What’s good everyone!

My name is Casey Brennan and I am currently a freshman in the Division of Undergraduate Studies and I plan to eventually get into the Smeal College of Business and major in either finance or marketing.  I am from Ellicott City, Maryland which is approximately 30 minutes outside of Baltimore, and it was in that very place where I discovered the analogy of why science is like your in-laws.

I’m only 18 so I have yet to sign my life away by getting married, so I don’t per say have any real in-laws.  Although I do have plenty of cousins that have gotten married, and I therefore have been coerced into having to spend time with the families of their spouses on several occasions.

I can say first hand that the stereotype of people disliking their in laws is true.

In regards to science, I wouldn’t say I necessarily dislike it, but it is definitely not my favorite subject.  Growing up and going through k-12 my favorite subject was English as it usually presented the most opportunities to be creative or at least differ from the pack.  There is never one definitive answer in English, unlike math and science where everything is concrete and must follow a strict process in order to arrive at a correct solution.  This is the main reason I chose to not pursue science as my major.  Although there is plenty of critical thinking and new discoveries to be made within a variety of science fields, my primary education experienced only exposed to me to the concrete, step by step, extremely uninteresting area of science and I therefore did not want to enter a field where there is too much structure.  Through business I feel like I can change the world in a multitude of ways, while still staying true to myself, not following some 400 year old formula.

Alas, I couldn’t go to school everyday and just go to English class.  I still had to grind it out memorizing and regurgitating formulas and definitions along with my fair share of failed tests added to the mix.  In regards to in-laws, I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my cousins and other immediate family members, just like I enjoyed English class.  Although, a lot of times the in-laws would tag along and you have no choice other than to suffer through their undesirable presence, just like science.  Every school day I would enjoy spending time with English, but then I was forced to spend time with the subjects in-law, science.

The main reason a took this course, like most of you, was to fill a Gen-Ed requirement.  I went to orientation fairly late in the summer so the only available classes were intro to bio, chemistry, or physics.  Basically all of the subjects I despise.  Then I stumbled upon this class that seemed to defy everything I knew about science up to this point.  When I read that we will constantly be critically thinking and looking into subjects that really had no right answer I was sold.  After receiving the handout with all the questions we will be discussing, I immediately took a picture and sent it to all of my friends.  They quickly expressed their jealousy and I promptly rubbed it in their face that I found this diamond in the rough.  I found this article discussing one of the questions that intrigued me HERE.