First year trying to decide what to major in

College Majors
1

Hi everyone!

This fall I’ll be starting as a first year at UChicago, and since our classes start September 22nd, I’ve had some serious downtime to think about what I want to study my next four years. I’d love a second opinion on my ideas, specifically as to 1. Employability, 2. Enjoyability, and 3. Difficulty at UChicago.

Thanks in advance!

I have always been interested in nonprofit work and improving education in developing nations, so what I have for my major is Public Policy. I will minor in statistics, and will be taking as many courses in Mandarin as I can, plus a study abroad in Hong Kong to be “certifiably fluent” by the end of undergrad.

I am concerned about the heavy math influence, to start with. I think stats is extremely practical for my major, but I have never taken it, nor have I been particularly great at calculus in high school (Don’t get me wrong–I liked it, it just didn’t come naturally). My focus has always been more on current events and happenings in the world, and less on the math behind them, so I’m wondering if I should nix stats and go with a minor like East Asian Languages and Cultures or Global Studies or something like that.

Additionally, I’m wondering if Mandarin is a good language to stick with for the work I want to end up doing. I also have extensive background in Spanish, but no particular desire to continue it. What do you think?

Finally, I’m curious about the joint degree program UChicago offers with its Harris School. I like the idea of completing my masters in Public Policy in only a year, and would be grateful for any additional info you might have.

Thanks!!

2

The best thing to do your first year is to test drive your majors. Nobody’s opinion matters nearly as much as your own experience. Take a stats class before you decide whether or not to minor in it. Take an intro global studies class and see what you think of that, too. Your gen eds are important, but if you get to junior year and have a couple gen eds to go that’s not as big of a problem as if you get to junior year and don’t know what to major in.

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Umm…I hope you realize that they speak Cantonese in Hong Kong, NOT Mandarin. You’re much better off going to Beijing or Shanghai if you want to learn the “standard” dialect of Mandarin. You could even go to Taiwan, but they speak a different dialect than those on the mainland.

I hope you enjoy learning Mandarin. I took 3 semesters of it (that’s all my school offers) and I LOVED it!!