Leaving Stanford & 26 Subjects: The Value of Interdisciplinary Education
Transcript of this video: https://youtu.be/bvFILxtj400
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[INTRO]
Hi, I'm Michelle Cen. I took classes across 26 fields at Stanford as an undergrad. I also took a 6-month leave from school which was one of the best things I did to learn.
Today, I'll share my journey and the value of being interdisciplinary. Learning is self-directed and may best happen outside of classrooms. My physics professor Carl Wieman, a Nobel Prize winner, once told me the Mark Twain quote “don’t let school get in the way of education.”
That quote made me feel confident in taking a leave from Stanford. I was open to never returning to Stanford, though I eventually did.
There's no one right way to learn. If you want to spend your life studying underwater basket weaving on an island, do it.
[EXPERT ADVICE ON BEING INTERDISCIPLINARY]
However, I'd encourage you to consider studying more than one subject. Why be interdisciplinary? Before diving into my personal experience, I'll share what experts say. In the video description are links to the books I’ll mention.
First, being interdisciplinary can prepare you for your future job. In school, we often learn to build what author and computer scientist professor Cal Newport defines as "career capital." His book So Good They Can't Ignore You has solid career advice. In a nutshell, "Career capital" refers to economically rare and valuable skills. You can build them through specializing in 1 subject. You can also become economically valuable by having a rare combination of skills. That can mean being interdisciplinary.
Your future job or career may not exist yet. Just a couple decades ago being a "computer programmer" wasn't as widely-accepted as a career as it is now. And I’ll give some personal examples. After graduating college I first worked as a user experience writer/content designer/strategist, which is a profession so new the title’s still being defined. And one highly specific class I took in mechanical engineering called “Food, Design, and Technology" was useful a year later when I got an Uber Eats internship. Overall, by following your varied interests, you're preparing for all turns your life could take.
I recommend 2 books which specifically advocate for being interdisciplinary:
The first book is the #1 New York Times Bestseller Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein.
The second book is The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World by Scott Hartley.
Both Epstein and Hartley have interdisciplinary careers. Epstein is a science journalist who has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism. Epstein also wrote the bestseller The Sports Gene. Hartley is a venture capitalist and author who has a political science background.
A second reason to become interdisciplinary is that it can enrich your personal life. For more about this I recommend the book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. It's by former Yale professor William Deresiewicz and is about how a liberal arts education can make you a better person. It also discusses how schools, especially elite ones, can hinder learning. I encourage you to even diversify ways you learn. Online education and experiential, out-of-classroom education can change your life path.
[THE 26 SUBJECTS: MY CLASSES]
Now, here's how I got an interdisciplinary education in Stanford. And out of Stanford when I took a leave my junior year.
I'll start with what I took at Stanford. Here's all the departments I took classes in. They're arranged from more abstract, technical subjects at the top to more applied, humanities subjects on the bottom.
I didn't start college intending to take such a variety of courses.
I started college wanting to major in mechanical engineering or product design. I knew I love the arts, engineering, and applied hands-on work. After taking classes in these fields, I considered majors in physics or math because I loved studying abstract theory too.
The number of majors I considered kept increasing. I considered being pre-med. I sat with advisors to write four-year plans for majors including economics, engineering physics, and computer science.
I considered doing a master's in the Community Health & Prevention Research department.
In my junior year I chose to major in Science, Tech, & Society, known as STS. It's Stanford's most flexible major. I chose STS because I wanted to be able to continue taking a diverse range of classes. I didn't want to let school and structure get in the way of my education. My major’s requirements did push me to take more applied humanities classes, like journalism ones, which I did enjoy.
One of my favorite classes was highly interdisciplinary in itself. It was an improv playback theater class taught by theoretical computer scientist Omer Reingold. The class had students from all ages and backgrounds. One student was in his retirement age, former Music Director on the touring Phantom of the Opera. We connected with each other through sharing honest life stories. Through taking interdisciplinary classes, I found new ways to connect with people.
