#6: Needs vs. Wants

Hello, reader. It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm back now (and plan to stay on time from now on)! This blog post is not a continuation of my Reading Spectrographs series (expect more of the series soon), but instead serves as a reflection about my updated thoughts on how this senior project is affecting my college decisions.

I have now received all of my college decisions and must choose between approximately 14 colleges. I attended an 'Admitted Students reception' this Sunday. I was talking to one of the school's alumni and had an eye-opening reaction with her.

I was discussing my potential desire to double major (the specific example I used was adding a physics major to my computer science major) and immediately she responded, "But why do you need to double major? After you graduate, if you plan on getting a job then what would you do with your knowledge of physics? It's unnecessary work." I fell silent for a minute - after all, she did have a point. I thought of all the adults / parents I'd talked to, and none of them had needed a natural science major to land their jobs. That train of thought led to me thinking about my senior project. After all, this project does not involve much computer science, if any - I thought this project would help me discover whether I was serious about applying computer science to space exploration. However, the way my project is currently shaping up (more on this later), I don't think I'll have the opportunity to explore that angle of my investigation.

I genuinely thought this project would have more value than self-enrichment, but right now that doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'm not going to lie - I'm disappointed. I genuinely thought I'd be able to do something in college with this project. Maybe I will end up working off of the foundation I'm laying with this project. However, I still have other concerns about research in general - do researchers prioritize what they're going to research based on level of interest or maximum output? In other words, do they act out of self interest or altruism? Is it supposed to be a mix of both?

Research is complicated, and I certainly don't have the answers to these questions. However, I'm glad I took on this project so that I can start thinking about them now and make an informed decision if I decide to pursue research in the future.

Please feel free to add to the questions, attempt to answer some, or leave any other comments below. Thank you for reading, as always. Till next time, dear reader.

#update #reflection