Choosing an interesting major or the major that will lead to your dream career?

College Majors Science Majors
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<p>I'm a freshman in college and I'm very conflicted about what I should major in. Right now, it's boiling down to English or Biology concentrated in neuroscience.</p>

<p>For some reason I'm fascinated by the idea of learning everything about the brain. I'm also very interested in genetics and anatomy. I've always found science somewhat interesting but never thought of myself as a really sciency person. But when I look through my school's course catalogs, the classes I feel most interested in taking are the biology ones. </p>

<p>English on the other hand has always been my strong suit and is what I've always imagined I'd major in. I love to write and read and my dream growing up was to be a publisher. Ideally, I would love to be a literary agent or editor. If that didn't work out I would become a teacher which is something I think I would love too. </p>

<p>The reason I'm hesitant towards majoring in English is the fact that I usually find myself feeling bored in my English classes. I think it's usually the teachers that I've had in the past, but my boredom in the class makes me wonder if English is really something I should pursue. </p>

<p>On the other hand, I get excited at the idea of majoring in Biology. The only problem is that I'm not really sure what career I should pursue. I don't really think I could live in a lab for the rest of my life. I've looked into becoming a Physical Therapist or Physician Assistant but I'm not sure that would be good for me either. Although I would love to be able to help people with spinal cord injuries or brain tumors, I tend to be very emotional and think that it would be very hard for me being around people where the mortality rate can be high. I know that it's inevitable to make mistakes but I'm not sure I could live with myself if I did make mistakes. I think it would just be a very hard career path for me. I'm not sure if I have the personality to really be effective in either of those careers. </p>

<p>So I'm at a loss. Should I major in English and go after the dream job? Or should I pursue what I think is really interesting and maybe figure out a career that would be good for me? Can you think of any careers I haven't thought of or perhaps provide any insight. Double majoring is not a possibility at my school due to there not being any overlap between the two subjects. I thought about majoring in Biology and then minoring in English, but then this would close down the door to being an English teacher. Is it possible to teach English at a private school with a minor in English? I know the requirements are different. </p>

<p>Sorry this is long but thank you.</p>

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<p>I think the best advice I can give is look at a wide variety of careers. Pick some with good job prospects that you could at least tolerate. Once you have narrowed that down figure out how to focus your college education to get there. </p>

<p>A whole lot of people run into folly when they go to college because that is what smart people do after high school, then major in whatever interests them because they get filled with outdated platitudes from guidence coucilors and others who tell them “major in what you love and the money will follow.” Let me be the first to tell you it doesn’t work like that. A job isn’t going to magically appear because Johhny descides he likes classical literature and the days where you could major in anything and impress employers are long gone. </p>

<p>Career success is is gained by having marketable knowledge and experiece. </p>

<p>Be advised degrees in most of the sciences but especially biology are in extremely poor demand in the USA. Areas with high demand are engineering, computer programming, healthcare professions, some areas of business/finance/accounting.</p>

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<p>Both biology and English have a lot of graduates chasing their respective “dream careers”. So be sure to make plans for backup career options that may not be as specific to your major in either case.</p>