<p>I'll be an incoming frosh this Fall and have been reading up on all the various majors at my school. I know that my interests are in science generally and I did well in math in high school, but there's not necessarily a specific field I'm overly attracted to yet. The only exception might be physics. </p>
<p>I'm curious how you guys who majored in a science field went about choosing your major and what classes you took in your first few years? I'm worried that with all the general education requirements of my school and the strict course scheduling they have in certain fields that I just wouldn't be able to take all the classes I'd want in order to explore different majors. </p>
<p>My parents suggested engineering, since it's practical. But I'd literally have no idea what type of engineering I'd like. Whereas, I've always enjoyed the high school sciences, such as physics and chem. </p>
<p>This actually might be more of a course planning question now that I'm writing this, but I'm wondering if there's a way to sort of sample all the sciences plus engineering before deciding on a major? I can't see how a student would have time to do that, though. </p>
<p>How many classes in different majors did you find yourself taking before choosing a major? I appreciate everyone's thoughts and help in advance!</p>
<p>Do you enjoy deriving equations (physics), or do you enjoy applying those equation to solve a problem (engineering). In my first semester I took an “Intro to engineering” class. It helped me to decide which engineering I wanted to do.</p>
<p>Engineers directly apply their skills to real world problems.</p>
<p>Examples:
The Reservoir has lost pressure, a petroleum engineer will need to figure out how to increase pressure in the oil well.
A highway is flooding, a civil engineer will need to figure out how to get rid of the excess water.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the physicists tend to be behind the scenes. They solve real world problems too, but indirectly.
For example, a physicist working for an oil company may spend months analyzing data to learn out how to optimize an oil well, while an engineer will need to come up with a short term solution within a matter of days.</p>
<p>An example that comes to mind is graphene (the world’s strongest, thinnest, lightest substance).</p>
<p>Physicists are currently working on determining its various properties and stability and such and figuring out how to make bigger samples while engineers are trying to figure out how it can be used in real life for buildings and stuff using the info from the physicists.</p>
<p>I am a junior physics major but also had many interests starting out. I was definitely most interested in physics/math but wasn’t sure if I could actually handle it so I started in biological engineering because it was more practical but the most “sciency” out of all the engineering curricula. After the first year, I realized that engineering was NOT science and that bothered me so I switched to physics. Even though I’m a physics major, I’m actually more interested in applying physics to other fields of science. I ended up taking three biology classes and a geology class before I realized that geophysics was what I wanted to focus on. That’s the cool thing about being a physics major though, you have plenty of room to explore.</p>
<p>If you’re considering engineering, I would try to start out as an engineering major, if possible. It’s much easier to switch out of engineering than to start on the engineering track late (and still graduate on time). You will likely have to take physics for engineering, and that may help you figure out if you’re mainly interested in physics or engineering (or what type of engineering). There are stark differences between engineering and studying a basic science, and some experience may help you figure out which you’re more interested in.</p>
<p>Your GEs may require some basic science classes, and there is some overlap between the intro science classes depending on what majors you’re looking at. Taking the intro classes of subjects that you’re interested in may help you figure out a path.</p>
<p>For me, personally, I knew going into college that I wanted to major in biology. I ended up choosing biochemistry because I was good at chemistry in high school, and I stuck with it even though I realized in college that I wasn’t particularly interested in biochemistry. For me it was more a process of narrowing down what field of biology that I was interested in, and I just picked classes that I was interested in. After a couple upper division classes, it became a lot easier to narrow down my interests.</p>
<p>The only thing I can suggest is to just try it and see if it fits. It may seem like it’s too much to try everything, but it’s a process to narrow it down to what you would really like to pursue. Taking the big intro classes that are used in a lot of majors is a good way to start. Physics, for instance, is used as a pre-req in many different STEM majors. It’s okay to just take courses in things that you’re interested in, and not major in it. I would recommend trying out engineering first though to see if you’re interested in it, because the engineering curriculum can be very unforgiving if you fall behind. Once you settle on a field, internships and research experience can be a great way to narrow down what particularly excites you about it.</p>
<p>And if you’re in Materials Science & Engineering you get to do both. ;)</p>
<p>What I actually did was sit down with a list and descriptions of a ton of engineering and science majors. Read through each one and marked which seemed interesting. Reread and narrowed it down to a small handful of majors. Went to a course catalog and looked at the sorts of classes and electives I’d be taking for each (including their descriptions), and that gave me a very strong #1 choice. Over ten years later and I haven’t regretted my method one bit. :)</p>
<p>That’s a good question. I’m not sure of either. I don’t think I’ve really done much of either actually. Definitely not the applying part, at least. </p>
<p>I know that I just enjoyed math quite a bit in high school. I could understand it and was naturally curious about it and how to use it. But I also enjoyed sciences as well. </p>
<p>What types of careers could a math or physics major obtain? My parents suggested looking into engineering, because of the well-paying career paths. But to be honest, it didn’t appeal to me in thought. But I literally don’t know what they do or how it’s done, so I would have to take a class to be sure. </p>
<p>I would say I’m most fascinated by how things work. Very generic statement eh? But it’s true. I’m the type constantly asking “why” questions and enjoy spending time learning the answers to that question. </p>
<p>I’m looking into medicine as well, but there are certain things about it not so appealing to me.</p>
<p>Well, the first semester doesn’t give me too much room to explore. I’ve got a writing class that’s required and actually will have to take a second course in writing the next semester as well (it’s a two-part thing). </p>
<p>There is a philosophy class in Critical Thinking that many people take (which fills one of our general education categories) that I’m going to enroll in. And after that it’s going to be Calc and Physics. </p>
<p>My brother suggested I keep my classes to the bare minimum to start out, so I can adjust to things. So it’s four courses for me and the next semester actually doesn’t give me too much room either. </p>
<p>My only option would be to add a fifth course. I’m undecided about that so far.</p>
<p>I’ve always been “good” at computers, but I labored towards BioE under the assumption that I was more interested in either biomedical research or medical school (some of this was parental pressure, some it was personal). When I eventually didn’t get in to the major and it became clear that trying to get into BioE again would take at least a year, I reevaluated my priorities and decided to go for the major that had been there all along: CS.</p>
<p>Things could not have turned out much better. I learned a ton about a subject I’m good at and enjoy, I made a ton of friends, and I am about to start a high-paying job on a cool team at a fantastic company.</p>
<p>Sometimes I think how life would have been if I had gone down a medical path…I guess I’ve concluded that even though I might have been up to it intellectually, medicine is not the field that excites me the most. I am just not that stimulated by the prospect of trying to help individual patients. Developing medical technology is definitely cool and interesting to me, but there are other cool/interesting things for me to work on right now. And if I ever want to work on medical technology in the future, CS definitely won’t hold me back. Almost every field has important problems that can be solved with software, and medical technology is definitely one of them.</p>