Minor Coincidence Related to My College Major

I majored in finance and never intended to use it beyond graduation for professional purposes. I didn't pursue a job on Wall Street after graduating eight years ago from college for two reasonable reasons. The first was based on my long-term goals of being a speaker and author. The second reason was because,"While I like numbers, I don't want to sit behind a computer all day."

Eight years later, I look back and realize how I ended up spending much of my time working in front of a computer anyway. If that's not enough, the current program I'm working on is for American Express and I recently realized that I'm using my major. So apparently - or coincidentally - I did "use my major" (finance) from UMaryland.

Why'd I keep my major? I thought I'd apply the knowledge to my personal life and thought it was a great idea to graduate with a strong major. Beyond graduation, I don't recall interviewing for one finance job. Maybe I didn't want an office job. Perhaps I didn't want to work for someone. After four years of structure in college, I wasn't enthusiastic about experiencing more of it.

During my senior year, I had just one job interview on the campus. It was with Unilever's Best Foods division regarding a logistics position. Was I a good candidate? Doubtful. I wasn't a logistics major fellas. Why'd I interview? I'll tell you why: I loved Lipton Iced Tea and the corporate office was located a few miles from my Dad's condo. Convenience and brand recognition motivated me to apply. Not the job. Nor the opportunity. Marketing motivated me.

This would have been my final marketing lesson while in college, which covered the power of brand loyalty. Beyond Lipton, after four years of living and learning at UM, I was about to leave campus branded for life as a Maryland Terrapin. I recognize this now because during my recent visit to the campus, there were UM logos everywhere - students and staff were plastered with them, buildings had logos, and even flags were branded. I realize that UM can be related to Google or Pepsi - huge marketing efforts lead to loyal consumers. Maybe that's why I've got eight years of "real world" marketing experience. They made me fall in love with marketing.

What about my finance major? Don't ask about my personal investments. When it comes to that, I definitely didn't use my major. I must have not showed up the day we learned about diversification and stop-loss orders. Now, I know when to say enough is enough. Go Terps!