Pass -2012-: B.a.

When you don’t have a “specialty” to fall back on, you learn to build bridges. You learn sales. You learn writing. You learn how to listen in a meeting and synthesize three different arguments. You learn that “soft skills” are actually the hardest skills to teach. So, to my fellow graduates of 2012—and to anyone holding a “Pass” degree right now:

— A recovering over-generalizer, c. 2012 b.a. pass -2012-

It is the sound of the

But here is what I have learned, now a decade removed from that May afternoon in the cap and gown: When you don’t have a “specialty” to fall

“So… what was your focus?” they’d ask. “Life,” you wanted to say. “I focused on surviving Econ 101, learning that I hate early mornings, and figuring out how to write a 10-page paper on post-colonial theory in three hours.” For the first few years after 2012, I hid that degree. I lied on resumes, stretching the “Pass” into something that sounded more like “Interdisciplinary General Studies.” You learn how to listen in a meeting

It says

The Year I Almost Didn’t Frame the Degree: A Love Letter to the B.A. Pass (2012)