<p>Intervenient, Intparent is right. At least 90% of us on CC in the PARENTS FORUM- yup this is where we are- are working adults with one or several college degrees. Been there, done that. And thank god most of us followed the ‘magic fairy stuff’. I wish you the best of luck in your, let me guess, engineering or accounting major?</p>
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<p>If something you like happens to have good job and career prospects, then there is no need to compromise.</p>
<p>However, students and parents should at least be aware of the job and career prospects of possible majors. For example, biology and chemistry generally have poor job and career prospects; a student passionate about one of those subjects may still choose to major in it while accepting the poor job and career prospects, but a student undecided between one of those subjects and chemical engineering may want to choose the latter due to its much better job and career prospects.</p>
<p>I was good at most things in high school so choosing a major was hard. I thought I’d major in history and literature, but by the time my freshman year was over I knew I’d shoot myself if I had to spend my entire life writing papers. I was good at art, math and loved history. I ended up in a major that included architectural history (which I loved and didn’t mind the papers), art and design. I had to take some math and physics for architectural grad school. It was a pretty good fit - definitely combining things I was good at and things I enjoyed.</p>
<p>My older son has been a computer nerd since he was in second grade.</p>
<p>My younger son (finishing up freshman year) looks to be an international relations major. He’ll decide for sure at the end of the summer. He’s had a hard time with Arabic and IR at his school requires fluency. If a seven weeks in Jordan kicks his language skills up a level he’ll stick with it. Otherwise he’ll probably do poly sci with a IR focus. He loved history and in high school worried about what he’d do in college a lot.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that there isn’t always a one to one correspondence between majors and jobs. (Lawyers can major in philosophy, math, history and lit, East Asian Studies or just about anything else - I’ve known all of the above.) Also sometimes the skills that make you good at school aren’t always exactly those that make you good in a work place.</p>
<p>My son started with the plan to major in environmental science. Which involves a lot of math and lab sci classes. Which he excelled at, and really enjoyed in high school. Then came the Berkeley competition in those classes, and I don’t think he ever recovered from that reality smack in the face! As a result of a process of elimination (namely pre-requisites), he ended up in some weird interdisciplinary history major. That he loves. </p>
<p>Game plan for him is to think as far as moving towards getting an undergraduate degree then evaluating his options.</p>
<p>In a sense, following in his parents footsteps. My husband started with a mind for a business/economy major and ended up majoring in political science, since he’s always had an interest in the subject. He decided in his junior year that he wanted to be a lawyer. In our day, the spring board for lawyer was poli sci. And that’s what he ended up doing.</p>
<p>I must have changed my major 4 times before settling on what just came easy for me and what I really enjoyed – English lit, with a French minor. Unlike mathmom who knew she’d shoot herself if she had to spend her life writing papers, I felt I couldn’t be happy unless I spent my life writing – papers, articles, reviews, whatever. Just writing. Still makes my day. Had no clue what I wanted to do with the major, so long as it involved reading and writing. Ended up a lawyer – perfect!</p>
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<p>Political science and English are still very popular pre-law majors, although no specific undergraduate major is required for law school.</p>
<p>I’m going to be a senior in college next year. When I was in middle school/early high school, I wanted to be an animator. I loved art and drawing and cartooning and thought the whole process of animating was amazing. Embarking on this career meant going to art school and my parents essentially said no to that prospect. (They were, and still are, convinced that art school was a waste of money and time)</p>
<p>So I couldn’t be an animator, what else did I love? I loved science- biology and earth science especially. I loved learning how life worked and how the earth itself worked. I considered being a researcher in geology or biology, but to do work in these fields, outdoorsy personalities were better suited (and I didn’t like lab work that much). Then I considered medicine. It worked with my bio interest and human anatomy was always my favorite. I joined the Science Olympiad and Medical Explorer clubs, I did well in biology and then I got to chemistry. My weakness is math and by the time I got to honors chem, I was behind all the other honors science kids in math because they took honors and I didn’t. There is some math in chem which hurt my grade and discouraged me (and I really didn’t enjoy the subject regardless). I knew pre-meds needed to take math AND chem in college- did I really want to do that?</p>
<p>Ok, what ELSE did I love? Social studies and English. And I had also joined the debate team and the political club in high school. I loved learning about the law and court cases and how the government worked, etc. When I applied to colleges, I kept an eye out for interesting majors. My college has a major called Philosophy, Politics, and Law which is an interdisciplinary major combining history, philosophy, political science, and sociology. I fell in love with this major. Yes, it’s a pre-law major but I love law anyway. Chances are I would have ended up studying it regardless. And I like writing papers. </p>
