<p>Most people say it doesn't matter what you major in, ... then how do you pick?! Is it just based on what you like to study? Since what job you get in the future can be really different from your major anyway.... then how do you know what you want to specialize in? What you like? Your passion? Not everybody's passion is school though. I mean, I like school, and I don't mind going for the better, but I just don't know what a major really means. .... how do people choose?!</p>
<p>Many people end up majoring in something they find interesting. At the very least, if you don't have a passion, most people end up majoring in something they think will allow them to earn a lot of money/open doors, something they can tolerate, or something they find easy.</p>
<p>There are really 3 general types of undergraduate major:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Vocational Majors - These are the majors that prepare you for a specific type of job. Comp. Sci. various types of business, engineering and so forth. Four years and you're done.</p></li>
<li><p>Majors that prepare you for grad school. These are typically hard core and if you have a passion already, this is the way to go. Often a department will have two versions of the major - one for the general undergraduate population and the other for people who will go on to PhD programs. For example, most Classics departments have a "Classical Humanities" track for the unwashed masses and a "Languages" track for the elite students.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3) Everything else. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of possible majors. While most universities ask for a major on the application, it doesn't mean anything. Virtually all schools have a core curriculum of some sort and unless you're aiming at something highly structured like engineering, your first year can easily be used to 1) fill requirements and 2) find something you're interested enough in to face for 4 years. </p>
<p>This is also the group that can be considered "pre-professional" (i.e. pre-med, pre-law, etc.) You can major in anything (though med schools do expect a certain amount of science) - your goal is to do well in terms of GPA and prepare for whatever entrance exam you'll be taking (i.e. LSAT, MCAT, etc.)</p>
<p>To get an idea of what's what, browse some college websites, drill down to the department level, find the "Undergraduate Program" links and see if anything catches your eye. Here are some examples from Penn:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.classics.upenn.edu/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.classics.upenn.edu/index.html</a> (where I spend my days toiling)
<a href="http://www.psych.upenn.edu/bbb/%5B/url%5D">http://www.psych.upenn.edu/bbb/</a> (very popular major these days)
<a href="http://www.econ.upenn.edu//Undergraduate/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.econ.upenn.edu//Undergraduate/index.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.history.upenn.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.history.upenn.edu/</a> (almost everyone can find something interesting here)
<a href="http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biochem/vspmls.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.sas.upenn.edu/biochem/vspmls.html</a> (insanely hardcore but cool)</p>
<p>I don't agree with the comment that it doesnt matter what you major in. IF you mean it doesnt matter what you start out in as a freshman, I agree with that. I also agree that freshman year is a good time to explore options. Keep in mind some universites, require acceptance to a particular department, not just the university.</p>
<p>As to major importance. Your future is (IMHO) much more decided by what you (EVENTUALLY) major in as opposed to where you go to school. By future I mean by happiness as well as compensation .. If interested comment and I will offer my thoughts as a 40someting business professional</p>
<p>yes, please do continue</p>
<p>Well, I will start with two examples, if you are at a school that has a career center-- one of the first criteria a prospective employer will use as a parameter is major ... for example "interviewing economics and pscyology majors for a positon in xyz" . If you are an English major, you won't be interviewing with that entity. Second example, whatever your profession you will probably be part of some organization American Society of Material Science, Pschology Association, etc... Which of these is much more driven by WHAT you major in THAN WHERE you go to college. Also, it doesnt matter the school, if you are not studying something you are interested in , it won't be much fun. One last one, even taking to nephews in college now -like in my day- one of the first questions that gets asked if you are interested in a member of the opposite sex, is 'whats your major" </p>
<p>The real trick is finding a major that you enjoy and can make a meaningful career out of for yorself... I might try and share some thoughts there, if there is interest.....</p>
