As I begin to look for colleges, I realize that it’s kind of hard to look if I don’t know what I want to study. Going to college as an undecided major is not an option for me. Here’s some information:
GPA: 3.88
ACT Score: 26
I’m the type of kid who has a small-knit group of friends, and am pretty quiet. I don’t really have people skills, so I think something in the medical field would be best.
I would like to be close to a major city, and weather really isn’t a factor for me. I do want to be in the Northeast preferably NY, NJ, CT, MA. Other states I would go to school in are MD, and FL.
Why won’t going undecided work?
Depending on what you’re doing in the medical field, people skills could be very important, since you may have to interact with patients quite a bit. On the other hand, lab work would be quite different.
For college suggestions, budget and school size preferences would be helpful, as would any ideas about social atmosphere, etc. if you know what you’re looking for.
Medical field definitely requires people skills. It is not easy to tell someone that their relative is very sick, or saying to someone’s face that they have some disease, etc. etc. It’s okay to be unsure and head into college and try out new things until you find something you enjoy. Also, it is 100% okay to be introverted, but that being said it is also important to learn good communication skills. The job search will be much easier if you know how to talk to interviewers, and can market yourself. Good skills to learn for sure, so don’t let that hold you back as you will have to learn those skills regardless of major. Good luck!
It doesn’t have to be. You pick a college that has a range of majors in things that you might be interested in, as well as other characteristics that are important to you (location/weather, size, teams, organizations, facilities, etc.) There are plenty of large-ish universities and colleges in those Northeastern states that have a variety of majors on offer. And if you have more broad interests that could be satisfied with a lot of majors, you have more options.
I don’t get how these two follow. People who work in the medical field have to work with other people all day long. As any professional who provides direct clinical services to clients/patients, you’d have to have good people skills to do that kind of work. Health professionals who connect with their clients/patients often get their care plans across more easily and have healthier patients.
Do you want to major in something in the medical field that you can do after you finish college, or with a master’s degree? Or do you want to be a physician? Because if you want to go to medical school (or dental, or optometry school) you have to get a bachelor’s first and you can major in anything. That doesn’t help narrow it down.
But if you want to do something straight from college-ish, there’s nursing, five-year physician assistant programs, five-year occupational therapy programs, respiratory therapy, medical imaging sciences/radiologic science, or clinical laboratory sciences majors (usually at large state universities). Some schools have majors in something like pharmaceutical sciences or medicinal chemistry, although they tend to be uncommon.
And if you want a master’s degree, you can get a master’s degree to be a physicians assistant, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, clinical social worker, school psychologist, mental health counselor, or medical physicist. A three-year program and you’re a physical therapist.
Why can’t you go undecided?
I don’t see how the medical field wouldn’t require talking to people.
Here are some recommendations, I’ll assume you’re undecided:
-Canisius College
-Drexel University
-La Salle University
-Manhattan College
-Smith College (If you’re female)
-Syracuse University