What is your job/position?
Third-Year Law Student at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Describe the path that took you from your American Studies degree to your current career or life situation.
I realized that American Studies had the flexibility to mold my academic path to fit my legal interests. I minored in Legal Studies while also working toward my American Studies major. It allowed me to diversify my studies, while also focusing on what I was most interested in.
What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
Writing, networking, and professionalism. I feel like the skills I developed in my writing classes prepared me to be accepted onto the Iowa Law Review. This has enabled further opportunities in my legal career. I often use the writing strategy tools I gained from my American Studies major to help me excel in my legal and professional writing.
What are some of the surprising ways in which your American Studies degree has helped you in your professional or personal life?
The connections I made with the professors have become some of my greatest mentors and helped me achieve more than I thought possible.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
What helped me decide on American Studies was to go through the list of all the classes offered as electives. When I realized the wide array of subject topics and the flexibility I had to mold it to my interests, I knew it would be an incredible undergraduate experience. And that it was.