose relation, to journalism," Ayres said. "It's not too far-fetched, but it's certainly not too related."\nAyres now does environmental public relations work for American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio. Like many college graduates, Ayres found himself working at a career unrelated to his degree. He said if he had to do college again, he would have majored in a field more suited to his academic strengths.\n"I wish I would have gotten into communications, because I now realize how important it is to be able to communicate clearly," he said. "So if I had to do it all over again, I would probably be a communications major."\nAccording to the IU Web site, 71 percent of IU students will change their major at least once during their college careers.\nMany famous people have graduated from college with degrees in fields other than that in which they now work. Isiah Thomas has a criminal justice degree, Brooke Shields has one in French literature and Steve Martin has a sociology degree.\nAt IU, several programs are designed to make sure students take full advantage of their major, although the importance of what students major in is debatable.\nRima Merriman, program coordinator for the Individualized Major Program, said the subject students actually major isn't as important as many think.\n"The major often does not matter. It depends on what you are applying for," Merriman said. "Many students don't understand that."\nMerriman's program enables students to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Arts and Sciences but is also designed to meet students' individual goals and interests. Generally these program students are pursuing degrees that do not follow typical departmental and disciplinary routes.\nWhile many students graduate from college feeling pressure to find a job in their respective major, IMP students have a number of options.\n"It makes them stand out," Merriman said. "They can say, 'If I figured this out for one field, I can figure it out for another field.'"\nProgram coordinator for exploratory student resources Tom Kenyon said that while he thinks majors are important in career choices, a wide range of academic experience is helpful in the real world.\nKenyon named several careers, such as optometry, elementary education and physical therapy, that require a specific major, but many careers will accept a variety of majors.\n"In most cases, if you're not choosing something like optometry, there's probably several majors that could be good matches for you," Kenyon said. "There's not this one right major that you have to find."\nKenyon also stressed finding a major that fits what students are good at and what they enjoy doing ensure a wide range of jobs after graduation.\n"You have to find that course that is in December at 8 in the morning and five degrees and snowing and you wouldn't think about skipping it," he said. "It's really about figuring out not what you want to do over your whole career, but just your starting point."\nNow that Ayres has a chance to reflect on his college experience, he said he would have done many things differently, especially academically. \nAt the University of Virginia in the late 1960s, such university programs as University Division and exploratory services were not available.\nThe University was also more liberal-arts oriented, stressing English and history. Neither journalism nor computer science degrees were offered then. \n"I think my own personal experience when I was in college was to have a good time and also get out. It was only as I got into history that I really got into it," Ayres said.\n"Looking back through the eyes of an adult, I would probably have taken a much more serious approach with an eye to what I wanted to do later on"