In an era of tech-obsessed career paths and a growing skepticism toward social sciences, I can imagine students today might hesitate to major in Sociology and Anthropology (SOAN). Hopefully this isn’t pervasive at Carleton, and it was just me — but I’m here to reassure you on the contrary. Five years post-graduation, I can confidently say that majoring in Carleton’s SOAN department was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made — not despite our complex social moment, but because of it.
I initially approached SOAN with several reservations: Would it be perceived as less rigorous than STEM fields? Would employers value it? But my experience moving to San Francisco and working at a top tech newsroom, a financial technology company, the oldest venture capital firm in the United States and now running my own consulting practice has proven otherwise. SOAN prepared me not just for first jobs, but for navigating an entire career landscape that demands adaptability, systems thinking and a mixture of analytical methods and project types, against a backdrop of dizzying industry and geopolitical shifts.
Reading the room beyond emotional intelligence
The corporate world loves to talk about emotional intelligence, but a SOAN education transcends this buzzword. Learning to identify the cultural logic of an organization and understand the systems in which it operates — how it generates revenue, the demographics it attracts, its internal political dynamics, common traits of successful leaders — is invaluable in professional settings. I’ve found myself asking more insightful [jump] questions, demonstrating deeper understanding and navigating career growth more strategically as a result. Seeing the world in 4-D and developing this “sixth” sense is what the SOAN program is all about.
No two organizations function identically, yet being able to pattern-match and articulate your observations helps you make more fulfilling career decisions and connect meaningfully with colleagues. Good networking isn’t transactional — it’s grounded in intellectual curiosity and shared contexts. Learning to speak the language of an organization and industry gets you into rooms where opportunities happen. Even when I was new to a professional sector, understanding both the vocabulary and the underlying concerns of different stakeholder groups opened doors to incredible organizations and mentors who became instrumental to my growth.
The rigor of SOAN: Colorful and surprising
When I wanted to create my own theory-heavy major like Harvard’s Social Studies program, I didn’t realize I was essentially describing what SOAN already offered. The Carleton SOAN major is remarkably rigorous — requiring advanced writing, thought and theory courses across two complementary disciplines, methods courses and statistics, all before Comps. This isn’t just two to three courses; it’s a substantial portion of deeply academic, mixed-methods training.
I didn’t fully appreciate until after graduation how the program’s structure builds intellectual muscle. Unlike many well-intended sociology and anthropology programs elsewhere, Carleton’s SOAN department fosters theoretical depth and analytical rigor while providing exceptional support. Mentorship — something often hard to come by in the professional world — is abundant here. I dramatically improved my writing, data analysis and question-asking through program requirements and faculty guidance.
In my career, when different managers have asked me to analyze a new dataset or get up to speed on an unfamiliar topic, I’ve always approached it with excitement rather than doubt because I knew I had the foundational skills to handle it. The breadth of competencies you develop as a SOAN major creates confidence that translates directly to workplace performance.
Mixed methods research as a professional advantage
The professional world often tries to pigeonhole you into a specialist role, but SOAN prepares you to transcend these artificial boundaries. The mixed methods approach gave me confidence to tackle any qualitative or quantitative project, allowing me to function effectively across disciplines and departments.
One of my most rewarding professional experiences was serving on a nonprofit board as treasurer — analyzing financial statements, communicating key takeaways and creating a strategic vision compatible with the organization’s culture. SOAN helped me do that, just as it helped me succeed as a business journalist, marketer, researcher and consultant.
For all my preconceived notions about not being “technical enough,” I gained highly marketable technical skills through SOAN. Ethnographic interviewing, semi-structured interviews, applying theoretical frameworks to generate insights from people’s experiences, analyzing qualitative and quantitative data — these are skills central to competitive, well-compensated roles like design research, user experience design, product management and strategic planning, and they’re helpful in any career.
Systems thinking in a complex world
We live in a world full of systems. As Carleton alum Donella Meadows ’63 defined it: a system is “an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something.” In companies, economies, living bodies, cities, ecosystems — a small shift in one thing produces ripple effects throughout. You study these dynamics deeply as a SOAN major.
What I find fascinating about Silicon Valley — where left-voting San Francisco exists against the backdrop of one of the most hyper-capitalist regional economies with immense investment capital — is the selective application of systems thinking.
There’s a devoutly libertarian approach to technological innovation in Silicon Valley. Many leaders don’t believe in regulation, distrust Washington (until recently) and believe any attempt to slow technological innovation stifles human progress. Simultaneously, some of these same people oppose diversity initiatives and studying social systems to create more humane workplaces.
The irony is striking: these systems thinkers build software with interconnected parts, features, APIs and complex algorithms, yet many take a Thatcherite “there is no society” approach to social issues. Personally, I don’t understand why people would separate their systems thinking about technology from their thinking about society and human experience.
Silicon Valley leaders apply systems thinking to technology that affects everyday life — banking, healthcare records, search engines and urban mobility. These involve technical systems, urban systems, investment environments and regulatory situations all interconnected. My point: systems thinking is everywhere; it’s inescapable because it’s core to the world we inhabit. You gain a tremendous professional and intellectual advantage in understanding how to work within systems by studying them academically. SOAN gives you this foundation.
Trust as a through-line
In business journalism, you build rapport with strangers as you get them to trust you while being trustworthy in return. You’re an interlocutor, just like an ethnographer in the field. Trust has ultimately been a through-line in my career and a fascinating problem space for anyone considering a private sector path, too.
Even after leaving journalism for the private sector, I applied my interest in trust; I found this to be a deeply meaningful way to build a career aligned with my values. My Comps examined shifts over time in media coverage of corporate consolidation since the 1980s. Later, I worked at a prestigious investment firm where I saw firsthand what venture capitalists value and what kinds of risk institutional investors like Carleton’s endowment are willing to underwrite. As a reporter, I wrote about risk gone haywire, poor decision-making and bad bets. Then, I went deep on AI governance, taking policy coursework and becoming an interlocutor for entrepreneurs trying to raise funding and gain commercial traction for pro-social, anti-authoritarian AI technology projects in the current geopolitical environment. All these experiences have touched on business decisions and societal trust, a curiosity I got to deeply explore in my SOAN Comps.
This ability to see business systems, to understand their language and politics, to adapt in different environments and develop a thoughtful point of view on their societal implications — is a direct product of my SOAN education.
Making the choice
You should study what fascinates you. That’s what I did, and it worked tremendously in my favor. If you find yourself drawn to SOAN courses but hesitating about the major, I encourage you to take the leap.
Many of the doubts I experienced came from my own psychology and the broader political climate — not from any actual limitations of the major itself. Five years into my post-Carleton life, I can assure you that these concerns are largely misplaced. The breadth of skills you hone as a SOAN major — systems thinking, mixed methods research, ethnographic interviewing and theoretical frameworks — prepares you not just for a first job, but for a dynamic, adaptable career across multiple sectors.
The world desperately needs more people who can understand social systems, navigate cultural complexity and approach problems with methodological rigor and humanistic insight. Your future self will thank you — just as I thank my slightly nervous but ultimately wise 20-year-old self for choosing this path.