Maybe you are a person entirely engrossed in history and you can’t stop visiting museums. Maybe the class “Science, Magic, and the Occult” sounded appealing to you. Maybe you wanted to learn a bit more about those sea monsters written into medieval maps. Regardless of the reason, you suddenly find yourself in the humanities department, at least partially, learning how to be a historian. Though, when you and your friends gather around the dinner table at Douglass Dining Hall, you may find that you are the only one pursuing that path. You may even be like me, and find out that you are one of two humanities students in a 25-person humanities class. While I’m sure you heard this during every admissions video, Rochester has an extremely academically diverse student body. Some students combine Math and Gender Studies as majors, others make up majors, created from their personally curated course-load and departmental approval. But, undeniably, there is a large population of STEM students (those in science, technology, engineering, and/or math).
University of Rochester has a wealth of history, and much more in the making.
You will probably have a diverse array of majors within your friend group. I cannot really say that I know a single friend group that only has kids in one major. This is something that I, personally, have been very grateful for, maybe someone majoring in political science can help with English homework, or a math major can help with that stats class. But, when I was an underclassman I definitely had my moments when I felt a bit lonely as a humanities and social science student. Instead of group work, you frequently find yourself reading, writing, or planning points for a group debate. Outside of the classroom, it can feel less collaborative than some of the STEM courses and assignments. Since you are not assigned lab partners or groups to complete tasks, making connections with peers in class can be a bit more complicated. Some of the time it can feel like all you hear about in the Rochester emails are the incredible scientific discoveries by professor X or Y, but what happened in the humanities?
Though just because the humanities and social science departments sometimes are not as visible does not mean that they are not incredible at the University of Rochester. Becoming involved in them might take a bit of work and extra research. What skills should I learn about in college; what programs appeal to me? What do I find interesting? How do I become involved? If you are even the slightest bit interested in the humanities or social sciences, I would absolutely advise that you take a class related to them. And honestly, the humanities and social science departments are almost as diverse as the University as a whole – so it is really hard to be bored, or exhaust the university’s resources. There are some people who go into a straight up history major. These folks take a variety of classes concerned with different aspects of world history. Some in that major may find that they want to specialize in a certain region or time period and later focus their studies surrounding that. Other people go into more specialized humanities/social science directions as soon as they start school. I, for example, am in African and African American studies (AAAS) and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s studies (GSWS), both of which can count as humanities or social sciences. I decided to complete AAAS as a social science and GSWS as a humanities, which slightly impacted the courses I took within the differing majors. Though several of my classes overlapped with each other, some, while also being listed as AAAS or GSWS, also were listed as general history courses. Due to that, I had several classmates who were not as interested in these specialties as me but wanted to explore them.
While I did figure out my specialties pretty early, I was also interested in more general aspects of history such as medieval history and Christian studies, which I was able and welcomed to take classes in, since my schedule as a humanities/social science student was a bit more flexible than a STEM kid.
Additionally, the humanities program has some amazing opportunities for students who want to become more involved with the department outside of the classroom. This was something I was very curious about as a first-year in search of a stronger humanities community of peers. One of these programs that I was accepted into is called Meliora Scholars. In this program, humanities students are invited to come up with a history-centered independent research project that they will present in their senior year of college. Projects (and their student researchers) are also awarded $3,000 for research costs. When you are involved in this program you attend monthly meetings, meet other students in the program, and generally become more familiarized with the humanities department, as you attend meetings and meet with advisors.
I am doing my project on African American witches, which allowed me to blend all my historical interests ie; racial dynamics, gender dynamics, and Christian studies into one project, and be funded! It also helped me make great connections with professors across the University and department chairs, and generally provided a vehicle to explore my academic interests to an extent I did not know I could before.
However, Meliora Scholars is just one program. There are an extensive amount of opportunities across the University for the humanities and social sciences. I’m sure your parents constantly tell you to talk to your professors, but as an upper-classman, I strongly push for that. Not just about improving grades or making up work but it can also be incredibly beneficial to express your interests to them, especially if they are in/near a field you want to be in. Sometimes they are conducting research and need a new assistant, maybe they have a personal connection to a historian that you have admired for years and can connect you with them, but generally, they give very good advice as experts in their field and have probably published things you will find interesting. On the peer level you can start study groups for a big test or even peer-review an essay. Some majors like anthropology have student clubs that you can be involved in where you attend meetings, go out to dinners, and discuss anthro-related topics!
I hope after reading this you will seek out some of these opportunities if you are a humanities/social science kid. Even if you have a massive group of friends from every single major it definitely does not hurt to find a strong community or make connections within your major. Who knows how it can help you in the future!