<p>rty456, you make some valid points, but generally, societies consist of advanced degree holders, and I don't know how often people are looking for a particular major. Perhaps here engineering is an exception, as it usually is ( you basically need to get in a degree in it to work in the field). What you majored in might have some effect on what you end up doing, but most people end up doing something unrelated to their major. What I'm trying to get across to people is that choosing a major is not choosing a career. If you major in English, your two options are not teach or do nothing. I don't think people understand that you can do so much with any major, and that choosing any one general major prepares you for so many different jobs, and does not eliminate that many fields of study.</p>
<p>Yeah, DRab is right, lifelong learning is applicable more today than ever before. Information is so much easier to obtain and globalization and advancing technology is causing such rapid change that what you major in means a lot less than the learning, analyzing, conceptualizing skills you learn. The real value in an undergrad major (as opposed to just going to a career college/vocational school) is in the breadth and depth of work ethic and study/learning strategies you gain along the way.</p>
<p>What if I have no idea what I want to do as a career in the future? And I really can't tell what my passion is. It seems like what I'm capable of doing is pulling me away from what I might want to do... like... I was going to just major in English, but I keep having a slight glitch that makes me wonder about it and keeps pulling me toward the Science field. I try to keep telling myself that I'm not good at Science and math, so I shouldn't go into it, because I wouldn't get in anyway. I was considering Botany, and I do like that stuff, but liking something is far different from majoring in something. Plus, there is the really boring general core required classes I'd have to tread through in order to get to what I wanted... and what if after all that hard work I didn't even like it as much as I thought! What should I do... I don't know if I'll be content if I don't at least try it, but I don't know if I can get through the general classes first. </p>
<p>rty456, you're just pulling my leg. You keep stopping at the interesting points! Please continue and finish.</p>
<p>"I was going to just major in English, but I keep having a slight glitch that makes me wonder about it and keeps pulling me toward the Science field. I try to keep telling myself that I'm not good at Science and math, so I shouldn't go into it, because I wouldn't get in anyway".</p>
<p>you hold yourself back. how can you find your passion if you're not willing to take risks? and by that, i don't mean wasting years. just sign up for an activity or club or ECs that are related to that. of course, try others as well, even if half of you wants to run away.</p>
<p>Why would you want to go to college if you have absolutely no clue what you want to do with your life or don't demonstrate any academic interests?</p>
<p>Have you talked to your hs GC?
Have you tried any of those (sometimes silly) career assessment tests?</p>
<p>These are fun, online resources for determining your general career interests and personality traits as they relate to work.
<a href="http://www.socojoblink.org/selftst2.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.socojoblink.org/selftst2.shtml</a></p>
<p>Welcome to the guided tour of Planning a Career. On this tour, you can find out how to choose a career and how to reach your career goal. You can also pick up useful tips on job hunting, resume writing, and job interviewing techniques. Feel free to leave the tour at any time to find out more about a subject just by clicking on the highlighted text.
<a href="http://mapping-your-future.org/planning/%5B/url%5D">http://mapping-your-future.org/planning/</a></p>
<p>College Board Career Browser
<a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/html/careerbrowser.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/html/careerbrowser.html</a></p>
<p>What I was looking for was a free online career interest assessment test designed for hs students. You hs GC may know of something.</p>
<p>DRab and 311Griff, I agree with several of your comments, just not necessarily there implementation. YOu are absolutely right about sevral things (from my 47 years of life). Life long learning and adapting is a key to a successful career, you will change careers, I also agree that the most important talent is learnign to learning, developing habits and skills that will allow you to adapt. YOu seem to be advocates of a "liberal education' --not politically so , but in a classical sense. I have a geology degree and a masters, and employed in industry.. and I agree that just grabbing an employable degree is not what everyone--maybe most everyone -- should do. .. will follow up with the except in a while and also my thoughts on majors etc</p>
<p>A little mroe detailed break down, so first you have the very specific majors. Engineering, Music, Dance, Nursing. YOu dont seem interested in them. Those are special.</p>
<p>YOu havent indicated an interest in Foreign Languages. I think the area specific programs (Asian studies, WOmen studies, Middle East Studies and the like) are too specific at the undergraduate level, probably fine for grad school. So I think you will find that you are left with general areas the human arts and natural sciences. YOu said you might 'just' major in English, didnt sound like a passion. NAtural sciences ---now woudl like to question you if this is all about accurat?</p>
