Current Engineer thinking Philosophy, Finance, and Law

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hey everyone, first of all, I wasn't quite sure where this thread belongs, so let me know if I should move it. </p>

<p>I am a freshman in open option engineering. Throughout high school I had taken all AP math and sciences, and I love to know how things work, and figure stuff out, so naturally I thought engineering was the right field for me. As the first semester nears the end, I am starting to realize that engineering may not be for me. The problem is, I don't really enjoy what I'm doing. The only type of engineering that really interested me in the first place was chemical and biological, but I'm starting to have second thoughts. The future of genetic engineering really intrigues me, but I don't think I would actually enjoy researching it myself. I don't enjoy chemistry labs and none of the courses I will be taking in the future look terribly interesting. As you all know, the workload is incredibly demanding and while I know I'm capable of doing it, I struggle to find the motivation because I'm genuinely not interested in the subject matter. </p>

<p>On the other hand, my senior year I took a philosophy, psychology, and debate course that I really enjoyed. All three were taught by the same teacher who I was able to connect with better than any teacher I'd ever had. He said I had exceptional debate skills, with an analytical ability and philosophical mind not found in many other students. He knew I was going into engineering, but encouraged me to pursue philosophy in college and to also consider a career in law. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I was looking through the course catalogue the other day and found my self in the philosophy section thinking, "wow, all these sound so much better than all the engineering courses, but what can I do with a degree in philosophy?" Well pretty much the only thing I came up with is law, which is something that had always been on the back of my mind, but I had never really considered because I always thought I'd have to major in political science or something, which doesn't interest me at all. After some quick research though, I found that philosophy would be a perfect UG major for law school. Only problem is if I don't want to do law, my options seem pretty limited. One of the things that attracted me to engineering was the secure job market.</p>

<p>The third option, finance came about as a bit of a "best of both worlds" solution. Business had never really interested me because I'd always been thinking of the management side, but I feel like finance might be a little more up my alley. I certainly have the math skills, but I'm not entirely sure what else finance is about. My father is a stockbroker, so I'm not totally clueless, but he was a history major, so I don't really know what a finance UG does. I do know that a finance degree would also put me in a great position for law school, allowing me to go into corporate law, tax law, or whatever, but it would also provide a good fallback if I decide I don't want to go to law school. As a finance major I would have a lot more flexibility to take classes I enjoy, and I think a philosophy minor would be easily attainable. The same could not be said for engineering.</p>

<p>Any advice is greatly appreciated, I apologize for the long read, but I wanted to be thorough. If you have any questions feel free to ask. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance,
-Conor</p>

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<p>You are not in college to pursue your interests, you are there to maximise your chances of making the most money possible after graduation. One thing you will find very quickly is that work stinks, it’s why it’s called ‘work’ instead of ‘interesting things’ or something like that. If you are looking for motivation, think of the money. It is short-sighted to be framing this matter into doing something interesting for four years if it will hurt your earning potential later.</p>

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<p>Sounds like you’re a great guy to work with, Vanagandr.</p>

<p>Something else you could keep in mind is that with a technical degree you’d be able to get into patent law, which is a very well compensated (and probably less oversaturated) field of law.</p>

<p>Do you feel there’s anything in engineering that’s actually interesting, or were you just doing engineering because you were good at math and science, and everyone said, “Hey, you’re good at math and science, you should be an engineer!”?</p>

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<p>Vanagandr, I hope that post was sarcastic…I’m not going to be one of those people who hates there job and has no time to spend any of the money they’ve earned. Don’t get me wrong, I love money and one could say I’m a very materialistic person, but I’m willing to sacrifice a little money for job satisfaction. </p>

<p>RacinReaver, I would say it was a combination of both. There were many people encouraging me to be an engineer, but I was definitely interested when people suggested it…it seemed like the perfect fit. That being said, there was never a point in my life when I was like “I want to be an engineer!”. And after really getting a sense of who I am and what my interests are, it seems as though what little interest I had to start, is being overshadowed by demanding coursework that’s only going to get harder with courses that I’m not really interested in. As far as patent law goes, I doubt I’ll have the grades for law school if I continue in engineering, unless some miracle happens that allows me to do hours and hours of hw and studying that I’m currently not motivated to do.</p>

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<p>Major in Philosophy and minor or double major in something like econ or math.
No one hands you jobs because you have a degree in X major. You could end up doing finance with a philosophy major as long as you supplement your education with courses in finance/econ/math/business. Part of any interview process is selling yourself, and tailoring your resume for a specific job will make you stand out among all the other applicants.
If I were you, I’d get visit your school’s career offices or online career/job board(if they have one), and look up requirements to jobs/careers in Finance or other industries that may interest you. Some positions and some companies do not specify a major so much as they specify experience and/or skills. You can gain those skills and experience on the side if your major isn’t the “ideal” one.</p>

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<p>Everyone I know ‘hates there job’ as you so articulately put it; welcome to the world. If work was meant to be liked, why would they call it ‘work’?</p>

<p>The only reason I am even tolerating it is because of the money; if I could survive in the woods alone, that would be one thing, but the next best route would be to make bank for 10-20 years, retire, and mind my own business.</p>

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<p>I like my job.</p>

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<p>both my parents like their jobs</p>

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<p>Ironic then that the reason most people hate their jobs is that they’re merely in it for the money, as opposed to doing what they like.</p>