The strength of being a “non-traditional” STEM student

Serina Taluja 

I first heard the description “non-traditional” to describe STEM students a few years ago. Through context and examples, I’ve learned that in academia this refers to a person who is interested in careers external to the field they are getting their degree in the “normal” sense. Like, for someone pursuing a research-based science degree, going into science policy, or someone pursuing an engineering training and going into tech sales.

Over time, I started to understand that this was a category I fell into, being that I’m in a research-based Ph. D. science program and am looking at a career in science communication.

I started noticing how people used the phrase “non-traditional” to describe students- and to my dismay it was often negative. There was concern about admitting “non-traditional” students into programs, or whether those students would fit in- or whether they would work hard enough to earn the degree they are pursuing.

I’m here to let all the “non-traditional” students know that you are not alone, and that your uniqueness is actually your superpower! Especially when you don’t try to be something you’re not.

Just because your goals are different than someone else’s doesn’t make them less important or valid.

It sounds so simple when you put it into one sentence like that, but it can be hard to really remember that even if your goals don’t look exactly like someone else’s doesn’t make them bad, or wrong. Everyone has different goals- and if you think about it, that’s really good! If every biologist I met wanted to go into cancer research, agriculture and ecology and other human diseases would be in a lot of trouble. Or, if every scientist I met disliked coding as much as I do, it would be really hard for all of us to interpret our data.

The diversity of interests of people in general makes our society so much stronger (and more interesting!). So your different interests, even if you don’t know anyone else in your field that wants the career you do, is going to help you in the future, not hinder you.

Owning your passions and your goals external to the field you’re currently in doesn’t make you less able to pursue your degree.

Being passionate about things outside of your specific area of research or degree-focus doesn’t mean you don’t care about your subject matter in school. You can love the intricacies of thermodynamics and also enjoy playing basketball on the weekends, and you can think that both evolutionary phylogenetics and practicing guitar are really fun! And in the same way that it is okay (even, healthy) to have hobbies, it’s also okay to have other scholastic subjects that interest you. I think at some point when we find a subject we like (English, science, math, history, you name it!), we pigeonhole ourselves into believing that is our ONE area of expertise, and that using any of our time to learn about and become well versed in another will take away from our knowledge of the first one.

But doesn’t that sound kind of crazy when you read it spelled out like that? Just because you love chemistry doesn’t mean you can’t also be fascinated by ancient civilizations- or in my case, just because I love genetics doesn’t mean I can’t choose a career that involves more writing than sequencing!

Your passion for what you want to do will drive you to success- don’t apologize for it!

I have a lot of friends that do this, and I do too, but I’m here to remind all of us to stop apologizing for what we are interested in. If you have a vision for yourself and someone asks you “what do you want to do when you graduate?”, don’t start your answer with an apology! This is your time to shine- if you have a goal, a career in mind, a business you want to start, work on your elevator pitch the next time someone asks you this question. And no great elevator pitch starts with “Yeah, sorry it’s a little weird but um, I’m thinking about going into…”. Don’t apologize for what you like. Chances are, if you’re passionate about what you’re going to do and you let people experience that with you, they aren’t going to have anything negative to say about it when you’re done talking. And even if they do- that’s fine! You know what you want to do, and this brings us back to my first point- being different doesn’t mean being wrong. Doing what makes you happy, no matter how far away from the field you’re currently in, is absolutely the way to future success.