<p>So I ended up with a great major. One I’m happy with, doing great in (3.75 major GPA!), has some sort of career goal attached, and is acceptable to my parents. As for the art and science interests, my favorite philosophical subject is bioethics and I would love to work for something like the CDC as counsel one day, and I still draw on the side (I create logos and cartoons) as well as sculpture. All in all, not a bad ending.</p>
<p>I think looking at schools, which have strong programs in many fields, not just the “practical” and not just the “liberal art” majors, is a great start for you. Most well known national universities and state flagships will offer this. Of course if you need a small school, there are some liberal art colleges and small universities that offer “practical” majors in addition to the liberal arts.</p>
<p>My experience with picking a major has been a time consuming task. I first attended an art school where I majored in something I thought would be the major I’d receive my degree in. As part of the general education in art school, I was exposed to the humanities. Prior to this, I had never taken any art history, english, or cultural studies classes in high school that really gave me insight into what studying the humanities or liberal arts would be like. I dropped out of art school, and started attending community college to transfer into a traditional 4 year school. Because the general education requirements were so broad, or at least I picked classes in various departments(including ones in which I admit I didn’t know the definitions of) I was exposed to more than what I knew existed. I also learned that when you do this you start to see how every field(including distinct ones) are all interrelated and connected to each other. Even though I may not have liked the classes I took in Political Science, it helped better put into context things learned in Economics, Sociology, Art History, and Philosophy. Even though, beforehand, I may not have been too thrilled about taking a geology class-I wasn’t crazy about the sciences, I did end up understanding so much more about the physical world we live in while shedding certain “beliefs” that I think are taken for granted by some.
Ironically, I ended up majoring in something I probably could not see “high school me” or even “college bound me” majoring in. I finally chose my major of Comparative Literature after taking two upper division classes one quarter in my “junior/3rd” year. It also took upper division coursework in the major I had transferred for(first it was art history, then philosophy) to realize that I didn’t want to major in what I thought I was going to major in. I credit my final choice mainly to the broad requirements a major like Comp. Lit has. In community college, the thing I realized about myself was my interest in learning for the sake of learning. My major has allowed me to explore what is being said and has been said about various subjects that take from other departments through literature themes and subject matters.</p>
<p>With all that said, I think looking for a school that will force you to expose yourself to departments you may and may not be interested in will be good for you. Don’t just stick to one area during your first year or first semester of college. Spread yourself broadly. Know that sometimes a subject is made boring or uninteresting by a professor/s(that was the case with my high school education), and sometimes it takes an engaging professor to develop an interest(my experience in college). Looking back at my experience, I think some of the practical majors are best experienced or completed after a really broad education. Why some “practical” majors aren’t reserved only for graduate school sometimes seems beyond me. I think through a broad education is sometimes how you get to a place where you realize what you really want to do with your life and what you really don’t want to work doing.</p>
<p>We have a strong family tradition of entering college as undeclared. IMO, the first 2 years are a good time to explore options that are available in college that probably never crossed your mind in hs.</p>
<p>I spent a year+ studying film and literature. If I was a better writer, I would have loved to have xferred to NYU and become a film critic. Instead, I returned to math (which I loved and was pretty good at) and added comp sci for career opportunities. I’m another one that sees the importance of choosing something that you are good at. </p>
<p>S1 took a classics course his first semester at college and ended up majoring in classical civilization and applied mathematics. </p>
<p>S2 realized he was interested in environmental science, but when he realized there is more policy than science in ES, transferred to the engineering college with a major in civil and environmental engineering.</p>
<p>One last point, some of the most memorable courses are the ones that aren’t in your major. I took a great Italian Literature and Film course where I was the only student that wasn’t reading the books in Italian. Another memorable one was an Urban Planning course with field trips to San Francisco as a primary component.</p>
<p>I printed the list of possible majors at the college I planned to attend (large state school - never thought of going anywhere else). I scratched out all the majors that did NOT interest me. There were only 7-8 left on the list. It was pretty easy to select after that.</p>