All About Me

I sat down yesterday and some figgerin'. I do this probably twice a year, but that's infrequent enough that every time I have a different perspective on it. This year's perspective? I could, if I really wanted to, graduate after the Winter quarter. That would involve cancelling my co-op, or at least pushing it back six months, and getting a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs. Since I'm in no rush to finish, don't want to lose the great co-op, and it's much better to get a B.S. in Economics, and that just takes four more courses, under the current system.

But nearing graduation, even if you don't actually graduate, is distantly akin to having a brush with death: you come face to face with your own mortality. I can't be in college forever, and it's beginning to sink in. Like most young people, I feel like I'm never going to die, but I'll probably be graduating in two years, or, if my friend Chris' warnings about Lebanon hold up, I won't have to worry about graduating at all. Maybe I should set up a few correspondence courses ahead of time, just in case I'm taken hostage by Hezbollah. Yeah, that's definitely a good back-up plan; good thinking Salim. That's going in the little black scheduling book: "set up ad hoc correspondence courses!"

Sorry, my thoughts ran away with me there. In reality, I'll probably follow this basic outline for the next two years, ensha'allah:
- Summer '02 in Beirut.
- Fall '02 in D.C.
- Winter '03 in D.C.
- Spring '03 at N.U.
- Summer '03 maybe classes, maybe other.
- Fall '03 in classes.
- Spring '04 in classes if I didn't do them in Summer '03.
- June '04 GRADUATION! Two years away... that's plenty of time. I don't think it'll be too bad; only a year out of those two will actually be spent in classes, and it may well be that I graduate in December of '03, especially if I can get some requirements waived. That's not bad; I'll be 21 years old, which means if I don't get a job I can legally become an alcoholic and spiral out of existence.

What am I really going to do upon graduation? God only knows. I'll earn plenty in D.C. this Fall, but I need to be careful with my budget; first of all, I'd like to reimburse my mutual funds for the money I'm taking out (~$5000) to do this Beirut thing. I won't be able to recoup that whole thing and still have cash left over, but if I can work while I finish school, or get a well-paying summer job after just one quarter back (that will depend on whether they offer enough classes to make summer school worthwhile), then I should break even by graduation. Of course, my instinct upon graduating will be to take time off and go somewhere, maybe do missions training or something, but I have no idea what The Guy Upstairs has in store for me, and I'm willing to do whatever He requires.

To get into some specifics, I have yet to take ECN/IAF1190 "The Global Economy", 7 Econ electives, a Senior Seminar in Int'l Affairs, a junior/senior Honors project, ECN1260 "Applied Econometrics", and an IAF elective. That's all if professors agree with me on what meets my requirements, and it's under the Quarter System. The Semester Shift may help or hinder me, but I'm reasonably confident of being able to finish in three quarters/semesters after this one. Seven quarters down, three to go. I'm going to look into a piece of paper they sent me today saying there's a $5,000 grant for a few qualifying Honors projects, and so I'm going to find out what the Honors project is in International Affairs and maybe in Econ. Honestly, I don't like Economics, and I'm wondering if it was wise to use it as a major... I could graduate next year if I downgraded it to a minor. However, I think that would be irresponsible of me: I can do econ passably well, and to only major in IAF is to handicap myself for life and to ignore one of my gifts - a brain capable of basic quantitative analysis. I think irresponsible pretty much sums it up: even if I don't do grad work in it, I should at least put in the months that it will take to get myself a good degree. No disrespect to IAF, I love it, but it's very easy for those who are willing to show up and do the homework, and employers know that. IAF majors are near the bottom of the payscale, whereas Econ ones are near the top. Of course, life's not about money, but school largely is. Yes, with my IAF skills maybe I can get a job, irregardless of pay, that helps bring peace or well-being to people and serves others, but ultimately willingness is much more important than knowledge when it comes to helping humanity or the Kingdom in most capacities. By contrast, earning a salary is often highly contingent on having educational credentials. Neither of those generalities hold all of the time, but I can't assume I'm going to be an exception to the rule all my life, and so I believe that getting a B.A. in IAF and a B.S. in Econ is the responsible thing to do in my situation.

Who am I arguing with here anyway....???