Mustafa Chaudhry
English 101 Second Auto-Ethnography
Professor Heather Julien
At a time of growing competition in the job market there has been a move towards
undertaking courses that help undergraduate student’s progress towards specific career paths.
Many freshmen come to college with the intention of following a particular track be it prebusiness, pre-medicine, or, pre-law without opening themselves to the prospect of delving into
unexplored academic passions and interests. I hope to reassure Emory College students that
their liberal arts degree will indeed help them land a career since businesses and medical
schools alike are increasingly valuing the diversity in thought and critical reflection, which liberal
arts majors bring. Additionally, liberal arts majors have great flexibility when it comes to
choosing a career path so they are not restricted to a single occupation based on the degree
they received in college.
The writing techniques that I make use of in this auto-ethnography have been adopted
from Carolyn Ellis’s book, The Ethnographic I. In the section of her book titled, Autoethnographic
Forms of Writing she makes the distinction between a narrative analysis and the analysis of a
narrative in simple terms, which pertain to story telling. A narrative analysis is when we try to fit
or sandwich per se a story into our research while the analysis of a narrative is when we
examine our own story by supplementing it with research. I focus on telling my story, which I
will then amplify through my interviews and review of literature that form the basis for my
research.
I came to Emory with the intention of enrolling in business courses and made it
absolutely clear on my Emory College application supplement essay that I intended to apply to
the Goizueta Business School. My desire to attain a business education altered after I took
courses that sparked my interest in international history and foreign diplomacy. During my
freshman year I enrolled in four history courses namely, America in the 1960’s, The Arab-Israeli
Conflict, Diplomatic History of the United Sates since 1914, and British Empire: Long 18th
Century. These courses helped in developing my ability to analyze primary and secondary
sources, present arguments in a coherent manner, engage in meticulous research, and draw
upon meaningful conclusions. Putting the content of these courses aside, the skills that I am
learning by taking these classes will prove to be beneficial in the long run when I pursue a
business oriented career where I will have to sift through long tedious information, type up
reports, send out clear and concise emails, and dissect company portfolios. Additionally, if I
decide not to enter the business world I know that I can enter a career path where I do not
require immediate professional training. Furthermore, personality matters when it comes to job
interviews and that last political science class, which you took can give a positive indicator that
you are well-read and have received an all-encompassing education that does not just include
crunching up numbers on a balance sheet, even though that in itself is extremely important for
certain jobs.
The articles I have selected positively assess a liberal arts education by addressing three
misconceptions. The first misconception is that undergraduate students need to pursue a
particular track for professional schools. James Engel undertakes an evidence-based analysis,
which proves that professional schools are looking for a particular set of skills in their applicants
rather than specific courses. Furthermore, Jessica Kleiman describes her personal experience to
highlight that employers place great value on internships that show work experience rather than
the type of degree that one has.
Mustafa Chaudhry
English 101 Second Auto-Ethnography
Professor Heather Julien
The second misconception is that the liberal arts do not equip us with relevant
knowledge for a particular career. In lieu of the abovementioned Annette Gordon-Reed
mentions that a liberal arts education is geared towards equipping us with the ability to adapt to
different jobs and circumstances. This as Edgar Bronfman points out is an essential skill in the
rapidly changing business world. The third misconception is that a liberal arts education is for a
privileged few attending select educational institutions. Scott Samuelson, a philosophy teacher
at a community college disproves this when he highlights how his courses have enabled people
to cope with their problems and realize their aspirations.
Additional Information
Edgar Bronfman describes the growth of a competitive job market that has led to the
move towards a pragmatic university education that is focused on helping undergraduates
obtain a well-paying job as opposed to teaching them for the mere sake of teaching. He
encourages students to get a liberal arts degree since it will equip them with the ability to
understand facts and figures beyond their immediate significance, which can only happen when
one has the ability to think from different perspectives as opposed to a single business minded
viewpoint.
In this short yet informative article, Jessica Kleiman outlines her college experience as a
Communication and English major at the University of Michigan. She took a broad range of
classes that she found interesting and still managed to land internships and a prestigious job
posting. She assures liberal arts majors that they stand a good chance of securing a job even in
this competitive market as long as they are willing to work hard, develop connections, and
secure internships while continuing to study subjects that excite them.
Annette Gordon-Reed, a prominent historian at Harvard University argues that a liberal
arts degree equips you with a skill set that can be implemented in a range of different jobs,
which is beneficial given the relatively unstable job market. Therefore, students who focus on
gaining employment in a specific sector by choosing majors that are catered towards acquiring a
certain job will not have the ability to adapt to different roles within any other career. With this
in mind college students should take an extensive range of courses in various disciplines.
In this article James Engel outlines the benefits of a liberal arts education on an
undergraduate level as opposed to undertaking a pre-professional track. He supplements his
argument with advice from professors that have held high-level positions in graduate schools
like Harvard Business School and The University of Pennsylvania Law School. In conclusion, the
article states that a liberal arts education will offer the best preparation for professional schools
and high-level careers since real-world scenarios, which graduates will face in their respective
fields will not have standardized solutions thereby necessitating innovative thinking.
A Philosophy professor attempts to answer the question as to why people should study
topics that are of no immediate practical significance to them by making the case for why he
teaches plumbers Plato at a community college. The professor argues that when his students
are exposed to Philosophy it helps them to in certain cases, realize their true potential and
unlock talents or interests that they might not have known existed. This in turn enables some of
the students at the community college to excel in life and in certain cases cope with their
difficult situations.
