A little lost with my major

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hello,
This isn't my first time on this website, but it is my first time posting on a forum. Everyone seems so nice and gives great advice, so I thought I would give it a try.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm currently a Junior at my University, and originally majoring in Computer Science, but when I took my first programming class, I realized that I didn't enjoy it, So I decided to major in Japanese. I was doing amazingly well in all my classes and really enjoyed it, however I began to realize, majoring in a language isn't going to be very useful in the real world. I love languages with a passion, so I began to think maybe Linguistics is the way to go. I took my first linguistics class and overall, it's pretty boring. And worst of all, I don't really understand the point of the material I'm learning in the class. How does it even help in the real world? While taking the linguistic classes, I decided to take a few Computer Science classes on the side to see if I can get back into it. Overall, it's not as bad as I thought but still doesn't spark my interest. Programming is just so boring for me.</p>

<p>As I've said before, I really love languages! Japanese, Korean, Chinese and German. I also love technology, but I don't care too much about the programming aspects of it. I'm a big tech geek and I care more about hardware than software. I believe this would be like Electrical Engineering, correct? However, I'm horrid at math. At least I think I am. I keep re-taking Calculus and I can't seem to pass the class. I get help from the teacher assistants, constantly practice problems, but when I take the test, they are completely different than any of the stuff I study for. I think I'm gonna fail the class again, so I'm gonna re-take it and hopefully 3rd time is the charm. It's really frustrating, since I've never had a problem with math until now.</p>

<p>As you can see, I'm a little bit of a mess. I don't know what to do. I'm getting really depressed about it and feel so lost. I'm beginning to realize Linguistics just isn't for me, and I'm always gonna be the "Engineer" type, but I'm not sure how I can possibly become an Engineer if I can't pass a Calculus class. My school is known for having a ridiculously hard math department, but I don't wanna use that as an excuse. I wanna be able to say I passed these hard math classes.</p>

<p>Do you guys have any suggestions that can lead me in the right direction? I've tried talking to my adviser, but she didn't provide any suggestions whatsoever. Felt like she didn't even have an interest in what I was trying to tell her. </p>

<p>Thank You</p>

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<p>wait, so if you’ve made it to junior year as a CS major, how many credits have you left in the major? it may just be worth it to finish.</p>

<p>what made you want to major in CS in the first place? if you don’t like learning about programming, chances are, you won’t like getting a job in programming either - but there has got to be something you DO enjoy in CS, right? if you maybe discover what that is, that could inform your choice of major.</p>

<p>and don’t major in linguistics if you’re not into it. it is less employable than a language.</p>

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<p>My neighbor is a linguist who works on voice recognition and translation software in multiple languages. It sounds right up your alley.</p>

<p>When you take a math class, find someone nerdy and form a study group, or else get tutoring. I pulled several people through some of the more difficult courses while I was in college.</p>

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<p>I don’t think I explain well. Sorry. I originally started out as a CS major, but switched to a Japanese major. Later, through my Japanese major, common sense hit me in the head, and helped me realize that a major in Japanese is nearly useless, so I switched to Linguistics.</p>

<p>I thought CS was related more toward hardware, but it turned out to be all programming. I’ve taken 6 classes in CS, and some other classes required for the major,such as Physic courses. I have taken quite a few classes in Japanese, and I’m probably closest to graduating if I stuck with those classes specifically.</p>

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<p>@Magnetron</p>

<p>Oh really? I would love to do voice recognition or translation. Do you know if he enjoyed his major? Because for me, the classes are drop-dead boring. I could care less about silly tree diagrams, and don’t see the usefulness of it.</p>

<p>Yeah, the math is killing me. I’m giving it my all, and apparently something just isn’t clicking for me. I think I’m gonna have to find a tutor. -_-</p>

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<p>

You’re looking at the usefulness of it right now. ;-)</p>

<p>You’re not alone; plenty of people smarter than you have introduced themselves to computer science via college education and lost interest or found it harder than they’d anticipated; plenty of people not as smart or nerdy as you have successfully studied computer science in college to enhance and add to skills they already possessed.</p>

<p>It’s a lot easier to appreciate, and therefore understand, a sorting algorithm if you’ve ever tried to move from a high-level language with standard library sorting functions to a lower-level language where you thought your only option was to implement a linear search manually, than if a professor says “let’s look at 5 different ways to sort a list and their big O complexities…”</p>

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<p>you found japanese useless, so you switched to linguistics.</p>

<p>good call bro, good call.</p>

<p>no but actually, I’m not a linguist myself, but I interact with a highly-ranked linguistics programme, and the consensus seems to be that linguists are either brilliant or unemployed. The CS implications of linguistics are hot right now - so it’s a shame you’re not into CS - but once again, in terms of practical employment, it’s far easier to teach a programmer linguistics than it is to teach a linguist programming. And naturally, you need an MS or higher to be employed.</p>

<p>I dunno man, I dunno. Your employment prospects with Japanese are as good as with any other libarts major.</p>

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<p>IMO language should be offered in school but not as a major! if you want to learn a language say spanish, get a visa and live in spain or one of it’s former colonies . while, a language may help land a job for you over another applicant, it is not a skill per se.</p>

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<p>I know just how you feel! I was originally going to major in Earth and Environmental Sciences because I did a lot of work in the topic during high school (I was heavily involved in science fair). However, I got to college, realized I was doing HORRIBLY in my science classes, and slowly transitioned into an area of academics that I’d always loved but never admitted to myself: social sciences. Now I’m a Government and Sociology double major with a Writing minor, and I love it! </p>

<p>My suggestion: try out extracurriculars in areas you’re curious about so it doesn’t seem as serious as “committing” to a major. I started writing for many online magazine publications (both on- and off-campus) on sort of a whim and came to find that I love magazine journalism. Though yes, it’s not what I’m focusing on (I’m only minoring in it), I’m learning so many awesome skills that can translate into any type of career!</p>

<p>Also, USA TODAY College ran an interesting piece a while ago about why your major might not matter as much as you think it does. It’s definitely worth a peek!</p>

<p>[Opinion:</a> Why your major might not matter | USA TODAY College](<a href=“USA Today Educate - Teacher & Student Resources & Guides”>USA Today Educate - Teacher & Student Resources & Guides)</p>

<p>Hope all this helps somewhat (trust me, I feel you on the advisor thing–my advisor has been ZERO HELP)! – Lily H.</p>