<p>I have to be honest, I have REALLY struggled with picking a major. I'm currently at a community college and am graduating with a AS without emphasis in a couple of months. I've been all over the place with my major. I was trying to do nursing because a lot of people were pressuring me to, but I really hated A&P and the idea of being around bodily fluids disgusted me to no end. Now I am doing geology, and I do love geology and I love being outside, but it still doesn't feel "right."</p>
<p>The thing is, the classes that I have enjoyed the most have been my math classes. I've continued to take math classes beyond what I needed for my degree just for fun. At the moment I am thinking about double majoring in geophysics and mathematics. I wish I could just major in math, but what the heck do you do with a math degree? I would like to teach at a community college at some point, but not right now.</p>
<p>It just amazes me that so many people seem to know exactly what they want before they even get into high school!</p>
<p>I’m leaning toward Math/Science just because I excel in those subjects, but it could always change once I get into college.</p>
<p>I really am not too surprised that a lot of kids(esp. CC kids) have some kind of idea of what they want to study in college. I do not know anyone that knew their dream major/job before high school with 100% certainty…</p>
<p>Google “math major jobs”, “math jobs”, etc to find math jobs.</p>
<p>Jesus christ…a math degree is so wide open you can do just about anything you want. You are studying geology? If you got a math degree you could combine that with your knowledge of geology and help oil companies find places to drill (finding domes and ****). That is just one application. Pretty much name a concentration and there is a way math can be applied to it. Even hard sciences, how do you think scientists study complex chemical processes in cells or whatever? Answer: A ton of diffeqs and room full of computers. Even forestry has applications.</p>
<p>Honestly? Probably life experience… This is why I think it is great people say in Australia take a year sabbatical to travel before going to university.</p>
<p>Most people just don’t experience much in high school enough to know what they want to do…</p>
<p>Some people just take an extreme interest in something- or it fits their personality. I’ve known I wanted to go into politics ambitiously since age 13 or so. My best friend has no idea if he wants to do law, medicine, or film… lol</p>
<p>I think most people just like something, are good at it, and decide to just go with it and give it all they’ve got. People make mistakes, but most of the time, people are flexible enough to end up living with their decision. I mean, if you like a subject, and are good at it, and it pays the rent… well, that’s more than most people can say.</p>
<p>some people say its the chatter. What do you talk about when you aren’t working? you are probably talking about what you really enjoy in life. I was one of those persons that did know what I wanted to be 'when I grow up. I became an archaeologist and I’ve never been sorry. I really love doing it, its never boring (ok, maybe sometimes). This is a profession that when I was growing up, of course, I didn’t know any archaeologists. But I did it anyway. So listen to what you talk about when you are relaxed and just enjoying yourself. That is probably the direction to go.</p>
<p>It took me til my late 40’s to figure out I wanted to work with young kids, teaching them to read. </p>
<p>The poster above mine said it right. Find out by the ‘chatter’ you do at the close of day. I used to chat with people in Wal-mart, and when I found out they had a 4 yr old, they were done for. I would start the detail just how they could teach their 4 yr old to read. I finally finally got the picture that hey, maybe I should do this for a living, after a while and a lot of panicked moms trying to remember all my directions as to how to go about it.</p>
<p>Lucky for you, you are making that effort now to figure it out, so you won’t be 40 when you figure it out! (I did have lots of other life experiences before 40, though, that in hindsight were preparing me for what I do now too.).</p>
<p>ivy, I’m 33 now, so I’m not that far behind you. It’s seeming more and more like I am going to end up a math major. I’ve already been taking extra math classes to fill electives just because I enjoy them. Even though I love geology, math seems to be a better fit. I work as a math tutor at my college and I love that also. It’s the first job I have had that I haven’t even thought about calling in sick. </p>
<p>One of the schools I am applying to as a transfer student has a cognitive science major. I am thinking about double majoring in math and cog sci, eventually doing research on the way different people process and learn math. So many of the students I tutor are smart and understand the techniques, but fall behind because too many math classes are designed for students who have innate mathematical abilities and disregard everyone else.</p>
<p>PoshGirl, I can’t think of anything in the world more flexible than a Math degree… possibly certain yogi in India. It can translate into anything from any kind of scientific career (name one science field that doesn’t need a good maths person on deck!) to even most humanities careers… to FBI agents… plus you’re only 33. I wish I was you now. ;)</p>
<p>I thought I wanted to major in Bioengineering when I first started college last semester. My dad was a surgeon and my mom is an computer engineer. From what I gleaned from their jobs, I found biology really interesting and I thought engineering was cool because it was practical and I liked practical. </p>
<p>Last semester though, I learned I actually love math such as working with the actual definitions of limits and writing proofs, and I also realized the reason why I loved college math but absolutely hated high school math was because college math really required me to think critically and conceptually. This in turn led me to the understanding that I am perhaps only interested in biology since I grew up learning about cool biology things all the time from my dad but I don’t necessarily love biology. Now, I’m not so sure about my major anymore.</p>
<p>i stumbled into geology nealy 30 years ago, have had a rewarding career both financially and fulfilling … I would say that most geologists would talk abt geology night and day …so the chatter thing is good. While a math major itself wont get you very far, it can lead … it wont help with what feels right but a math geophyics major would be well positioned in the energy industry -and others such as environmental …where are you located??</p>