I’m currently a senior in high school and I just applied to my state’s university this week. I know that I can be undecided for at least 1-2 years before having to officially declare my major(s), but I’m still worried about what I’m planning on pursuing.
I’ve been extremely interested in both psychology and history for as long as I can remember, and I’ve taken the AP Psych, APUSH, and AP World classes and loved them. Because of this, I’m planning to double major in psych and history, eventually going on to get a masters or possibly a PhD in psych. I also find anthropology really cool and it seems like a nice bridge between psych and history, so I’m pondering whether or not to minor in that. Finally, I want to minor in German, as well, because I have family in Germany and plan to move there sometime after I graduate.
First off, would double majoring and double minoring be way too much work? I’m afraid I’ll get burnt out and have no social life if I do go through with this plan, but I don’t know which major or minor I’d be willing to drop. Second, are my potential choices in majors and minors worth pursuing, in terms of job availability and income? I’m not particularly striving to earn six digits, but I also don’t want my income to really dip any lower than 60k. If this mix of majors/minors doesn’t seem like a good choice, then what are some somewhat similar, but more cohesive and/or promising, majors/minors I could go for, instead?
Why not major in one subject and just choose out-of-major electives in others of interest?
Learning German to a useful level of skills need not require a formal minor, however that is defined at the college.
For any social science, it may be a good idea to learn more advanced statistics / data science than is typically required or recommended (commonly only at the AP statistics level). However, this will require more math prerequisites, such as calculus.
Yes, do what ucbalumnus said. You don’t have to major in something to explore your interest in it - you can select, say, psychology and take classes in history and German and anthropology. It is too much work to double-major and double-minor, and then you constrain yourself by requirements rather than giving yourself the freedom to just take whatever sounds interesting.
Although majors can be and often are related to the job/career you get after school, they don’t correlate 100% with income and the type of job you’re doing - so there’s really no answer to the “worth it” question. It all depends on what you want and what your preferences and dealbreakers are. FWIW, I majored in psychology in undergrad, got a PhD in the field, and I work in tech and make six figures. But I also know people who majored in psychology, became social workers and make $45K. It just depends.
Below are some resources where you can look at average salaries across different majors, for recent graduates, experienced graduates and graduate degree holders. As a recent graduate, you are unlikely to make $60K in the majority of fields - the average salary of new grads is around $51K. But your salary will grow over time, and may grow faster or slower depending on the kind of job you do and what positions/careers you choose over the course of your working life.
I always learned that you should major in something that will pay the bills and minor in a hobby. If I were you, I wouldn’t Nabor in history. It’s really not going to do much for you. Maybe pick psychology as your major, minor in either German, anthropology, or both if you’re REALLY passionate about them, and maybe in the summer you can take a few history classes through a local community college. That way it won’t distract you while you’re taking your other classes and it will be less expensive.