Alumni Profiles
Perfect GPA Reflects Passion for His Courses
Last spring when 1,017 individuals received their diplomas from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at UMass Amherst, Matt Becker ’07 (social thought and political economy [STPEC]) with his perfect 4.0 GPA was ranked first in the class. When asked how he accomplished this amazing feat, Becker laughs.
“I actually recall being quite surprised after getting straight As my first semester and thinking, ‘Wow! Maybe I can keep this up!’ I had never received such consistently high marks before, and it was a really positive feeling. I took it a semester at a time, worked very hard, and somehow pulled it off!”
Given his grades at UMass Amherst, one might assume that Becker was an overachiever in high school. The fact is, he was a chronic absentee who rarely completed his homework. “It wasn’t that I was a bad student,” Becker recalls. “I always contributed in class and produced good work for the assignments I did complete—however infrequent that may have been. But extenuating circumstances made high school a very difficult time. Many of my teachers recognized this—and so did several friends (most importantly Marissa Blieden who came to UMass Amherst and majored in STPEC too). They believed I had potential and worked very hard to make sure I could go off on my own and prove myself.”
Becker came to Amherst specifically because of the STPEC major. “I recall flipping through the myriad majors and coming upon this most peculiar option. I had no idea what that title meant, but was entranced by the description. Both intellectual and argumentative, it set an agenda for the paradigm that would be challenged—the status quo built upon a foundation of inequality and injustice. Being a somewhat argumentative teenager, apt to challenge the status quo, I found STPEC immediately appealing. STPEC has challenged me at every turn, developed my written and oral skills, and has never ceased to interest me.”
Becker continues to read the works of authors and theorists that he turned on to, and is revisiting works he found the most influential. “It is no small matter,” he says, “that I never had a professor affiliated with STPEC who did not demonstrate an insatiable curiosity for his or her subject—and the desire to share it with the class. Each semester I became infatuated with their teachings, only to have them upstaged—but never overshadowed—the next semester by instructors who demanded even more of their students.”
It is impossible, Becker points out, to discuss STPEC without mentioning his peers. “STPEC is a student-run major, and students are always well-versed in current events. They have a wealth of knowledge on diverse subjects and never shy away from a good argument. Students and teachers get to know each other really well through regular celebrations and gatherings. It’s not uncommon for STPEC to jokingly be called a cult: everyone knows everybody else, and it’s not unusual to hear someone quote the parables of one of our ‘saints’—Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, or Karl Marx.”
Of course, Becker took classes beyond the STPEC curriculum. “One of the great things about attending such a large university is the wealth of options available to students. I took classes taught by award winning biologists, brilliant physicists, and many other talented individuals. For my internship I worked at the Amherst Survival Center, which gave me insights into the operation of community nonprofits and the importance of such centers and taught me how to put theory into practice. In addition, I spent one of the most memorable years of my life doing study abroad at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.”
Becker says he never signed up for a course that didn’t excite him—even the gen-ed requirements. “I waited until senior year to complete my foreign language credits because I wasn’t particularly interested in learning a language until then—plus in high school foreign languages were always my hardest subjects. But after visiting Germany twice during my study abroad experience, I fell in love with the culture and the language. When it came time to take my German course, I enjoyed it tremendously—and did really well—because of my interest.”
Workload is key to achieving that 4.0 as well, Becker thinks. “Passion can go a long way for getting good grades, but if you try to juggle 20 credits and an internship, you won’t be able to give your work the attention it deserves,” he says. “I read every assignment and completed every piece of work, even if it meant losing sleep regularly. But I never took more than 19 credits a semester. Don’t bite off more than you can chew—and make the most of your free time. Between the concerts, speeches, political rallies and organizations—and the good bars and other nightlife venues—there is always something to do.”
So what’s next for Becker? “Ah, the big question!” he chuckles. “I think because of my high marks, I felt some unconscious pressure to immediately jump into some prestigious school or job. Having received a good score on the LSATs, I was poised to send out applications with the intent to defer for two years and do Teach for America. But then an ‘older and wiser’ friend suggested that if May of senior year rolled around and I didn’t have my career trajectory mapped out for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
So, Becker decided to put those applications on hold, not stress out about the future, and see where things would take him. “I haven’t ruled out Teach for America or law school,” he says. “In fact I’ve strongly been considering a career in intellectual property law—but I’m not pursuing them now. Instead, I’m a wine steward at a landmark store in Harvard Square. It’s a lot of fun, and I’m learning a great deal. The way I see it is that there is no other time in your life when you can just drop everything and pursue something that interests you for a short time, without your responsibilities catching up with you. The main thing is that I enjoy what I’m doing.”
February 20, 2008
