<p>Okay, so I know employers what really matters is work experience and I know for graduate schools they emphasize test scores and work experience, but how important is your major?</p>
<p>For now, let's exclude the SPECIFIC jobs/grad schools. For instance, it's clear that if you were a English major and only took English courses, you are NOT going to get that Engineering job and if you did not take the pre-reqs, you are NOT getting in Medical School.</p>
<p>But anyways, I worry about this because...well...I'm a History major with a Political Science minor. I mean, my GPA is alright (~3.5) but I mean, are employers and grad schools just gonna say "Oh jeez, no wonder he got a 3.5, he's a history major, durhh"</p>
<p>That's how many of my high school friends and family sees me as anyways. I tell them my GPA and they'll say "wow that's great! but what's your major? oh history? pft nevermind" To them, a <3.0 in Biochem, Bio, Business, Econ is way better than a 3.5+ in History, English, etc.</p>
<p>In grad school admissions pages, it does say they do consider the "easiness" of courses/majors, but how important is this really? I mean, do History majors with 3.5 GPAs really get the head shake? Come on man :(</p>
<p>I’m just kidding, I’m guessing you want to go to Law School?
Where specifically are you applying or are you just thinking ahead and haven’t planned that out yet?</p>
<p>Haha, well Law School is ehhhh for me. I’ve thought about it for some time and it’s something I don’t really wanna do, but it’s still an option for me. I’m most likely considering a MPA/MPP.</p>
<p>If I really wanted to go to law school, I would apply to schools like USC, UCLA, Berkeley, Pepperdine, Loyola, and some out of state schools. But law school isn’t too high for me anymore so yeah, but I just haven’t completely tossed out the possibility.</p>
<p>Wait, didnt you answer your own question? If you have (applicable) work experience, that will look more impressive than your major.</p>
<p>Employers might shake their heads if they see someone with a 4.0 in history (not picking on you, just using it as an example) with zero work experience or internships. They might hit a button under their desks to sound off the nerd alert. That being said, a high gpa only complements your resume… it shows that you care about what you do and are reliable. Work exp shows that you can actually do something.</p>
<p>So unless your friends are the ones employing you, i wouldnt worry about it. there was a time where i wanted to study an “impressive” major that I had little interest in (bio, chem, etc) so that I could show off to my friends, but i decided to switch to something i could boost my GPa and get a job as another cog in the machine that is corporate america and live a life of redundant busy wo-- umm, i’ll stop.</p>
<p>As for law/biz school, they dont care about majors. they wanna see high gpa, test scores and work exp.</p>
<p>^^^ I couldnt agree more. The GPA really means nothing, other than the fact that you were able to complete the “specified work” to a very high degree of perfection. There is a big difference between “graded work in college” and the work you will do in an actual job. Hell, I work in the accounting office of a company over the summer and p/t in the winter and stuff, and I’m already able to do an easy 90% of the work and I have yet to take one econ or mgmt class at UCLA.</p>
<p>To put it shortly, your major ISN’T extremely important. To be honest, the programmers that really impress me are north campus majors that enjoy programming as a hobby.</p>
<p>The only situations where your major is useful is on paper or at first glance on your resume from your employers. But most of the time, you will have a cover letter or experience boxes to really explain yourself and what you are truly interested in.</p>
<p>I didn’t read all of the above posts so hopefully that helps somehow.</p>
<p>judging from your previous posts it seems that you feel pressured to make an immediate decision regarding your future, major, graduate school, and career prospects. are your interests solely in north campus subjects? what careers have you considered? have you weighed the pros and cons of pursuing poli sci/history? if you’re intent on doing MPP/MPA, simply look at the requirements for programs. it’s really important to have some work experience when applying to professional programs such as MPP/MPA. right now, just look at your degree as a credential that says you can complete this type of work at this level with whatever GPA. </p>
<p>I just recently graduated with a BA in history and I’m at the point where I can pursue a variety of different things. So far, as I’ve interviewed, it’s mostly just something that gets me through the screening process – a specific requirement to be met. (I’ve been looking at positions at non-profits, a few companies, and some government-related work). The rest, however, is my work experience and personal interest.</p>