<p>Wow. I was going to try to say a lot of what Dwight did, but it means a lot more coming from him, who is in the middle of it all right now, than from me, 35 years removed from where you are (and never poor, although I certainly knew people who were). Anyway, what Dwight says is what I observed, and continue to observe recently. </p>
<p>One thing I would add to what Dwight says is that it’s good to start thinking now, and that while your major doesn’t matter that much, there are definitely things you can and should do to make yourself more employable. Including coursework. (For example, I was a Literature major, which was the height of uselessness, but I took a few accounting courses, some other econ courses, and I got an internship at a Wall St. bank through a university program, and I had absolutely no concerns about my employability – by the time I was a senior, I had a bunch of job offers, and could get more just by going to interviews.) I recently met an Anthro major who was going to work for Google (and she was a low-income kid, too, although not any longer now) and a Sociology major who was going to work for Bain (one of the biggest, fanciest consulting companies). But that didn’t just happen for either kid. They figured out how to pursue those jobs – they made themselves look like good candidates, and they went about the application process thoughtfully and carefully. (And, believe it or not, they did it without having “Harvard” on their transcripts, although the brand names they were using were still pretty good.)</p>
<p>You would be surprised at how much overlap there is between almost any of the core social sciences, or history, and the kind of skills that get you hired as an entry-level professional in the real world. But you have to make certain you pick up those skills from some of your courses, and that your resume makes clear that you have them.</p>
<p>Also, don’t worry so much about 5 or 10 years from now. Do a realistic budget to figure how much you absolutely, positively have to earn to support yourself in the immediate future. It isn’t that much if you don’t have a lot of loans to repay. Even if you have to work crap jobs for a while as you try to find a job that will give you traction on a meaningful career, I think you’ll find it’s not that daunting a task to support yourself at a subsistence level. My wife did that – graduated with two useless majors, and did anything for about six months, including working (simultaneously) as a salesperson for a wholesale jeweler, and as a swing-shift receptionist at a major hospital emergency room. She finally got a job she liked through VISTA, and it set her in motion for a great career, but it took about six months to get going. </p>
<p>I suspect that there are a lot more people like you at Harvard than you think, eliana, and probably almost all of them share the same concerns. Maybe YOU should start the blog. Because it would be a big help to you to talk to some seniors and recent grads about what they are doing. And you could put yourself in a position to help out kids like you in future classes.</p>