<p>As a folow up to the other note --I wanted to follow up on the comments by DRAB that people arent looking for specific degrees. I dont completely -or even mostly - disagree with DRAB about a major isnt</p>
<p>a career. BUT, it does help set up the NEXT step after undergrad. I woudl just say that you should think (especially by your sophomore year) how you want to get from where you are ... an undergrad at college to your next step .. grad school , a particualr career or situation. EXACTLY like youo probably did in high school... you started thinking about where you wanted to go to college etc... planned your classes and ECs accordingly, did things that you were interested in for club, hung out with friends (I hope just a little) .. soph year made sure you had pre-reqs for jr/sr classes.. as a junior prep for the next step, as a senior finish up and coast ------realizing that college may take more than 4 years, but hopefully not 6 or something... my thoughts again</p>
<p>sorry for typos, but I have just a few minutes and for some reason can't go back and edit</p>
<p>Well, I agree with your assesment that future careers might have to have certain things acomplished, and that might include your major. I don't agree that women's studies, or asian studies, or Middle Eastern studies is too narrow- actually, I think at time's they're too broad. But really, they're manifestations of concentrations within disciplines (MES could be accomplished in a history department with a good middle eastern strength, for instance). Women's studies programs tend to have students take classes from many different departments. I don't advise people to go into these subjects unless they are interested in them, of course, and one reason they should not study them is, at times, the major isn't as rigorous as alternatives (for NES, History might require more). Here, to graduate as a women's studies majors, you have to do a thesis (it adds validity to the major, I guess), although you do have to do that as a history major (but not certain history-like majors.)</p>
<p>dart board</p>
<p>You should really just major in something that is interesting to you. All of my interviers for college said something to that extent. My Brown interviewer majored in engineering, but did international relations afterward at columbia, and mentioned specifically that what you major in really doesn't matter as long as you have the proper background. My harvard interviewer reiterated this point. She was an art history major (because she really like the topic) but she ended up going to harvard business school for other reasons. (Unless you want to be a doctor or something which has very specific requirements for undergrad)</p>
<p>Yeah... I'm aware of that. Sad thing is, I'm almost a sophmore in college and I still can't figure out my passion, or what I see myself doing everyday. Last quarter, I took Astronomy, Calculus and English. This quarter I'm taking Japanese, Chinese painting and Economics. It is definitely a lot easier this quarter. But I realized that I only liked Economics at first because it was easy and I was doing pretty good at it, but I'm bored of it now. I realize it does get harder, but if it does, then I shouldn't go into it, because I don't even like it. I considered going into biology, but I don't really see myself as a scientist, because I rarely practice it and when I try, I'm so bad at it, I can't catch up. I think I'm playing a game with myself. It seems like the things that are easy, I don't really like it. And the things that I may like are probably so hard that I don't think it's possible. I only considered English because I think I can manage it and it's so broad I can do pretty much anything with it once I graduate, but honestly, I don't even like literature. How are you supposed to just all of a sudden try to picture what you see yourself doing everyday? That's a big transition, especially if all you're doing now is going to school, and in general subjects. I don't even know what kind of classes I want to take a lot of. </p>
<p>Do the people that you tend to hang out with or like measure your own personality or what you should go into? Surely, I wouldn't major in something just because my friends did it, but since I don't even know who I am right now, I just thought that if I analyze my friends, I might see myself in some of them.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I'm going to study abroad in China next year which is going to make me take pretty much more general courses, so I think it would be too late to try to get into Science now? Especially if currently, I have absolutely no Science pre-req courses... although I have like two more quarters to try...</p>
<p>Okay, after doing some research, it seems like I'm leaning toward being a technical writer. I like writing, and it seems like I want to study some kind of Science. This has actually always been on my mind, I just didn't figure out or really knew about technical writing. I don't see myself exactly as a journalist writing about news, and I don't see myself in a lab (although this would probably be fun!). People like my writing and my friends usually ask me to interpret things for them. </p>
<p>But I still don't know what technical writers major in???? How can I get there?? </p>
<p>I researched that technical writers don't get much of an opportunity to get advanced?? I guess I can always go back to school once I'm bored. ?</p>