When I decided that I was going to attend Lewis & Clark, I had it in my mind that I would be a Political Science major. I might dabble a little in International Affairs, but certainly, I would be one of those students with mountains of papers to write, stacks of books to read each week, and classes filled with discussions, right? I had a dream of that little college up on the hill, surrounded by evergreens and Portland rain, buried in pages of notes. A typical ‘liberal arts’ kind of student.
Instead, I spend most of my time split between two computer labs, alternating between tearing my hair out and crying because I just can’t get my damn code to work. It’s hard to romanticize staring blankly at a computer screen, searching for missed semi-colons and stray parentheses, fluorescent lighting blaring down from the ceiling with a project due the next day. My life as a Computer Science major is difficult, but the challenge is the most rewarding part.
Had I set out my senior year of high school intending to be a CS student, I probably would have applied to different schools. One of the things that drew me to LC was their International Affairs program. When I finally submitted my application I was listed solidly within the humanities and the social sciences. I had never imagined my world would narrow to things like programming, math, and logic, and certainly not at a liberal arts school, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way.
This post is for people who are a little undecided about what they want to do. For the people who like the idea of a liberal arts education, but aren’t quite ready to commit themselves to endless pages of reading. It’s for people like me, who love reading and writing, but are also called to problem-solving, exploration, and understanding the world around them. This post is about what it’s like to be a STEM major at a Liberal Arts college.
First, a little background. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you know that LC values its liberal arts identity pretty much above all else. The first thing you see on the Academics section of the website is, “Liberal Arts = Lifelong Success.”
LC’s definition of liberal arts means, “that all of your classes will be grounded in critical thinking, written and verbal communication, teamwork, and problem-solving.” Essentially, no matter what class you pick, it will center around these themes and most likely connect to other subjects and the real world. The emphasis for a well-rounded student is most apparent in our General Education requirements, which ensure that everyone takes at least one class in mathematics, science, history, language, creative arts, and a host of other subjects. But even beyond that, the curriculum is designed to give students space in their schedule: a third of your classes should be for you to choose. They could be electives that seem interesting, another major or minor, or even studying abroad.
At LC, we have nine STEM-based majors:
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Computer Science and Math
- Economics
- Environmental Science
- Mathematics
- Physics
They make up about a tenth of all majors offered at Lewis & Clark, but as of 2020, Math and Natural Science majors made up 30% of all declared majors. There aren’t stark divides between the different fields of study. The people sitting next to you in your Art History class might be Physics majors. The people in your Intro to Biology class could be Sociology-Anthropology majors trying to minor, or taking it for the gen-ed req, or just because they’re interested.
The Computer Science and Computer Science and Math majors are very closely related. There are only a few more math courses needed to get the concentration in both subjects. Additionally, Bio majors who find their Chemistry courses fascinating might decide to pursue BCMB to get the best of both worlds.
All the STEM majors overlap in the math department. A few majors like Chemistry and Biology require courses in other departments such as intro to Chem or Physics. Nearly all STEM majors require at the very least Calculus I, and most incorporate some level of Statistics.
In terms of the liberal arts lens, because I am a complete geek, I find computer science to be fascinatingly applicable to just about everything. Every time I’m out and about I often catch myself thinking about how the things around me are programmed, like the automated speakers on the bus, or the robot barista just across the street from Powell’s Books. But my courses don’t necessarily cater as much to this liberal arts notion as I’d like. I myself have sought out a wide array of things to study. I’m currently taking two Computer Science classes, an English class, and a music class. But the CS classes themselves don’t strive for the interdisciplinary education I’d expected. When discussing cybersecurity, we rarely talk about things like ethical hacking or the complicated mess that is privacy laws in the United States. When I learned basic programming in Computer Science I, I didn’t get to learn about the ways computers are expanding into things like art, music, and entertainment. This is in no way a drag on the Math and CS department, the faculty are so amazing at their jobs I cannot really find it in me to complain, but I want to present the realities of STEM at LC as transparently as possible.
A few of my friends in other departments have different experiences. My roommate is a Biochemistry major, and she finds the Biology department is much better at connecting studies with the real world than the Chemistry department. The Physics department, anecdotally, while fun and filled with good professors, can also be limited in terms of interdisciplinary study. Of course, any student could take it upon themselves to double major or minor to achieve the sort of multi-faceted and well-rounded education that Lewis & Clark is so proud of. The school does make it relatively easy to do so, but in my personal experience STEM isn’t as flexible as other subjects. It’s easy in my English class for us to go on long tangents about other topics, just the other day we spent most of class talking about music and copyrights. But STEM just appears to be a bit more rigid than anything else.
This is also apparent in the way STEM majors always seem to have less free time. I’m not sure if the stereotype of STEM being generally more difficult and giving out more homework is exactly accurate, but most of the hard sciences have several classes that require laboratory components. On top of the lecture classes which are four credit hours, there is also a one-credit hour lab and an optional discussion section where students can work together to better understand the material. This means that your typical Biology, Chemistry, or Physics class will be five credit hours instead of the typical four. Usually, STEM majors have more class time and more work to do. As a Computer Science major myself, I don’t have to deal with labs, although my homework for my CS classes is much more difficult than for my non-CS classes.
Now, if you’ve done any research at all about the demographics of LC, you might know that we are a predominantly female institution. The ratio of women to men is around 6:4. If you choose any STEM field other than Biology, this ratio will likely disappear. Obviously, the introductory courses will better represent the student body, but as you go into higher-level courses, you’re less likely to see a majority of female students. This is true across departments, although LC’s Biology department is a bit of an exception. The Bio department has an abundance of female faculty members, which I am insanely jealous of being a CS major. The only female faculty members in the Math and CS department are all on the math side. A few friends of mine have said this shows in the course curriculums. They tend to be more flexible, have more discussions about complex, interdisciplinary topics, and understand that their classes don't occur in a vacuum.
While plenty of women were in my introductory courses to computer science, now that I’m in 200 and 300 level classes things have changed. In one of my classes, there’s only a handful of other women. It’s hard, especially considering the industry is notoriously filled only with white men, and sometimes it feels like I don’t belong. I find it difficult to speak up in class, because I feel like my peers will view me as lesser because I don’t understand the material, doubly so because I’m a girl.
Don’t get me wrong, no one has actually said these things to my face. All of my professors have been very receptive to students asking questions, encouraging us to speak up if we have misconceptions. Still, when your semester-long coding partner dismisses your ideas, and then you turn to the professor for help only to find that you were right all along, it can feel like no one will ever take you seriously. Lots of things play into this impostor syndrome, including gender, race, ability, and so many other factors.
I’m not writing this to discourage any women from pursuing STEM at LC. Far from it. I just want you to know what it’s really like on this campus, to prepare you for the reality of your courses. Even if we are overwhelmingly female, that majority falls away when I step into some of my classes, and it’s jarring, and even a little discouraging. There's a silent message that I'm not in the right place.
It helps to talk to the other girls in my classes, to work with them on projects and homework. It helps me to remember that as hard as my coursework is, I'm never alone, and there will always be someone willing to help.
That is STEM at a glance at Lewis & Clark. It’s challenging but rewarding, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn about anything else or that you’ll never have to touch another book in your life. STEM is full of projects, writing papers, doing presentations, all the same soft skills that you’ll find in any other department. It just also involves a lot more numbers and might take up a lot more of your time. And, if you're like me, then that's a good thing.