Questions were raised, why CIS? A lot of people, including myself, ponder why I chose that major.

Being born and raised in Yangon, a city in Myanmar(Burma), I was naïve about almost everything, partly because of a major corruption the education system had a few decades ago. Because of the brutal military dictatorship in Burma, the economic growth, technology advancement, and education were hindered. High school students only passed the examinations if they had good memorizing skills; to pass, one must memorize sentences by heart and reittereate them on examinations. Critical thinking or intellectual skills weren’t encouraged. Students with the best memorization skills were considered outstanding and were awarded. Moreover, during my childhood, almost all children were receiving medical education, being promised the highest salary and financial stability. I was born and raised in a middle-class family which includes a father (doctor) and mother (businesswoman). During my childhood, computers and internet were so scarce. Therefore, a huge desktop tower and a bulky monitor in the corner of my living room always looked amazingly strange to me when I was 4. It was my dad’s computer.

I was so fond of that desktop that I always crawled up to the computer desk, sat on my dad’s lap and drew paints in the computer, with my left hand on the mouse (I am left-handed).  I was stunned by how computers work. The functions of computer systems where I can add and subtract numbers in a split second were a huge innovation for me. I wanted to know more. I wanted to operate the database myself. My high energy and motivation popped up occasionally and were stopped regularly by the family. They wanted me to restrict my time spent with computers. Instead, they wanted me to study really hard to become a doctor, just like everybody else in the school — I had 2 rooms, my bedroom and study room. I had to spent 70% of each school day in the study room, memorizing words and sentences hard for the schools’ exams. I rarely had recreational times.

As I grew up, my desire to know about computers also grew rapidly by watching my family friends. They have studied abroad with computer science majors and are currently making a living in the industry. I can see how they love their career. I decided to pursue a computer science major as part of my career, although I do not have any computer background besides gaming and surfing the internet. I wanted to do business and the computer programming at the same time. Then, I found CIS major, where you can apply your computer knowledge into the business field.

When I passed the matriculation exam well enough to go to medical school, I had to struggle a lot to get permission from my parents to study abroad. After a significant amount of time, they finally agreed. I was over the moon. At first, my father was nervous about me leaving the family. However, because of all my efforts to show them my vision of combining business and computer science and how I will make a living, he eventually agreed. I have always wanted to carry on my family business in shoe retail and solve business and managerial issues by applying my computer skills. Our country is still in the process of developing and access to technology is limited. Therefore, we do not have any computerized systems in our family business. I wish to change that after I finish my degree and complete numerous internships in the United States. Moreover, since electronic commerce is used all over the world, I want to make improvements in the family business, especially in the area of the aforementioned e-commerce. I believe Computer Information Systems is the right tool for leverage in a marketplace. CIS helps me learn about networks, telecommunications, client-server technology and finally the internet.

Now, I am in Baruch college studying Computer Information Systems, which I am really grateful for. I finally have the opportunity to study what I am passionate about and I believe Baruch will help me achieve my goals. I will be diligently learning what Computer Information Systems offers.