<p>Hello, I don't know what career to choose. I'm a graduating Gr 12 student. I'm interested in subjects involves thinking, such as physics and philosophy. I naturally hate courses that need memorization, such as biology and history.(Although I like the critical thinking and reflection part of history. you learn lessons from others' life!) I'm a straight-A student. good at math, programming, and science. okay with English, not strong though.</p>
<p>I'm debating between a engineering degree or a double degree liberal arts and science. I really don't know what I'm going to do in the future. I will value humanity in my job. I don't want to be treated as a commodity doing technical jobs alone in the lab. That's too tedious. I like to make changes to the society, to people's life. I also want to take social science and humanity courses in university. So pursuing engineering will really hinder my pursuit of these aspects. </p>
<p>What about doing something similar to the PPE (Politics,Philosophy and Economics) degrees in the UK. Lots of leading politics and policy types did it as their major. Wiki as a page on the US colleges which offer it.</p>
<p>Also, some med schools go for a problem solving based program of learning. Yes, some areas you’ll find harder but you have the desire to help society and have the brains. Maybe something to think about?</p>
<p>Is med school mostly about remembering random facts? I really didn’t enjoy that in grade 11 bio. I may prbbly gonna suffer med school… I really admire the job of doctors tho. great motive. great pay. great social status.</p>
<p>Great pay and great social status aren’t the right reasons to go to become a doctor. Unless it’s something you’re really passionate about, it’s not a good career goal. I have also gotten the impression that there is a lot of memorization that goes into med school. To find out if the field of medicine is something you might be interested in, though I would recommend doing some volunteering in hospital or a clinic, or shadowing a doctor, to get some more real-life experience of what’s involved in the field.</p>
<p>As for a major, it can often be difficult to switch into an engineering major once after you’ve started. (There are often very strict class requirements that can make your life difficult.) For this reason, if engineering is one of your top two choices, it might make sense to start out there because it’s easier to switch from engineering to your other choice than the reverse.</p>
<p>Yes, as a medical student, it does require large memorization and little conceptual thought at the moment, especially first year. It gets better though were you put those memorization and concepts to practice during clinic. Before that, around second year, you will be looking more at cases and thinking things through to help you practice.</p>
<p>Like Nano said, I would do some more research and volunteering to see if medicine is something you want to do. If you hate it, then you won’t have to worry about paying off a huge debt or being in an environment you can’t stand.</p>
<p>Don’t do engineering unless you will be able to take plenty of classes outside your major. Clearly you need room to explore your interests.</p>
<p>I suggest a double major in math or physics with something like economics or philosophy. Math and physics graduates can do pretty much anything for a career, including engineering. Both in academia and in the private sector, there’s a ton of crossover between all of the STEM fields, so your specific major doesn’t matter so much. STEM majors can go into almost any field in graduate school, whereas switching over from non-STEM to STEM is much harder. And, if you do decide to stick with STEM for grad school, it’s completely paid for.</p>
<p>If you do go into engineering, I would suggest computer science. The ideal among many in that field is helping people and improving society. There are also excellent job prospects and salaries, topping almost all other fields.</p>
<p>If you do STEM stay away from the S Science. It is a very poor way to make a living in the USA. Science degree without professional school like medicine = poverty.</p>