HELP! I AM IN THE WRONG DEPARTMENT!!

Help! I am in the wrong department!!

One major excuse I have heard repeatedly given for failure in academics is the choice of a wrong course. It is a major factor contributing to the loss of interest and ultimate dissolution of grit, passion and determination to succeed. Many people start off well and give up once the going gets tough simply because they believe "they are not wired" for the rigours. While it is true that interest and ability determines a lot with regards with output and performance, it doesn’t outrightly mean you have to be a failure.

I love talking about my entry into school and how I matured into what I do today. The saying goes that "when the desirable is not available, the available should become desirable". We live in an environment where to a large extent the choice of the course to study is determined by parents, guardians or sponsors. They ultimately have a say (a beggar has no choice), and are also expected to do some little study into the nature, abilities and proclivities of their wards. I am always amazed when parents dedicate their baby children and promise to look after them and guide them in the best way. Most of them actually do that - in the best way they deem fit.

Back to my story, I made a 196 in my first JAMB (It doesn't mean anything now, but it was a big deal then - I didn't go back home from the cybercafé and refused to eat, a story for another day), so my mum took up a pre-degree (PD) form on my behalf. She got everything settled for me and sent me to the park for the next 6 years of my young life. I blended in well for the programme and join the elitist academic class of the day, which were usually the Electrical Electronics Engineering (EEE) students because I knew I was going to end up being an electrical engineer one day. It was a breeze and finally after a year we were done. We also wrote JAMB again (a prerequisite for admission even through the PD programme), so a lot of us had double entry and could choose whichever came first (The advantage of the programme) between the JAMB and the PDS or whichever we wanted if they both were alright.

My JAMB was okay this time around, but couldn't get me into EEE, so I looked up to the PD programme to get me in. My other colleagues got in with their PD results into EEE, with several shouts of joy ringing through the cybercafé. It was a tear-joy moment and everyone expected everyone to declare the obvious. We were the top performers and so there were no problems. To my chagrin, I opened up the portal and got my admission letter, but it was to the Department of Civil Engineering (CVE). Several thoughts flooded my mind, "who did I offend bayii?" "what went wrong?" "Maybe I didn't pray harder".

I went to check up what exactly happened, called my mum and she confirmed that she chose CVE on my behalf actually. That meant for a whole year I thought I was an EEE student, I was actually going to end up as a CVE student. I fussed and argued with her for a while till she played the trump card " Will you rather come home and write JAMB again?". That was the end of the story. I took out my browsing ticket to find out more about the course and decided this what it. Was I dissatisfied? Of course yes! Seeing my colleagues who scored far below me in the PD programme entering EEE was a heart breaker. To cut my story short, I graduated as one of the best students and also now lecture in the same course I didn't want.

Looking back, I realised, I would not have loved EEE the way I love CVE now. The travails of my colleagues in the senior year particularly with some major courses made me thank the heavens. While it may not look like a tale of woe going from EEE to CVE, the principles I am about to outline to you are of far more importance to imbibe. Firstly you need to understand the concept of schooling, particularly with higher education.

School is designed to shape your thinking and thought to be able to grasp some concepts that will not be easily transferred to one without it. At best what studying in your "department" will do is to make you familiar with terminologies and concepts that would make training easier in a related career in the outside world. A student came to talk to me about his future career prospects and while talking I asked him which of the courses taught in school had helped him execute anything during his Industrial training. He couldn’t point to one! What his schooling had done is to make concepts easier to understand, so his supervisor did not have to stress so much explaining how they ran things. Every company has their way of doing things, and no department in the school can deliver that specific methodology to you. At best, they can prepare you so that you are familiar with basic concepts that make those methods easier to understand.

Doing a review, I realise the majority of graduates end up in various discipline than the ones they studied in. It is a known fact that many engineering graduates end up in the field of accounting and make pretty good accountants too! Your course of study does not ultimately decide the career you end up in.

I remember going for my secondary school reunion, and amidst the fun and all, one thing that stood out was the fact that almost over 70% were in careers totally divergent from what they wrote in the valedictory service pamphlet! Some were into one skill or vocation or online marketing experts.

Doing a particular course might not be in the line of your future career desire, but it will be a step no matter how little towards it. You must decide today to take up the available and make the best of it. Schooling is beyond the course you study. As I will point out again, your schooling helps you think at a higher level.

There is this woman that sells groundnuts on the walkway of the school, those types you have to dehusk first, then deshell before you get to eat the groundnut. I prefer it to the ready to eat types. I pointed out to the young man that if he wanted to go into the sales of the "sufferhead" groundnuts, he would definitely not sell it the way the woman does. He will think of packaging, regulatory endorsement and marketing strategies to get the business going. All these are a cumulation of higher level thinking brought about from schooling.

I have seen children who finish school and go back to their parents'_ business, they totally revamp it and bring a modern outlook to it. Who would not want to buy the local akara served in foil with fried yam and small ketchup! They end up charging more, making more profit and expanding the business beyond what their parents could imagine. I once ate at a popular restaurant in Ibadan. The grandma was there seated, while her children and grandchildren ran the place. They had customized takeaway packs, a beautiful ambience, DSTV, and a small live band to go! She must have started the business in a small wooden shop, but in the hands of educated minds, it could rival the top fast-food brands.

You should mourn your course choice (a little), but you should also realise that you have a unique opportunity to become a better version of you while in school.

I will talk more about it my next blog post next week.