<p>Eveeeryone asks me these days 'What are you going to do in college?' and I always end up saying something like physics or sciences. And the response is nearly always the same: 'What!?'</p>
<p>I'm a girl and my strong points seem to be communications/English and foreign languages. People think that because I have won multiple writing awards and learn langauges as my hobby that I would do one of these things in college. My question is... why? </p>
<p>My math and science education up until now is spotty at best. I skipped classes, took some over the summer, and missed a year of instruction while abroad. The problem isn't that I don't understand physics or math, it's that I wasn't taught! I don't know if it's because they think I'm a girl and therefore I can never get far in these fields or what. </p>
<p>Should you always try to play on your strong points when you select a major? Let's look at this logically:</p>
<p>English- Probably the most inflexible and wishy-washy degree there is. You can be a teacher, author, or something of the like. Neither pays very well and you spend most of college reading books and writing papers.</p>
<p>Languages- Awful. You HAVE to double major, because a language degree alone will not get you a job as anything but a translator. Also, why do you need four entire years to study a language when I can do it faster, more efficiently and in half the time? Please.</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant but this has been getting on my nerves a lot lately. I don't even know what I should do and I know a bunch of anonymous forum posts won't decide my future but I hope to get some opinions at least. Help?</p>
<p>Same story here. I'm sticking with engineering though because I couldn't see spending my whole life in English. I can write well with ease, and sometimes I enjoy it, but my true passion is shown clearly through other things that I do, such as robotics. I just happen to be better with writing and interpreting literature. My math and science grades are just above average, so it's nothing spectacular for a prospective engineering major, but I still have the drive and determination to do so, regardless of letters and numbers on my transcript. I understand the concepts and such very well, but for some reason I can't pull A's in math classes anymore, hopefully schools will see past that.</p>
<p>Although I'm far from having to declare a major, I think you should pick something that is feasible for you, and also something that you would enjoy and not completely hate. Don't do something just because it'll look good on the application, there may be a few inconsistencies with grades, but so what...do what you feel is right and not what may just look right. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Haha, I'm the opposite. I'm very good at math and science (up until this year of calc BAH) and I say I'm going into a social science (anthropology? classics? ancient history? dno yet) and everybody's like "WAH??"</p>
<p>Do what is going to make you happy in life. You can always change your major if you decide it's not for you. </p>
<p>Wow, Miss Silvestris, your situation sounds almost identical to my best friend's. Weird. But, anyways, I like your attitude. I conveniently enough am the best at what I enjoy the most AND I'd like to pursue it for a career (I got lucky), but I'm with you; if you enjoy something more than another, you may not be the best, but that's not what's important. You still should have some happiness with it. I think it's great that you have a great hobby or interest like that in languages, but you'd like to pursue something else. I think that takes courage too, to be able to not go for just what you're best at.</p>
<p>Heh, thanks guys! At least I'm no the only one with this kind of dilema.</p>
<p>technol21: I think the schools will see past the grades. Besides, high school is basically college prep: maximum prep, minimal learning (which is sad but true). I know that many people at the top of their fields that didn't do well until college or even until they started working. Good luck!</p>
<p>romanigypsyeyes: Always true :) The only problem is just indecision. How do you know you'll like doing something 5 or even 15 years from now? Hm. Good luck with your major, whatever you choose!</p>
<p>lilyrobin: Really? How strange, I thought it was just me (obviously not). I'm happy that you have talent at what you want to do in life, that really is fortunate. Thank you for the encouragement.</p>
<p>I absolutely love literature, but I don't want to go into it because I really have no idea what I can do with it. I mean, there's no guarantee that I'll be an amazing author or publish a book or anything like that...I'd have to double major in something...It'd be cool to own my own bookstore :)</p>
<p>I'm good with math/sci, and most of my ECs (besides comm. service ones) revolve around molec biology...sure, there's no guarantee with any degree, but I think we all know that molec bio is less risky than lit</p>
<p>^^ There are other things to do with classics. I had a really good website that listed possible careers, gah lemme see if I can find it. (I want to do classics too)</p>
<p>I speak several languages and also learn them as a hobby, and I would never major in them, nor would I ever major in English. I'd prefer to major in something practical.</p>
<p>I would say to major in something you enjoy. I'm really good in math and science, but I also really enjoy them. I'm above average in English/Foreign Language, etc, but I really only do them because I have to. If what you enjoy is what you're good at, then you should major in that. If you enjoy something, but have never really been good at it, college is the perfect time to turn that around.</p>
<p>Although I'm strong at English/Humanities, I don't want to frantically search for a job after the money spent in college. I wouldn't majoring in something related to math. I have good deductive-reasoning skills, so I hope I can utilize them if I do decide to pursue math. As far as science goes, I find most of them interesting--the exception being Biology.</p>
<p>Don't underestimate an English degree. You could land a decent job in journalism, if that's your cup of tea. Now, Classics is a pretty damn useless major =P</p>
<p>Optimization: It's true. At least molecular biology is a scalable job, so there's the potential to move higher up the better your work is :)</p>
<p>Anon<em>Person</em>1: I have no idea! I have an article about the state of math/science education that I think sums it up well: we're taught by narrow-sighted educatoprs who dn't 'see the forest through the trees' aka they don't get the big picture. At the risk of sounding too harsh, some doa good job. Here's the article if you'd like it: If</a> We Taught English the Way We Teach Mathematics... || kuro5hin.org</p>
<p>mflevity: Exactly! That's mostly why I'm so excited to start college soon :)</p>
<p>Cono: True.</p>
<p>Handyandy58: Thanks for the encouragement, it really does help. That's a refreshing opinion when most people have this idea that if you didn't do that well in something in high school, you're doomed in college.</p>
<p>thesmiths: It seems I'm not alone as I thought. You'll do just fine, whatever you choose. Good luck!</p>
<p>Virgil: Heh, 'decent' is the key word. I worked my arse off in high school and I have too much ambition to settle for a mediocre career. Journalism isn't exactly something I would do if I had any other choice.</p>
<p>I understand. I'm a decent writer, and ever since I've been writing columns in the local paper, people assume that I'm going for English or writing. I rank careers (I'm quite serous) based on how valuable they would be if the world ended. Architecture and engineering are useful. English and languages are not. Biology and plumbing are useful. History is not. </p>
<p>I've read the Zombie Survival Guide a few too many times, though.</p>
<p>Lol Wolfbane, languages aren't important if the world ended?</p>
<p>Of course, we don't need to be able to speak. And I assume if the world just ended and there were like 3 people left, they'd all just automatically be speaking the same language. </p>
<p>And science is just a tad overestimated in that perspective.</p>