Life After Mac: Real stories of alumni finding their way — Nayana
I am extremely fortunate to have failed McMaster’s Engineering program. If I had become an engineer, I would not have discovered my passion for Economics.
I started the engineering program during my first year at McMaster in hopes of becoming a Biomedical Engineer. I tried to be passionate about engineering, but I always felt so disconnected from the discipline and my lack of interest was reflected in my marks. I got a 45% on the first midterm I ever wrote in university. That grade became the norm and anything above a 60% was a major success for me. I did very well in my first year Micro and Macroeconomics classes that I took as electives and it surprised me that I found economic concepts interesting and understood the material with such ease. After I finished my first year in engineering, I didn’t meet the average to stay in the faculty. Moreover, I had failed my first course. McMaster’s engineering program, however, was designed to give struggling first years one last opportunity to improve their GPA during the summer, so I re-took the physics class I failed and upgraded an engineering math course. After taking these summer courses, I met the GPA requirement to continue in the faculty and thus began my journey in engineering for the second time. This time the 0’s, 1’s, and 2’s came more quickly. I not only struggled through most of the engineering courses, but I also realized that I just didn’t care for them. Once I finished second year, the Engineering department decided that I was no longer fit for their program and kicked me out with a line that floored me: “May Not Continue in Faculty.”
I didn’t realize this at the time, but this was my chance to start over. While most students were doing internships or taking vacations, I spent my summer trying to get into various programs that somewhat interested me. I finally re-visited Economics and ultimately decided to start my third year with the Faculty of Social Sciences. It didn’t take very long for me to realize that my passion had always been in economic development. The 11’s and 12’s came quite naturally now. For the first time, I saw a line that said “May Continue in Program” along with a Deans’ Honour List distinction on my grade report. However, I still didn’t meet the cumulative GPA requirement to graduate with an Honours degree which I needed to start graduate school. Extra summer courses and sleepless nights paid off that year and I graduated with an Honours B.A. in Economics from McMaster. The fall after my graduation, I started graduate school at York University and graduated with a Master’s degree in Economics a year later. I currently live in Washington D.C. where I work as an Economist for the Bureau of Economic Analysis under the U.S. Department of Commerce.
To all the students struggling to stay in a program that is not meant for you: sometimes you need to experience failure in order for you to realize what you are truly destined for. Don’t give into societal pressures. Create your own definition of success, not that of other’s. When you find your passion, you learn to ignore the negativity around you because no one else understands just how content you are with the decisions that you have made. Many members of my Indian community didn’t understand how I could be passionate about economics but not about engineering. In fact, most of them were curious about my studies just to pass judgement and some of my engineering peers constantly reminded me that I had to become an engineer in order to be successful. The embarrassment of failing and the judgement from those around me had once made me look at McMaster with such disgust. However, with a supportive family, encouraging friends, and sincere professors, I gained the confidence to invent a new future for myself.
I had always associated McMaster with failure until I realized that this school was the turning point in my life. My transcripts will always remind me of my engineering past, but I look at that today and think about how McMaster knew my potential before I did and set the foundation for a future that I didn’t know I could have. McMaster is my success story.
Nayana Kollanthara
Economics ‘14
The McMaster Alumni Association will be featuring recent grad’s career stories to show career paths are anything but linear. If you graduated in the last 10 years and are interested in sharing yours, submit your story by clicking here.
If you are looking to get started on your own journey, take advantage of the resources available to recent graduates through our partnership with the Student Success Centre.
