Any advice on switching majors?

<p>I'm currently a sophomore and a Biotechnology student. For my whole life I've wanted to study medicine. I originally was pre-med but then switched to a concentration on medical research because I don't think med school is for me (I worked in the ER, hated it). Now, I am struggling to keep up with my classmates and I'm miserable. I don't find joy in any of my classes, I just go through the motions and the stress is beginning to affect my health. My GPA is sinking lower and lower and I'm thinking I should switch my major to something a little less math/science oriented, but that is still challenging. I'm not really good at anything in particular though.</p>

<p>These are possible majors/concentrations I am considering:
journalism
psychology
international relations (i'm guessing this is actually a branch of poli sci)
anthropology
philosophy
advertising/public relations</p>

<p>I know these are kind of all over the place but I was wondering if anyone who is one of these majors has any advice or information to share? What would you recommend? I know some of these are a little bit more practical than others, too. </p>

<p>I also need to switch now if I'm going to (I have to start taking classes for my major soon and I'll need to get some pre-reqs done over the summer).</p>

<p>I’m definitely going to want to go to grad school. But now I’m even thinking law. Can anyone give me some advice on what to do? Would philospohy be a bad major if I want to get into law school? Or should I go for something else? Could I be a psych major and still get into law school?</p>

<p>You can major in whatever and go to law school. You just need good grades and a high LSAT score. I hope you’re not just thinking of law because it seems like a good fallback though - it’s not the type of career you want to get into out of desperation. At one time, law schools were extremeley selective, but then a whole 3rd and 4th tier popped up and now it’s not that hard to get a JD. Many lawyers are out of jobs right now because the supply seems to have exceeded the demand at this point. So pick that career if you reallly want it, not because you’re unsure about stuff.</p>

<p>Philosophy is a popular pre law major. I would’ve guessed you’d be interested in Anthropology and Psychology because they’re related fields to Biology, but go with Philosophy if that’s your thing.</p>

<p>Personally, I would stay away from a journalism major unless you go to a school with an amazing program - you don’t need a journalism degree to figure out how to do research or write an article - pretty much any liberal arts or science major can do that, and work or intern at a newspaper or in publishing to get experience. An International Relations degree is a good idea if you like journalism.</p>

<p>PS - you’ll have to change your username to Anthro-nerd or something :P</p>

<p>Do you have any passions?</p>

<p>choose what is the most interesting to you</p>

<p>I totally understand what you are going through. Its not easy to just switch majors especially sophomore year. I would say go with whatever you think is right for grad school or the one that most interests you. But be warned tho: some of the majors you listed arent going to be helpful with just a bachelors degree should you decide soon to not want to go to grad school. but as long as you’re serious and have the dedication, go for whatever you want. You can do it!</p>

<p>Thanks Alix for your advice. I really wasn’t planning on it as a fallback. It just has never crossed my mind to do anything outside the medical field, but I might be happier as a lawyer because it’s challenging in a different way. I’m hoping that maybe things will get a bit more competitive by the time I graduate from law school. That’s a scary thought abou the jobs, but almost every field is like that now. </p>

<p>Haha yeah, I will have to update the username :]</p>

<p>I don’t necessarily know what my passions are anymore. Medicine was my passion but now things have changed and I’m not sure it is. I’ve always loved psychology and philosophy though, so I’m leaning towards psych, especially because I can use most of my courses as science electives and it won’t take me as long as philosophy (because I hardly have any of those pre-reqs).</p>

<p>Thanks, I’m going to talk to an advisor, but I’m thinking psych would be practical no matter what.</p>

<p>I suggest psych or medical anthropology. You might find either medical or forensic anthropology interesting. </p>

<p>Best of luck :)</p>

<p>Something else to consider, but I hardly think the ER is representative of the whole medical field. If you really truly are interested in medicine, you don’t have to work in the ER. In fact, we need a lot more ordinary primary care doctors who work in offices than people in the ER. So it depends on what you didn’t like about the ER. And I was originally going to go to law school as a fall back, but as it has been said above, not a good plan. Don’t do something unless you at least like it. Doesn’t have to be your passion, but if you hate it, you’ll likely fail.
Additionally, the problem I see with all those majors is that if you don’t go to grad school…you have some problems. They’re not exactly practical.</p>

<p>^ Look, 90% of majors don’t lead to a direct job. The only ones that do are things like nursing and engineering and whatnot. For everyone else studying humanities, social sciences, science, and math, we kind of just get a degree and head out there hopin’ for a job, and most of us don’t go to grad school either.</p>

<p>Emerlus, thank you for responding. I do see your point about the ER not representing the whole spectrum of medicine, but I really hated my job there. I really just did not like the atmosphere of the hospital and overall I can’t explain it, but I knew it was not for me. I don’t like the clinical aspects in general. I though maybe medical research was the way to go, but I hate suffering through chemistry. I’m KILLING myself to keep up with the coursework and I’m so stressed out it’s affecting my health (I have depression and ulcers). In general I just hate school and have become unmotivated. This is not like me as I am a very highly motivated person (I graduated from I.B.). I don’t really see Law as a fallback, rather a chance to try something new and challenge myself. I’m a strong writer and I love to read. I hate writing lab reports. I just never considered life beyond medicine.</p>

<p>And while I do understand the practicality issues, if you really think about it, the only majors that can get a job straight out of college without grad school are restaurant/hotel management, finance, nursing, engineers (like Alix said), hospitality, communications, etc. I’m not really interested in any of those things and I really want to pursue grad school anyway because I want to be the best in my field no matter what I do (I don’t mean that to sound arrogant, but I love to learn and I know that grad school will be of great benefit).</p>

<p>It doesn’t sound arrogant at all. I too love to learn. I said nothing about a direct job. Economics doesn’t lead to a direct job. But it is highly respected and well paid. (It was my old major. Now I’m history and pre-physical therapy.) Pursuing grad school is fine. Have you researched these subjects? Only you’re going to know if you’ll like them.</p>

<p>I’m in the process of looking into everything. Just took a million law school books out at the library. All I know is that once I change my major it will be a huge relief. I’m killing myself with chemistry and I am so miserable. The thought of switching to psych makes me feel a 1,0000000 times better. Thanks so much for your input!</p>

<p>I suggest taking classes in psych or philosophy before you decide to switch in to those majors. </p>

<p>That said, you should switch majors. I am just saying that picking your major before you have taken a class or have serious experience in the field is dumb, for reasons that you can probably figure out right now.</p>

<p>and i think this thread is probably part of the OP’s research process ;)</p>

<p>lastchancexi, I realize that randomly switching majors without having at least some introductory knowledge is stupid. In high school I scored a 7 on my IB psych test and I also wrote a 20+ page paper on the correlation between schizophrenia and violent crime. I am not claiming to know everything about psychology, but I am familiar with the research methods, APA formatting and other aspects of the classes so I do know a bit about it. I also talked to a professor and he gave me some information about the department and whatnot.</p>

<p>000ace000, that’s exactly what I was getting at.</p>