I am switching from my current pre-med track (for multiple reasons), and I don’t know what I could study in college/do later in life that will leave me with good pay, a job im satisfied with, and good employment options. What career path should I switch to that will give me the best options? I’m desperate (i’ve been thinking about this for months). I am a good student, so far I have a 3.9 in college (I’m a sophomore), so I don’t want that to go to waste. I considered computer science, but its seems like that field changes every second, so I’m scared about how employable I will be in the future/if it is even worth it since there are people that don’t go to college and still get well payed CS jobs. I considered actuary, but that seems unbelievably boring/there are hard tests to pass that might be too much to handle (for me at least, since I’m okay at math but I’m no genius). I also considered biomedical engineering, but that seems very competitive and will be hard for me to keep up with since I’m a slow learner and I am also a girl and want to have a family later on in life.
Please! any help will go far. I am so desperately lost.
What is your major now?
What are your favorite subjects?
When you say that you’re a sophomore, do you mean that you’re a rising sophomore?
BTW…the word is, “paid,” not “payed.”
What are you good at?
Where do your strengths lie? (Foreign languages? Finding creative solutions to problems? Writing/written communications? Organizing things? Math/math reasoning? Interfacing with other people? Hands on work?)
I strongly suggest you go by the career center at your college and make an appointment to take some tests to help determine where your natural strengths lie and what careers your interests/abilities/personality are good match for.
Do you want to stay in the healthcare fields?
Here's an excellent website that details a huge variety of healthcare careers and the education/training required for them: [Explore</a> Health Careers](<a href="http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/careers/careers%5DExplore">http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/careers/careers)
I am kind of okay at creative solution to problems and writing/written communications. I am great at organizing and interfacing with other people. I am good with hands on work and math (but I am not amazing at math, I’m just above average). That website helps a lot thank you!
I believe you might better off with business major.
Not sure if you are full of self doubts about your ability - hard to tell about your aspirations and how much your negative thinking is affecting you. Not so great at math - does it mean you may not get an A in a math course? One needs to really love what they are doing so that when you go to work it is not drudgery. Yes, do eliminate what would be drudgery to you, but do keep in mind all fields of study are going to change, and once you are working in something, you do have to keep up with the paradigm changes.
If you want to stay where you are currently studying (do you have scholarships/financial reasons) and the school is big enough to have your prospective fields of study…
What drew you to medical, and would nursing be a good consideration? Have you explored engineering fields? Explore the STEM areas. Go to your career planning center and study the degree plans at your school. It may be that you take the courses that fit what options you are considering. Have you completed just your first year at college?
Your career planning doesn’t need to end with one degree. Maybe you work in one area and then continue on - for example a STEM degree and later a business degree (MBA).
What does STEM entail for you?
@esther111 DD1 is BSN, DD2 is civil eng.
Think about careers where you will enjoy the work and get paid well enough to support your life style.
You may want to consider MIS - Management Information Sciences/Support if you like business and using technology/computers for business support.
If you are good enough at math/physics/pre-engineering and desire to go into an engineering area, explore that. Some of the sciences/engineering areas do like diversity, and many engineering areas have maybe 1 in 4 women in the field.
Do not go into CS if you don’t like programming. Electrical Engineering is learning hardware and software - so again only go into it if you have strong interest.
DD has two very good smart friends that both are choosing to teach HS math.
I do know some that go into education or another field and go back for a 2nd degree because they know they can work equally hard in another better paying field. Some go on for advanced degrees to increase their professional position and pay.
Be sure to look at the various degree pre-requisites and do try to determine what your degree will be to ‘finish in four’ for your UG degree.
“but I am not amazing at math, I’m just above average”
Guys who have made suggestions above. Think about this from the OP and don’t guide him/her towards math heavy career, which STEM is all about.
With a general appreciation of
“creative solution to problems and writing/written communications. I am great at organizing and interfacing with other people”
and not to crazy about math, I think business/economics major is best for op. that major needs creativeness and people skill, but not too heavy on math.
Comments?
Nursing at BSN level at DD’s school didn’t need Calc I even - pre-reqs of course were chemistry/biology/etc during first two years of college.
I believe business majors at many schools may need Calc I. Should look to see what MIS requires.
Also need to say student says above avg in math but not amazing. DD wasn’t ‘amazing’ in Physics (two courses required for engineering) - and she wasn’t as amazing as some of her friends in math but she got through it - part of DD’s issue was easier to learn something you know you are going to use in work life.
There are many careers that can fit this student’s aptitude and interests - he/she will have to make choices on courses, work opportunities, etc to build to the desired work/career. It can be evolving over the years too.
“towards math heavy career, which STEM is all about.” - not all STEM is math heavy. And math at college level could be learned even by those who do not care much for it.
First, any medical related field, except for engineering, is NOT math heavy, including pre-med. As a requirement of most majors and med. school pre-reqs one semester of Calc and one semester of Stats are plenty, no more math is needed. It is plenty enough for the medical school and all science classes required by it.
Second, CS is not math heavy. Frankly, it is not science heavy either, I have no idea why it is called science.
I am sure there are other examples, but these 2 I am most familiar with.
The engineering is very math heavy but as SOS mentioned, one can learned what one needs to make a living in engineering field. We are not talking here about Rocket science at the PhD level, it is college. Just work harder and seek help if you feel that you need it. There is no magic there, no genius is required either and plenty of help is available at any UG campus, formal, informal, prof’s hours, paid tutors, actually much more academic help is available at college than you would have at any HS, including the best ones.
@MiamiDAP CS students are as ‘math heavy’ as engineering - 3 courses short of a math minor (at DD’s school, they take same sequence as engineering students, Calc I-III, linear and differential equations). My CS nephew was at another school in another state and he has a CS degree. If one likes computers a lot and likes business, perhaps looking into MIS.
Agree that many STEM fields are not math heavy, and also agree with other comments by reply #10.