College Major Help- Engineering

College Majors
1

Hi, I’m just going to lay this out out there. I just finished my first year at college, and every time I think of the future, in terms of what I want to do with my life, I end up getting very anxious. My current college major is Chemical Engineering, but I have the premonition that I’m not going to like continuing on this path. A few things about me:

  1. I’m a good student (in the honors program, 3.7 gpa, never had trouble with school)
  2. I chose Engineering because I’m good at math and it makes a good amount of money.
  3. I don’t think I’m made for Engineering because I’ve never cared for my science courses in school and I’m not good at visualizing or designing things, which can be an aspect in engineering.
  4. When I look at my courses for next semester, I don’t get excited(Molecular Properties, Organic Chem, etc.) which makes me super nervous because if I’m not interested in what I’m learning about how will I succeed.
    Other options I’ve considered are switching to majoring in math because I’m good at math, but what can you do with a math degree?
    I also was considering because a police officer, but the next exam I’ll be eligible for would be in 2021 so what would I do until then?
    The last option I was considering was teaching math, but I don’t know.
    I want to have a job that I can feel as though I’m doing something worthwhile(helping people) that also makes money.
    Thanks for any and all replies!

TLDR: Not interested in science but majoring in Chemical Engineering. Should I stick it out or try a different idea?

2

  1. There are lots of different things you can do with a math degree. LOTS. It can be a lucrative major. Math majors have some of the highest starting salaries of any liberal arts major (around $45K) and some of the highest mid-career salaries as well (median $92K).

  2. I’m not saying don’t explore careers - absolutely you should - but don’t worry so much about narrowing down to a specific one. You don’t have to have it all figured out right now. There are lots of things you could do for a year before sitting for the police exam. You could teach math if you wanted to, too - math is a critical need area and most places need more math teachers. There are also lots of other things. You can figure that all out later.

3

^Agree, many opportunities with math, especially on the applied side. Programming, cryptography, finance, actuarial, and more. If you are good at it and enjoy it, math can be a good option.