Before there was film, there was theater.
Before there were screens, there were books.
Before there were software engineers, there were weavers.
Before there were quants, there were bankers.
There’s infinite paths in life. Sometimes a path not written is the path for you.
Carnegie Mellon is a playground. The sort of playground that has many hits. Playing on one side misses out on the other.
If you want to play them all you must self-define a major.
I self-defined a major at CMU. So did Matthew. So did notable alumni like Ralph Guggenheim (who co-founded Pixar). And if you’re here, so should you.
First of all — why? Why make one when there’s already so many to choose from?
‘Anything new is just a new combination of what is existing’
–Jason Hong, my HCI professor
Every unit at cmu is $832 (as of Fall 2022, it’s closer to $900 now). Every time you skip class, money is burning. $832 x 9 units = $7,488 per class.
If you’re excited about all your classes, stay right where you are. But if you find yourself on your phone more than present in class, there’s something wrong.
If you don’t like a class there must be something wrong with the teacher. Any good teacher can make you like any content. If you don’t like a class it’s not your fault. It’s the teacher’s fault for failing to inspire you. YOU, the student who is paying tuition is the CUSTOMER. CMU IS THE BUSINESS. If you are not getting what you paid for, you have every right to complain and do whatever it takes until you get your money’s worth.
So, how do I self-define a major?
Step 1 — Contact your advisor
If you’re in Dietrich you’re in luck. Kelli Maxwell is amazing. She will support you. It will be a blast.
If you’re in the College of Fine Arts, prepare to be ghosted… but don’t give up. Bother the advisor until you get what you want. Bother their boss, too. Boycott. You are a paying customer so you have charge. It’s okay to be a Karen just for this.
Step 2 — Come up with a proposal
This is the hard part. You gotta write why you want to do what you want to do. Why every single item on the cmu major menu is not right for you and why you demand a custom dish. An omakase curated to your wants. Sign up for the free Communication Support sessions CMU offers. Pour your heart out to the writing counselors. Repeat once a week until your proposal is done.
Step 3 — Edit proposal. Repeat on all layers of the CMU bureaucracy
There’s going to be a lot of signatures. A lot of back and forth. It will be annoying. It will feel grilling. But you will emerge stronger. You will be crispier and more flavorful at the end. Maybe less tender but still juicy. This process can take anywhere from half a year (lucky me) to one to two years… BUT DON’T LET THAT DETER YOU. You are basically already doing a self-defined major as the process goes on. And even if it doesn’t work out, you can graduate CMU with any 360 units as a General Studies major and all you need is a minor to go with it. CMU doesn’t like to advertise this path but if you ask your advisory they will tell you about this secret menu item.
Step 4 — So you did it??
Congrats!!! Welcome to freedom.
Here’s some of the rest of us.
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
— Randy Pausch
Inspired by Khoi Le, my first VR teacher, my friend Matthew who pushed me to make my own major despite years of thinking I cannot do it, Kelli Maxwell, my incredible advisor who was with there every step of my way, and to Stephan Caspar, my faculty advisor I literally would have not graduated CMU without.