[EXTRACURRICULARS]
While I just went over my classes, much of my learning happens outside of class.
In my summers, I did engineering and statistics research applied to global public health. I also took a 6-month leave from Stanford to work on community-based agriculture in Hawaii, which I'll explain more later.
During the school year while I took classes, I had internships in behavioral health research and public service. And I worked with social good organizations on topics like disability rights, animal welfare, and Effective Altruism. Effective Altruism is a social movement that advocates for using reason and evidence to uncover how to do the most good in the world.
[ADVANCING GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH]
While my college time may seem unfocused, I had the specific interest that drove me was a desire to advance global public health. It influenced the classes I took and extracurriculars I did.
For example, I applied all my class learning to advance global public health causes during my summer research experiences.
I did engineering research in Professor Manu Prakash's lab. His lab is famous for inventing frugal science tools that expand access to science and healthcare.
The Prakash lab is known for being interdisciplinary, another reason I chose it. My main mentor was a quantum physicist and engineer who had worked in quantum computing. She now leads a quantum biology lab.
I also spent a summer doing statistics research. I analyzed results from a study on an anti-gender-based-violence program in schools in Kenya
Besides research, I took courses on communicating health + STEM topics. My humanities classes mainly had STEM aspects.
Within global public health I concentrated especially on food systems.
I mentioned how I designed my own independent studies course to study food systems
I took an Earth Systems class on sustainable agriculture, a hands-on course held on the Stanford Farm
That class changed my whole life. It inspired me to take a leave from Stanford to work on community-based agriculture projects in Hawaii. Study abroad programs didn't teach what I wanted to learn, so I crafted my own experience. I did use Stanford resources, like classes, professors, and conferring with students.
When I can't find a program or path that suits me, I carve my own.I encourage you to do the same.
I was only able to pursue work on global public health through interdisciplinary study.
[TAKEAWAYS FROM MY INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION]
I began Stanford thinking I would take just applied, technical courses. I'm glad I didn't do that. Here's just 4 of the reasons to not only take applied, technical classes:
1. I would've missed out on life-shaping experiences I had in humanities classes.
2. Facts you memorize in a class may become defunct in less than a year. What's more important is learning how to learn, so you can acquire new facts.
3. Highly specific technologies you study, you may never use again. I will probably never use MATLAB again, though I’m glad I learned it.
4. There's many great online resources to teach technical skills, and free ones like Khan Academy. I and my friends learned just as much, if not more, from those resources than we did sitting in lecture halls
My diverse background prepared me for many roles. I worked in user experience writing/content design/strategy in tech right out of college.
Now I'm studying to become a counselor & therapist. Partly it's because in this career I can interact with a variety of people and backgrounds, which I love doing. It also applies the psychology I studied formally and in my free time.
Studying different subjects helps me understand how different people think. The way a physicist thinks from first principles can be very different from how a fine artist thinks. All ways are brilliant.
I’m very happy with my educational journey.
[CONCLUSION: FOLLOW YOUR CURIOSITY]
I planned for college both short and long-term. I didn't accurately predict the long-term and I'm happy I was wrong. Re-assessing my path brought me closer to self-fulfillment. Honoring where my curiosity led me, which was to farms in Hawaii, pushed me to learn what classes could never teach.
Again, what I did is not what's right for you. Only you know what's right for you. Just don't commit to one path without considering other ways to grow.
Especially with the Internet, knowledge is more free. The best education you can get is no longer confined to ivory tower elite schools. You can learn anywhere. And more and more, people take gap years and leaves from school to pursue experiential learning.
Whatever decisions you make are learning opportunities. Follow your curiosity, and life will reward you with happiness and meaning.
[OUTRO]
For more about me and what I'm up to, visit my website michellecen.com. That’s Michelle C-E-N dot com.
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