This afternoon I went to a Women in Engineering seminar. Today’s speakers were two former Stanford students who are now working in consulting and as a professor at Cornell, respectively. The topic was simple — they just discussed how they got to be where they are, and the decisions they made along the way. It was really interesting.
Maybe it’s because I feel so unsure of my direction myself, or maybe I just like to hear cool stories…but I always really enjoy hearing about the paths that other people have followed to end up where they are. When I am older, I want to have great stories to tell about my life, with funny twists and turns, and things I never expected that turn out to be incredible. Right now I often feel like I am just spinning my wheels down some ordinary, unoriginal road to “adulthood.” Going to grad school is what people like me do, so I’m just following the herd. It’s not that being here at Stanford is a bad decision — I am happy to be here (except, of course, when I have too much homework). It’s just that sometimes I wonder if I’m following what I think I’m supposed to be doing, instead of what I actually want to do. I want something cool, I want something exciting. I like to hear about ordinary people who have ended up doing unusual things. I guess that’s why I liked the seminar today.
