Help choosing a major?

College Majors
1

<p>I want to double major in philosophy and something else. I'm having trouble deciding the second major, and I know I'm still in high school and that I have a load of time to decide and even switch my major, but I would like to take a look at them now. Research my possible future majors. </p>

<p>Also, I understand there is a lot of criticism over philosophy majors, that they don't lead anywhere and blah blah blah. Frankly, I don't give a damn. If I'm going to study something, it's going to be something I love.</p>

<p>I was thinking of doing philosophy and physics, pre med, med school, and then becoming an internist physician. Not only will I start practicing at around 30, because of residency and what not, but I just don't see myself as a doctor even though I love medicine.</p>

<p>Then I thought of doing philosophy and English, pre law, then law school. Although I love arguing, court cases, and the thought of being an attorney, I think I would abhor going to law school. I don't want to spend four years reading through thick texts that simply doesn't interest me.</p>

<p>Then I thought of doing philosophy alone. This is, in my opinion very "dangerous" when looking at todays job market. And even though I have the audacity to do something like this (and have my parents ****ed off at me for a long while) I'm not stupid enough to actually go through it.</p>

<p>Another option was philosophy and English alone. I don't see any job prospects in this however. (although a kick-ass vocabulary would be nice) Anyone want to shed some light on this possibility?</p>

<p>And finally, philosophy and physics alone. This is the double major I think, for now, I might go through with. But what are the job opportunities with this?</p>

<p>Anyways.
I WILL major in philosophy.</p>

<p>Two majors I would LOVE to do would either be English, with a creative writing concentration, or physics, particularly astrophysics and theoretical physics. </p>

<p>I like psychology and anthropology, both useless without a graduate degree.</p>

<p>I understand engineering, math and chemistry are in high demand, three subjects I wouldn't waste my time on. (I hate engineering, chemistry isn't very interesting for me, why bother with math if I have physics?)</p>

<p>I love history, a degree in it however is a waste of time. (in my opinion)</p>

<p>Business? From what I hear, businesses HATE people with business majors. Also not my "Click". Although I have a particular interest in economics.</p>

<p>I love biology, not enough to get a degree in it though.</p>

<p>Now, I was planning on majoring in motion pictures (film) but the university I wish to attend, has a horrible film program. I will ONLY do this major if I am awarded a full scholarship to the top film school in the country, NYU. (which also has the top philosophy program, by the way) </p>

<p>Above all things, I LOVE languages. I speak English and Spanish fluently, I'm taking 4 years of high school Italian, maybe two years of college Hebrew or Japanese. And ultimately, I wish to one day speak fluently: Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, and Russian. A degree in modern languages, linguistics or classics comes to mind, all of which are useless.</p>

<p>And All other majors are just invisible to me.</p>

<p>I wish to publish one day, fiction literature.</p>

<p>I wouldn't mind teaching. </p>

<p>Also, I plan on getting a doctoral degree in philosophy, and a master's degree in my second major whatever it is.</p>

<p>Now based on my interests, would you kindly assist me in choosing or suggesting a possible second major.</p>

<p>Thanks, and pardon this wall of text.</p>

2

<p>I am going to be a philosophy major and possibly double major in poli sci. I am considering grad school in philosophy.</p>

<p>Read the [The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009 : Welcome](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/) if you are interested in any sort of graduate study. Philosophy doctoral programs are tough to get into and tougher to get out of. Top programs, which are necessary in order to get a job, admit less than 10% of the 200-300 students that apply. Almost all of the students that apply will be qualified and very smart. Philosophy graduate school is very self selective and you will be competing for limited admission with the best of the best. That being said, if your passion for studying philosophy in itself, not for any other ends, continues, then you may be worth going down this path. For doctoral programs you will need to go above and beyond the basic requirements for a philosophy major, which may make double majoring difficult. You will need significant background in all the basic fields of philosophical study.</p>

<p>Majors like physics, which I am trying to also get a minor in, may be difficult for a double major that wants to pursue post graduate studies in philosophy, because physics majors tend to have a lot of requirements which would limit the amount of philosophy courses you can take. That being said, it is an excellent combination of studies to push your mind to its limits and help you succeed in any path.</p>

<p>You are still in High school, and even top schools like Andover do not offer that great of classes in philosophy. Once you get to college, go into philosophy with an open mind, you may end up liking other things. I have friends that are very interested in philosophy that took a class in sociology or anthropology that ended up finding these studies to be much more useful in searching for answers to life’s great questions.</p>

<p>I hope this helps. When applying to colleges, if you have great grades, schools to look at may be Reed, which sends a higher percentage of graduates to philosophy doctoral programs than any other top school in the U.S, others may be St. Johns College (annapolis or new mexico), Princeton, Chicago, Michigan, Kenyon, Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst and Dartmouth. More often than not, a Liberal Arts College will better prepare you for graduate school admissions, though check where the schools philosophy professors got their graduate degrees. At least half to two thirds of the faculty should have doctorates from top 50 PhD progams (based on the Philosophical Gourmet’s rankings).</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

3

<p>Don’t worry at this point. Before you take any classes in a discipline, it’s really hard to know how interesting you are going to find a course of study or how well you will do in it–much less what your eventual career path might be. Go to a university or college that offers a broad curriculum and take a lot of different classes, including philosophy, and (if you’re interested in premed) chemistry in your freshman year and (if you’re interested in physics) introductory physics in your freshman year. That will only be three of your four or five classes, so it will be easily manageable. See how you like them. You will not need to declare your major until the second semester of your sophomore year. You can apply to law school with any undergraduate major if that’s the route you end up pursuing. So you have a long time to figure things out.</p>