My name is Connor Opalisky and I am a freshman here at Penn State. My major is… or was… architecture. In fact, i shouldn’t even be in this class to begin with, I’ll explain why. Growing up I always wanted to have a job that involved creativity and critical thinking. I was always in to designing and drawing and building. By sophomore year of high school i started reading about the field of architecture and became very interested by its unique required skill set and creative freedom. I took classes and read books that would allow me to pursue a degree in architecture, finally I was accepted into Penn States very prestigious program, the second most selective in all of Penn State. Then i started to have doubts. Everyone i discussed the major with warned me of the extremely long nights and minimal free time that came with it. Even the instructors talked about the rigorous work involved with the major, sometimes requiring students to stay in class until 2 am, it was too much. I’m not a lazy person, but I do like to socialize and have fun. I knew that if I sacrificed that aspect of my life for a major I would always regret it. So I dropped it. In the immediate scramble that followed to fill my schedule I stumbled across this science class. I was intrigued by the thought provoking subjects discussed in the course description so i enrolled with out second thought.  The picture I included depicts what I would look like if i had stayed with architecture.

I never wanted to pursue a science degree because of the lack of a solid outcome. When i work on things i like to know that it is for a good reason, with science, you can spend years on a problem and end up with absolutely nothing. I feel like a career of disappointment would be so frustrating that I wouldn’t enjoy it.   Don’t get me wrong, science fascinates me.  But i don’t think it is a subject in which i could base a career off of.  Here is a link to an article that discusses the relationship between architecture and science.