Mustafa Chaudhry
English 101 Second Auto-Ethnography
Professor Heather Julien
First Interview
My first interview is with Atif Niaz who is a rising sophomore at Emory College double majoring
in Biology and Classics. Atif came to Emory College with the intention of taking a wide variety of
science courses in addition to completing pre-requisite courses for the pre-medicine track. This
changed however when Atif took a classics seminar in his freshman year.
What advice do you have for pre-medicine students that are looking to major outside of the
usual science majors?
Don’t be afraid to explore! Medical schools (and other graduate schools and employers) are
looking for well-rounded applicants. Of course, a big part of being a doctor is to understand the
underlying science affecting one’s patients. However, there is so much more to being a
successful doctor than that! It is good to know that James Engell makes the case that Medical
schools are not looking for applicants with an intensive base of science courses other than the
required pre-requisite courses.
Putting your enthusiasm for Classics aside how do you think your Classics major will help you
when it is time to apply to medical school?
I think it will help by showing that I am able to learn in more ways than one, and that, as alluded
to above, I am a more ‘well-rounded’ applicant than someone who has say, only studied
sciences. In addition, I have been told that studying gross anatomy will be far easier with
knowledge of Latin, as many of the structures in the body are named in Latin. Also, let us be
honest, there is nothing more awesome than a Classics major, so I am probably guaranteed to
get in anywhere (laughs).
On a side note like Scott Samuelson I believe that a liberal arts education should not be made
available to just a privileged few only especially when it can have a wide ranging impact.
Mustafa Chaudhry
English 101 Second Auto-Ethnography
Professor Heather Julien
Second Interview
My second interview is with Taimour Sheikh who is a rising sophomore at Emory College
majoring in Political Science. Taimour and I attended the same high school in Lahore, Pakistan.
Taimour applied to Emory College with the intention of majoring in Business with a
concentration in accounting. I talk to him about how his initial interest in accounting changed
after he took an Introduction to Comparative Politics course in his freshman year.
How did you develop an interest for Political Science at Emory College and what drew you to the
subject?
Political Science has taught me a great deal of history, economics and philosophy. I realized it
would be best if I study a subject that focuses on these different yet inter-related themes. With
this in mind I think that Annette Gordon-Reed correctly identifies a liberal arts education as one
that is broad based in nature since it touches on a range of different subject matters.
You were initially set on applying to the Business School so what changed your mind?
In high school, I had studied accounting and was therefore keen on learning it further. However,
taking business courses and political science courses simultaneously made me realize that there
was very little room for intellectual discussion in business school courses. Asking meaningful
questions that change the way I think and positively affect my personality is something that I
cherish. I was not able to do this with business school courses. Edgar Bronfman is a really
successful entrepreneur so if he agrees with my opinion that a business education at the
undergraduate level encourages the proliferation of a single and at times narrow outlook then I
must be doing something right (laughs).
How have your Political Science courses been meaningful to you?
The courses have taught me what makes great leaders. My favorite course at Emory so far has
been POLS 150: Foundations of American Democracy. This course allowed me to critically
analyze Pakistani politics by comparing it to the American political system.
Mustafa Chaudhry
English 101 Second Auto-Ethnography
Professor Heather Julien
Third Interview
My third interview is with Imman Akram, a rising junior at the Goizueta Business School. This
interview was both short and interesting.
How did you manage to secure a top-notch internship for the summers?
I initiated a conversation on American foreign policy and its implications on international trade
with my interviewer, who was impressed that I had something different to say from the other
applicants. I guess I owe my internship to a Political Science course I took a semester back. I
must admit though I thought the course would have been of no specific use for advancing my
immediate career goals.
You told me that you disagree with what James Engell had to say about a liberal arts education.
Why is that?
James Engell I feel speaks on behalf of the select few who attend top-notch institutions such as
Harvard and Yale. Just like we sometimes trust a brand based on its reputation alone, employers
hire liberal arts graduates from ivy-league schools with confidence. Similarly, even though I
agree with Jessica Kleiman that internships are an extremely important, she fails to take into
account the fact that community colleges and certain universities do not have the same repute
that comes with an ivy-league education. Therefore, getting a job becomes increasingly difficult
unless you can prove that you are specialized for a particular profession.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I admit that the business school at Emory is geared towards landing you a job and is extremely
competitive however; I feel that it teaches you more than just an analysis of say, accounts or
stock portfolios. We have for instance, seminars that improve our leadership skills, allow us to
develop conversational etiquettes for business meetings, and help us understand world events
in relation to the business world.
Artifact Analysis
Writing a thesis driven, well-structured, and well-developed research paper assignment
forms a critical component of some liberal arts courses. My short analysis serves to elaborate
upon how to undertake a research paper assignment. Naturally, this analysis is from the
perspective of a prospective history major.
If we have a big base of primary sources to use for our research paper, then the best
thing we can do is to make our argument from those primary sources and use secondary sources
to back up our broader claims. In other words, we must be careful to construct our narrative
and arguments from the primary sources rather than the secondary sources. This is in line with
the “let your research speak for itself", principle, which I embraced when writing a research
paper on the British East India Company for one of my history classes. In some undergraduate
classes however, we might be asked to do a research paper that is based on secondary
sources. Whenever this is the case, it is necessary to compare different arguments about a
single historical topic. This means that we must read several books, not necessarily from cover
to cover in order to figure out the different kinds of arguments that the authors are making. In
certain cases this is also referred to as a historiographical essay as opposed to a research paper.