Diverse Interests = Engineering?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Hello!
Although I am excited for the undergraduate experience, I am unenthused by the prospect of choosing a major and a college. I was always one of those students who was interested in everything; put more negatively, I'm a dabbler. I know that everyone says "you don't have to pick now", but I would really enjoy hearing peoples thoughts for possible schools and programs based on my preferences. I don't want to end up applying to 41904234234 schools. </p>

<p>Relevant Academic Quals:
GPA: 3.93 (top 1% of class)
USAMO Qualifier 2010
SAT: 800 CR, 780 W, 790 M
SAT IIs: 800 Math2, 800 Chem, 760 USH
APs: 5s on AP Calc BC, AP Physics C (both), AP Chemistry, AP Micro/Macro, AP Art History, AP Gov </p>

<p>Extracurricular Interests:
Volunteering--President of Key Club
Science--President of Science Club
Journalism--Co-editor of school newspaper and staff writer for city newspaper
Dance--tap dance for the last 10 years :)</p>

<p>Undergraduate MUST HAVES:
-abundance of undergraduate scientific research opportunities (maybe not prestigious, but availability)
-student diversity (I like Asians/Indians)
-accessible student newspaper</p>

<p>Sad lack of Academic Interests:
I spend every minute, every hour, every day wishing I had a clear interest. I am now in that phase where I don't believe I am good enough/interested enough in ANYTHING. </p>

<p>1.) MATH: I don't think I have the intuition, skill, or the tolerance for purely theoretical work. My USAMO qualification seemed more "luck" than logic. </p>

<p>2.) PHYSICS: I don't think I can wrap my mind around Physics. I enjoyed AP Physics to feel accomplishment at the end, but am not sure I understand it conceptually well enough. </p>

<p>3.) BIOLOGY: I like biological research. However, I am not interested in doing that the rest of my life, nor particularly interested in pre-med. I am a girl. I am somewhat intrigued by Biological Engineering or Public Health, but many regard this as a "soft", "girls" field. (I know this isn't true) However, biological engineering is not a strong undergraduate degree "jack of all trades, master of none". Many opt to do research AFTER obtaining sufficient expertise in ANOTHER field, bringing more to the field. </p>

<p>3.5) ENGINEERING: Either Biological or plain old general. I don't particular enjoy building things. But engineering grads (to me) tend to be the best problem-solvers, thinkers, analyzers, and make the $$. I guess I like that they are useful in any field, and since I am so indecisive, yet like math/science, this seems cool. I am, however, easily intimidated. </p>

<p>4.) ECONOMICS: I like global applications, and enjoy economics discussions/graphy/theory. Yet, what do I do with this degree? Isn't econ better for grad school? Also, I am horrible at public speaking and don't inspire confidence in a crowd, making advisising/consulting/corporate decisions is definitely NOT in the picture. </p>

<p>5.) HUMANITIES: I don't like English. Though I like political science, and international relations, I am not in any way competent enough to be a leader, politician or even debater.
Though I really really enjoy paleoanthropology, and studying up on world cultures and religions. I'd rather have an appropriate context for this. </p>

<p>UNDERGRADUATE ASSORTED INTERESTS:
-accessible clubs and activities (anyone interested can join, not just the Gods)
-international/humanitarian-focused school, not business or corporate 
-lots of service/volunteer locally options
-internship/career/research opportunities
-collaborative, not cut-throat competitive (be honest please)
-not toooo terrible grade deflation or feeling like you have to study ALL the time
-accessible material; not too theoretical where you easily lose track of it
-smallish classes or at least TA sections
-freshman dorm/community—easy to meet new/different people?
-don’t really care (sorry!) about amazing sports, drama, arts, music
-FOOD/MEAL PLAN—sorry, but it’s four years and I’m crazy about eating well
-don’t mind alcohol, but don’t heart stoners
-city or at least social scene somewhat close by</p>

<p>Just so you get a reference point, these are the schools I am thinking of applying to: please narrow it down as possible above:
Assorted: University of Missouri, WUSTL, Carleton College, Smith, UChicago
Engineering: Rice, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, Stanford, UCBerkeley, Harvey Mudd,
Biology: Harvard, Yale, Emory, Tufts</p>

2

<p>…I hate to be abrasive, but you should be doing your own research, and the inclusion of some of the schools on that list gives the very strong impression that they’re on the list for the name and not because you have been given any reason to believe that you should go there. I can think of one straight up that violates the must-haves, and would probably be able to identify more if I’d been looking at them.</p>

<p>That said, Cal fits reasonably well on the must-haves and undergraduate assorted interests. Dining Commons food is tolerable though not particularly good, but odds are you won’t be living on-campus past the first year (or that if you are, you’ll have the sense to try leveraging for a room/suit with a kitchen).</p>

<p>HOWEVER:
You’re simultaneously thinking about majors/interests far too much and far too little, in that you “can’t see the forest because of all these damn trees.” If you can’t, through some form of reasoning or another, narrow your choices down to something more concrete by the time your application’s due in, I suggest applying Engineering Undeclared, as this should maximize your mobility. That said, you need to figure out a better way of determining what you’re interested in, and to start doing more research.</p>

3

<p>Thanks! I think the problem I’ve been having lies with overanalyzing and excessive research. You were right about me having too many colleges on the list, simply because I didn’t know what or how to eliminate schools since the internetz was my main information source.</p>

<p>After taking a break from college applications for a while, I think am going to pursue engineering and/or science. I am applying to Rice, Stanford, MIT, Harvey Mudd and…BERKELEY!</p>

4

<p>These stats are nuts. You qualified for USAMO and your SAT is freaking 2370! Why are you so easily intimidated? You could probably clobber most of your competition in any field.</p>

<p>Since you have a lot of interests, and you have enough ability in all of them, you could just let money be the deciding factor. The things you’ve written about under humanities are actually social sciences. These fields are interesting, but they don’t have many job opportunities. The sole exception to this rule is economics. I would recommend you take classes in these subjects as electives, but don’t major in them.</p>

<p>If you don’t plan on going to medical school, biology and life sciences in general are only slightly better than social sciences in terms of job opportunities.</p>

<p>As someone who prefers pure math and physics to engineering, I have to disagree with your observation that engineers are the best thinkers and analyzers because personally, the smartest person my age that I know is studying math at Stanford, but also because many of the most important innovations of the past century were made by people who had their training in physics. The radio, the laser and the transistor for instance. The distinction between pure science and engineering is often fuzzy. The physicist makes things to study physics while the engineer studies physics to make things.</p>