It’s time for me to come to terms with something: I cannot major in what I “truly love.” Okay, whatever, I’ll major in something else that I really like. But how can I keep in touch with that passion if I’m not making a degree or a career out of it?
I’m planning to major in Comp Sci and minor/double major in a life science. Evidently, I’m going to be heavily immersed in math and science in my 4 years of undergrad. But my passion lies in English. Critical reading is one of my greatest strengths (I boast an 800 CR on the SAT), and I love grammar and editing (800 W as well!), writing essays, any opportunity for argument/debate, words, literature, language, all of it. I believe that I have a natural talent for communication.
I just can’t major in English (or linguistics, or philosophy, etc.) The reasons are irrelevant, but I think everyone can see why I’d pick a STEM degree over a humanities degree.
So how can I major in CS** (with a STEM minor/second major, leaving zero room for English-based electives) without sacrificing my greatest passion? How can I prove to grad schools/employers that I have these strengths? What on my resume could show that I’m a great writer and skilled communicator?
**I do love computer science, so don’t think that I’m torturing myself with a STEM major. I’m excited for the degree I’ve picked, but it would kill me to abandon the passion I’ve been cultivating for years. I have a talent for English and I want to keep it alive.
Perhaps you can write/edit for your school’s newspaper or an academic journal or the CS departmental newsletter? Join a writing club? Tutor underprivileged students whom you can possibly share your love of English?
You don’t have to major in your passion. You don’t have to pursue a career in your passion.
Your college major is not the sum total of your life. It doesn’t reflect the whole of you as a human being, your passions and interests and dislikes. It’s just an area of inquiry: something you like well enough to study, something that will probably form the foundation of your first couple jobs out of college. But it’s not supposed to be an encapsulation of all of your interests and talents. It’s not even most of your classes in college - at most colleges, your major will make up about 1/3 of all the classes you take.
Furthermore, STEM skills and English skills aren’t mutually exclusive. As a strong writer with a background in computer science, you could go into technical writing or technical communication, or science writing, or science policy work. Even if you worked as a software engineer/developer, tech companies send thousands (millions!) of emails a day and write all kinds of memos, reports, and briefs. Communication is key to the enterprise.
For most jobs you will write a cover letter, and that is one way that you can demonstrate your aptitude for communication. But you can also pursue extracurricular activities that demonstrate that. Volunteer or work at the college’s writing center; if your college hires TAs for freshman composition, you can do that as well. Your university likely has at least one newspaper - it may also have a literary magazine and several other outlets for which you could write or edit. There may be some regional or national college newspapers/newsletters that you could get involved with as well. There’s also debate competitions and Model UN. And your college may have some unique opportunities as well!
Also, if you feel so strongly about this, why not major in CS and then minor or double major in English? You don’t need a STEM second major or minor.