Interdisciplinary Studies

IST Advising

       For a long time now, the idea of picking a major has been a source of fear in my life.  The idea of choosing a career path to follow for the rest of my life has been overwhelming- mainly because picking one path automatically excludes all the others.  I never understood how certain friends of mine knew in middle school what they would be when they grew up; they didn’t even know all the possibilities yet!  For this reason, college has been mainly a trial and error experience for me.  The main reason I came to the University of South Alabama was for the medical school.  It only took a semester, however, for me to realize I would much rather find a job I enjoyed instead of devoting my life to any position solely for money and prestige.  Over the next few years, although I pursued many interests, including international business, marine biology, psychology, sociology, and architecture, I was unable to sell myself on any.  The main problem was I really liked some things about these disciplines, but many of the classes necessary for a degree in any of the disciplines had no appeal for me.  What I really wanted to do was simply take what I thought I could use from the all the different majors, but this was not an option until I found Interdisciplinary Studies.

            For me, Interdisciplinary Studies is what I’ve been searching for in my college career.  Any job that can be obtained through a single discipline is not for me since the idea of working nine to five every day in a limited and controlled arena is a depressing thought for me.  My plan is to acquire wealth by starting my own businesses and investing.  To do this, I will need to gain experience in some subjects that college cannot provide, which is why I intend to work in sales after graduation.  I have not decided what kind of business I wish to start, but I know that an interdisciplinary degree in Administrative Science with focuses on business, economics, and psychology will give me the knowledge I need when the time comes. 

            Most of the knowledge I need is constant, regardless of the business’ specifics.  I must know how to deal with and manage people.  It will be necessary to understand people in order to be successful.  Also, I must know how to manage money.  If I don’t carefully monitor my money then it is highly likely I’ll get in a situation where my expenses will exceed my income.  Business has its own language- financial statements- which I must learn in order to manage a business and analyze investments.  Since the market is constantly changing, I must be able to anticipate and identify these changes.  Some industries are disappearing over night these days and therefore it will be necessary to watch the changing market and adapt.

            Noticing these changes is an ability that my background in economics has given me.  In Global Economic Issues, I learned that countries are always looking for a comparative advantage and that identifying this advantage leads to a prosperous market while ignoring it can lead to ruin. Microeconomics taught me the relationship between buying behavior, supply and demand, and price.  In this class I learned that maximizing profit is a matter of adjusting the price to the point where consumer demand and producer supply are equal.  Macroeconomics taught me how to identify trends in the economy such as unemployment, inflation, and investments and their effects.  This knowledge, which I will build upon in advanced courses,  helps distinguish long term effects from normal fluctuations of the business cycle. 

            Psychology has given me a general understanding of people.  From General Psychology I learned that many factors determine why a person behaves the way they do, including: genetics, socialization, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning.  This has allowed me to accept the diversity of people and because of this I can communicate and get along with people more effectively.  Research is a big part of psychology and, from Research and Design Analysis, I learned that all data cannot be taken at face value.  We learned how to analyze research to determine its strength, weakness, and applicability by considering things like the research method and test subjects.  This has been helpful with analyzing business trends as well.  One of the best classes I’ve had on dealing with people has been Psychology of Personality.  Here we looked at top psychologists’ theories, including Freud’s psychoanalysis, Jung’s archetypes and psychetypes, and Adler’s stages of psychotherapy. 

            Naturally, much of the knowledge I will need to achieve my goals has come from the business courses.  From Principles of Accounting I and II I have learned the language of business:  balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements… I know how to understand and create these documents.  From Business Finance I now know the science of managing money.  It’s given me the tools to analyze investments over time.  In Management Theory and Practice I will learn how to coordinate and harmonize a group towards accomplishing a goal.  After this class and Organizational Communication, I will know how to plan, organize, motivate and communicate clearly and effectively.

The business world is constantly changing, but the integration of these three subjects will give me the skills to navigate any market.  After I receive my degree, I look forward to gaining even more experience and knowledge by taking a job in sales for a large company.  I’ll use this time to prepare for starting a business of my own, eventually progressing from this one business to many.  Hopefully, by age 35 I’ll have enough passive income coming in to just relax, monitor my investments, and start writing books on how to be successful.  I am confident that I have chosen the right major and I’m looking forward to where this path takes me.  

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