So I’m going into my 3rd year at Florida State University and I’m almost finished with my economics major, will be getting a BS in Econ. I can finish the major within a few classes and I’ve been told by my advisor that I have enough credit hours to do a second moderate or small major. I currently have no plans to go to grad school for econ after learning and seeing how insanely difficult it is compared to other grad school programs (I don’t mind math but grad level econ is way too math heavy for me).
So this is where I’m lost, I don’t know what to do with these remaining hours. I’m torn between choosing a major that will complement econ (math, stat, finance, accounting) or do something completely different that I think would be cool and interesting (international relations, communications, pre-med, film, media productions, english, marketing). So help me out guys, what would you guys do in my situation? What would be the best decision? I should also add that I have a minor in psych (all econ majors required to have one minor unless we double majoring).
I have no clue what I want to do with my life, I just picked econ because I’m pretty good at it and find it relatively interesting as well as the apparent good job prospects it has (I hope) and its versatility (as I’ve been told). I just feel lost right now, more so than I’ve ever been in life, there’s so much pressure from family and society to get a prestigious job and make good money. And I’m just here without any clue on what to do next and what I’ll do after college and trying to find a balance between something I enjoy and something that’ll give me at least decent money. Any advice would be great.
I recommend looking at the job market for economists (internet search for economist jobs) in an unstressed way, which means not telling family/friends you are doing it and telling yourself you have plenty of time to adjust your path, if necessary, to job paths within the economist area (area where an economics degree is accepted as preparation) you see that you want to pursue. Before you resign yourself to enjoyment of life being separate from employment, see if you can identify, and set yourself up for, work you’ll enjoy.
Why do you have to pick up a second major at all? If you have enough extra credits, I suggest that you spend that time 1) taking classes that seem super interesting to you and 2) taking classes that will allow you to build skills that will be useful on the job market. You can do both of those things without a second major.
So if you want to take some English and IR classes while also taking a few classes in computer programming and statistics, why not do that? Take the opportunity to explore a little without any specific requirements that will hem you into a particular course of study.
FSU economics?! Tell me, have you had Randall Holcombe as one of your professors there?
As for your post: I’m a fan of the idea of taking a course or courses that will benefit your job prospects by increasing your skill pool, such as accounting, finance, or even computer science/coding, but only IF you are comfortable with using those skills on a daily basis for your future job or career. What’s the use in taking an accounting course if you know you’’ a) not be interested in the actual material in a classroom setting, and b) want to throw yourself out a window every day if you had to use those skills each day for your job? Since you know you don’t want to go to graduate studies, then you can rule out the courses that grad schools would only care about (so, the higher level math), unless of course you enjoy them personally or wouldn’t mind doing them in a professional setting.
If, after maybe doing some research into the types of jobs you would apply for after you finish you degree, you conclude that you already have sufficient skill for them, then you would be in better position to consider more “self development” and “self interest” courses. Personally, I would probably be more inclined to take something of personal non-major related interest like film or a one-off English literature course - but that’s because I’m an older-than-traditional student and am a bit wiser on self development, and I haven’t had the great opportunity to explore that in a classroom setting. Besides, I would consider taking the opportunity to place this type of thing on my resume (depending on the job, of course). Meaning, if I took a film course, in the “Interests/Hobbies” section of my resume, I would put “Film” or whatever related thing and employers might ask about that or be inclined to call me in for an interview because the hiring manager is also interested in film, who may be thoroughly surprised to discover that when they ask “So, it says here one of your personal interests are film. Tell me about that, or what about film interest you?” and you actually have a more intelligent and interesting response other than “I watch a lot of movies.” Would that happen for every job you’d apply to? Obviously not, but it may help more than taking a “hard skill” course that you’ll likely leave off of most of your job applications anyway because you’re not comfortable using that skill in an everyday professional environment. Just my personal thoughts.