Tufts Blogs

I vividly remember the day I began to write my first book. No ideas or outlines, just pure thought and creativity spewing onto my paper. It was a love story- a girl in love with a boy not so in love with himself. Cliche. I wrote till chapter two before I was bored of the story and let it sit somewhere in my room for years. I was ten years old. 

There was nothing more I wanted to do than just write. The adults in my life constantly questioned the usual “Why?” but I never had a definite answer. Even now, it’s complex to explain why I adore writing so much. However, I savor it most when it is on my own terms. After all, writing is a spectrum. Poetry, screenwriting, songwriting, etc. And it gets even more difficult when I explain to people that I am an English major, but not exactly a book person. Aside from that, the most common response is, ”Authors don’t make money.”

I get it. 

Being a first-gen means I need to make it in this world to support my family. It’s a demanding position to be in and sometimes the guilt will consume you. Do you choose your passion or job security? So often we feel pressured to major in STEM even when it is not what we love to do, creating a community of first gens that disregard their passions for a stable future. We must be “realistic”- it is all up to us, but no pressure. So which do you choose? 

As a first-year, I'm figuring it all out myself. But what I can tell you is your college application should reflect your passions, even if that passion is undecided upon. You should choose something you can talk about for hours. What do you find yourself coming back to in every thought and conversation? Something you get excited to talk about? What makes you who you are - an album, an artist, a movie? Your selected major and application should reflect the intensity of these passions and how they can be used to transform what is now. 

Freshman year is the year of growth and discovery. Not only venturing yourself but what you love to do. The things you loved when you were applying won't be the same things you love now, and that’s okay because you’ll discover new passions. Your interest will continue to evolve, but if there’s an enthusiasm that remains still in such an ever-changing period in your life you should pursue it.

What drives you will always triumph, so the question no longer becomes strictly passion vs security. If you love something enough, your passion will always pilot success. So do what you love, but not blindly. Do it with such fury that it is stable. Make it what you want of it. If there’s one thing we first-gens can do, it is work to make every dream a reality. Even if that dream is foolish, like publishing a book about a cliche love story.