My journey as a Spanish major came with many pleasant surprises and opened me up to career opportunities I had never considered. Even before college I had thoughts of going to law school, and getting a Bachelor’s degree was just a step in the process to becoming a lawyer. I continued taking Spanish classes each semester and decided to be a Spanish major but planned to add a second major. I mostly considered speaking a third language as a desirable skill, and learning languages and other cultures was something I enjoyed. However, after transferring and looking at my credits, a second major was not an option if I wanted to graduate on time, and staying an extra semester was not an option for me financially. So when I came to UMass my junior year, I made Spanish my primary major and focused on graduating.

However, once I started taking upper levels in Spanish was when I realized that there are so many different aspects to the Spanish major.  I forgot that languages are actually really complicated which you don’t realize when you grow up learning it. Before taking the Integrative Experience course, I had never thought critically about this major and why I was taking this path. Before transferring to UMass, I saw my undergraduate years as just a stepping stone that had to come before law school. However, I feel as though being a Spanish major here and hearing the stories of Spanish major graduates has broadened the amount of opportunities available to me that I had not expected such as working abroad, interpreting, and not just being a Spanish teacher.

Many classes from Spanish courses to GenEds that I have taken have changed my perspective of the world and how it works, which is important to remember when stepping into the “real world” since nothing is ever just black and white. Through other classes such as my service-learning course: Tutoring in Schools, and my thesis seminar which revolves around the topic of laws and policies used to subjugate certain groups of people, I was able to see how bilinguals are perceived and treated especially in US school systems. Generally, ELS students would be seated separately maybe with a translator and/or left alone by teachers who didn’t have the time nor the means to give them more attention. As a volunteer tutor, sometimes this was where I’d come in and sit with certain students and help them focus with their work. Also, coming from an immigrant family and knowing what it was like to be pulled from class and take English proficiency tests, I also know how comforting it can be when someone speaks to you in your native language when foreign words are muddling your brain. My academics at UMass taught me to think critically about everything and inspired me to write a senior honors thesis.

Currently, I am studying for the LSATs, the law school entrance exams, and starting law school applications. Advice if you are planning to go to law school, study for the LSATs in the summer and take it then because studying and balancing school work is a pain. Spanish is definitely something I won’t stop practicing (hopefully I can go abroad within the next few years). But when I become a lawyer, I would like to be able to cater to various communities, and to have trust between me and the client, which is partly formed through good communication rather than relying on translators. Although my career plans did not change over the years, I believe I was able to evolve as a person during my time as a Spanish major and learned important skills such as writing, research, and communication, and if I did change my mind about being a lawyer, I am still aware of all the options and opportunities that are available to me.