Working with numbers as a humanities student

When I came to Penn, I swore there was no way I’d ever voluntarily have anything to do with numbers again. After declaring my English major and completing all my non-humanities general education requirements, I was well on track to fulfilling this goal. Fortunately for me, I enrolled in a Criminal Justice course as a second-year on a whim, and this was the start of my appreciation for data and the social sciences.

I had always loved public policy and been passionate about criminal justice reform, but the data-driven approach to this criminal justice course provided a totally new perspective for me. I saw how a familiarity with statistical methods and programming languages provided a more empirical, objective, and inclusive means of testing out different criminal justice reforms. Though I was still intimidated at the prospect of a slightly more quantitative, social science field of study, I was inspired to declare a second major in Criminology.

Now a senior, I confidently recommend to any College student to get out of their academic comfort zone, gaining familiarity in both qualitative and quantitative subject matter. You may just find a new passion or at least a new way to look at a topic you already care about. I have STEM major friends, for example, who have absolutely loved taking creative writing classes or have enrolled in history classes with me to fulfill gen ed requirements. Currently, I am using the R programming language to write an honors thesis for criminology. Four years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it if someone told me I was learning to code by choice and getting excited to work with a bunch of data in my spare time. Now, I see it as a way to become a more well-rounded student and person, and I am so excited to see how my thesis turns out!

- Sami H.