So I am going to be a senior in high school this year and I have spent the passed 3 years of my life thinking I was going to be an engineering major. After carefully thinking about my choices, I’m not sure if I would be cut out for this in college. I currently have a 97% average in high school, ranked 45 out of 430 students. My SAT scores were 1820/2400. In high school I took AP Chemistry as well as AP statistics and AP environmental science. Instead of engineering I am now considering a major in chemistry or even statistics. Is this a reasonable choice? What other options do I have outside of engineering but still in the science and math field?
Yes, both of those are reasonable choices. Statistics is (currently) a little more in-demand than chemistry, but there’s no reason not to major in chemistry and minor in statistics or take some classes.
There are lots of things in the sciences. The more traditional sciences are biology, computer science, math, statistics, and physics. Depending on what college you go to, you might also have options like biochemistry, environmental science, geology, atmospheric science, applied math, astronomy, human ecology, or nutrition.
I can see myself doing statistics or chemistry for my life, but I don’t want to get a degree in one of them and not have anywhere to go with it. I’ve heard too many stories of students not finding jobs post-college because they didn’t get a significant enough major. I’m not sure how to say it, I’m just confused and concerned that I may go down the wrong track.
Well, if you REALLY want to go into Chem or Stats, then do it. Neither are bad fields to go into, as juillet said. I actually have a friend who was in the same boat as you. Around the same class rank, took ap stats, ap phys, ap calc, etc, and had spent years assuming he’d be an engineering major.
When it came time to apply to colleges, he was taken aback by the realization that he really DIDN’T want to be an engineer. It was just passively forced on him through the idea that engineers are in very high demand and make a good amount of money. Long story short, he decided to major in Applied Mathematics because he really loves math. He hasn’t had any complaints thus far. A lot of people ask “what kind of jobs can X major get you…? It probably won’t make you much…” but let me tell you something that directly applies to my friends situation.
I’m an intern at NASA, and a few weeks ago I met someone in a very high managerial position who, you guessed it, had a PhD in Applied Mathematics. Now I realize not many PhD math students will go on to become managers at NASA, but I’m just trying to say that you can get jobs you never would have thought of with different degrees. The guy had started out at NASA working with computer scientists and engineers to derive equations to model and simulate the expansion and characteristics of flames in a forest fire setting. He had also said he was originally planning on going into engineering but decided against it because he preferred mathematics.
Basically I’m saying not to worry about it TOO much. If you like the field and you’re willing to put forth the effort, there’s a good chance you’ll find a job.
That helps me out tremendously! I’ll have to look into applied mathmatics and more of a mathematical standpoint.
Ehhh. I’m skeptical of the story that students don’t get a job post-college because of a “significant enough major.” It’s true that unemployment rates vary across fields, but I’m not sure if those difference are statistically significant (no one has produced an empirical study comparing them). For example, the unemployment rate for biology and life sciences majors (7.4%) is overall lower than that of computer science, statistics, and math majors (8.2%; [url=http://knowmore.washingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/the-college-majors-with-the-highest-unemployment-rates/]source[/url]. For more fine-grained differences, math majors is 5.9%; for computer science, it’s 8.7%; for chemistry it’s 5.8% (url=https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/9t0p5tm0qhejyy8t8hub]source[/url]. So first of all, it looks like chem majors do better than stats majors; but are those differences actually significant or are they due to random chance? (The statistics are based on the American Community Survey, which is a randomly selected cross-section of the American population.)
I think you’re also missing @cosmicspiderman’s point. I took his anecdote to say that your major can lead you to unexpected places, not as an exhortation to major in applied math. For example, a chemistry major could lead you to NASA, too - studying (spitballing here) biochemical changes in astronauts’ bodies after their return, or the chemistry of rocket fuel or helping astronauts set up chemistry experiments in space. You could work for NOAA doing atmospheric or oceanic analysis; you could become an executive at a pharmaceutical firm. Or you might get an MBA and switch careers completely. Who knows? Major in what you’re interested in.
@Lostinmysearch … @juillet was right when saying that my post’s purpose was to tell you not to be discouraged about not getting a job somewhere specific, because regardless of your major you can end up in situations you never expected to be in. While applied math is definitely not a bad field to go into, I was not trying to sway you from your love of chemistry or statistics.
Engineering majors have less trouble getting employment in their field shortly after graduation than other STEM majors other than health professions (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10318/pdf/tab35.pdf). The higher pay shown in https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/9t0p5tm0qhejyy8t8hubIf for engineers than for people in other fields is presumably due somewhat to that fact. If you move away from an engineering education, it will be more difficult to get employment in your field, but it probably won’t be horrendously more difficult with chemistry and statistics. (I found no trouble getting work in chemistry with my BA chemistry degree. I didn’t make as much money as a typical engineer would, but I didn’t care about that.)
If you simply want employment and don’t care too much whether it’s in the field you studied, it is a lot easier than when you do care about that.
A small but relevant dataset, showing, by major, subsequent salary, unemployment, satisfaction and whether still in field, is on the Students Review website under Careers & Majors, http://www.studentsreview.com/choosing_career.php3 .