andy's honors portfolio

            I found that my first two years at UW generally consisted of discovering what I didn't want to do rather than what I did. I believe those lessons were still important to learn, but it definitely makes reflecting on those first years harder as I consider how much time I essentially "wasted" on biology and economics courses that I hated, and even on chemistry classes that I enjoyed but ultimately got me nowhere. From those first two years, two courses really stand out: Honors 230 with Roger Soder, which is included on page one of my portfolio, and my first poli sci class in the spring of my sophomore year, which was when I realized that could be the major for me.  

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            Even after I figured out what I wanted to major in, I've grappled with never really feeling like I had a concrete direction I wanted to go in. A lot of my favorite experiences and most meaningful connections have come as a result of completely arbitrary things. I took Norwegian because I wanted VLPA credits, and two years later I was in DC shadowing at the Royal Norwegian Embassy. I really enjoyed some of the political science classes that I took (especially my junior year), but I also struggled with feeling like they were vastly unconnected from one another. I felt like I was just learning trivia (and writing skills) instead of building on a knowledge base as I had in my STEM courses. ​

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            Now, I've completed a major in political science and have committed to law school in August. Despite being “done” I still feel like I’m just going from thing to thing without ever really having had that big epiphanic moment of “discovering my passion.” I have no idea what kind of law I want to study; all I know is that I want to make money. At the same time, I believe I have matured and become more pragmatic. In high school, I wanted to make a lot of money because I wanted to be rich. Now, I want to make money because it's necessary to survive. I’ve realized that I will likely not define my life by my career. My undergraduate education did allow me to explore many different things, and I’m heading into the next chapter of my life confident that the knowledge and perspective that I’ve gained in my four years here will be a solid foundation upon which to build on in law school, even as I feel that I don't necessarily have a path fully planned out. In the end, learning how to be comfortable with uncertainty may be the most important lesson I take away from my time as a UW student. Maybe having never "figured it out" will allow me to be more flexible and open to new opportunities in the future, even if they don't necessarily fit into the plan I'm trying to lay out for myself.