<p>I'm going insane. The more I try to narrow down my choice of possible majors, the larger my list becomes. At this rate I'm never going to major in anything and I'm going to be living in a cardboard box! I'll give you my list. Maybe you can make sense of it and guide me in the right direction. Or maybe you can help me find ways of eliminating choices. Just give me any wisdom you may have on the subject.</p>
<p>Here's my list as of today: Economics, psychology, philosophy, history, biology, graphic design, theater tech, journalism, & film. </p>
<p>It may sound like I'm all over the place and that's because I am. But these aren't random choices. They're ALL things I'd like to do. I just need to figure out which are my passions and which are just interests. I'm definitely going to double major & history and philosophy are most likely going to be minors. But yeah, if there's anything you can say...please say it. :(</p>
<p>Double minoring is ridiculous–a waste of time and money.</p>
<p>Double majoring is ridiculous unless you have a ton of AP credits that help to fulfill some of the intro classes for one of the majors.</p>
<p>Your list is too random. It’s all over the place–as if you’re pulling choices randomly from a hat. Perhaps you could benefit from taking a year off and getting some hands on experience working in one or two of the fields you’ve listed. I don’t think you have a realistic idea of what it takes to get from point A to point B.</p>
<p>I would narrow it down to economics, psychology, biology, journalism, or film, but that’s my personal preference. I don’t know you very well. What are you good at? If you’re especially good at something and you enjoy it, then you’ll probably be very successful and happy with your choice. </p>
<p>Do you want to work with money? -> Economics</p>
<p>Do you want to study how people think, mental diseases, and help people by listening and offering advice? -> Psychology</p>
<p>Do you want to do something in medicine or health? Do you see yourself doing research in a lab setting for extended periods of time? -> Biology</p>
<p>Do you enjoy writing - a lot? -> Journalism
You could even combine this with film if you major in something like communications which often encompasses journalism and film. You could concentrate in two different things and possibly make documentaries or something based around economics, biology, psychology or whatever else you’re interested in.</p>
<p>I put down graphic design, because its something I’m really experienced and good at without any formal training and have been doing it since the 8th grade. I’ve held three internships that pertain to it already (two I’m doing right now) - for a marketing team, a web design company, and a magazine. I think that having 4-5 years of training in it would make me amazing and really help me to hone my skills to the best of my ability. Career-wise I would love to open my own design studio and just work on projects for clients with a team of people. I love high energy, creative environments.</p>
<p>Thats also why I put theater tech. In high school I worked as a stage hand for three musical productions and I fell in love with it. I loved the high stress and everything about the theater. If I did theater tech I would want to pursue a masters in set design from NYU or something similar and possibly work on broadway. Maybe even start my own business that catered to different theater companies. This sounds super idealistic, which is why I’m hesitant to do it. </p>
<p>BUT, as much as I love artsy subjects - I’m having a really hard time letting go of other more academic subjects that I love. Like psychology and biology. Honestly I went through the entire course list for both of those majors and was excited about every class. Last year I took biology and LOVED it. I’ve always been interested in science and I always do very well. The thing is that I don’t see the work environment being that exciting for me. I picture myself spending long hours in a lab day in and day out. The subject matter is fun, but the career might not be. I don’t want to be a doctor, so research would be my only option. I should note that graduate school is definitely something I’m considering - I have the support, grades, and means to do it so I definitely have graduate programs in mind when I’m thinking of all these.</p>
<p>With psychology I could see myself opening my own private practice and possibly working in research. I’d want to study the psychology of personality and possibly publish books, who knows. </p>
<p>I put down economics because of the money that comes with it. Its more theoretical than just business and I thought it’d be something that I could find interesting. I don’t know what exactly I’d do with it though - so to be honest I just kind of threw that one in there. My parents keep telling me I should go for it, so thats why I’ve started to consider it. </p>
<p>And as for film and journalism - I would love to work as a film editor, set designer, or documentary filmmaker. I know the film industry is really cutthroat so I’m not too sure.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re still in high school, my advise to you is to don’t go about picking schools based on any single major. Since you have an interests in multiple majors, the best bet is to attend a school that offers all these majors or a majority of these majors so that you can be able to explore them while in school. Choose overall quality of the school instead of overall quality of a department(in a poor overall quality school).</p>
<p>A lot of those departments you’ve mentioned(with the exception of graphic design/theater/film/journalism) are departments that fulfill general education requirement during the first year/two years at college. If you don’t have to declare a major at your future school until the end of sophomore year, you will get a chance to take a class in all those departments to fulfill general ed. Once you’ve taken classes in each of the departments, you’ll start to realize which majors you really like, and which majors you don’t. </p>
<p>Also, I don’t know of your stats, but based on the majors above, schools that come to mind that offer all those departments(give or take a few) are UCLA, USC, NYU, Syracuse, and Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>I’m a sophomore in college right now. So I need to pick one very soon! I’ve finished almost all my general eds, so its getting down to it. Next semester I need to start taking major courses and I’m completely lost.</p>
<p>If you don’t KNOW you want to do economics, you don’t want to do economics.</p>
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<p>Be prepared to go to grad school.</p>
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<p>If you’ve never done it before, cross it off your list. A technical major like one of those will be your life, you have to know you like it before you get into it.</p>
<p>To me, it seems as though Communications with a concentration in Advertising, Media (Radio/TV/Film), or Journalism would be a good fit. However, you really need to work this out. You need to choose a Career and then pick a major that will help you reach your goal. </p>
<p>If you’re good at Graphic Art, have experience in the field, enjoy the field and can see yourself enjoying it as a career, why can’t you commit to the major? </p>
<p>Be practical. How are you going to pay for a grad program at NYU?<br>
You don’t need to major in Theater tech to continue an interest in Theater. You can very easily enjoy participating in community theater as a fun past time while working in a totally different career. You don’t need a theater degree to continue with an interest as a hobby.</p>
<p>Random input: if you do journalism + biology, you could get into scientific journalism, which is a fairly hot field. Would this be something you would be interested in?</p>
<p>Also, don’t go for econ… sounds like you don’t want it. With so many options to consider, don’t throw in ones you don’t care about.</p>
<p>Actually, I disagree with putting career before consideration of major. </p>
<p>Many people don’t even end up in what they majored in. Your major should be something that you are genuinely passionate about, and the career will most likely follow afterward. If you are this unsure about majors, I do not recommend locking yourself onto a career path this early. Definitely use the summers to your advantage for internships to explore.</p>
<p>My stepmom majored in International Relations, and the last job she had before she took maternity leave was in marketing earning a very handsome salary.</p>
<p>My point being that unless you major in something incredibly niche, you’ll probably be fine in terms of getting a job as long as you do extremely well. Some things may need you to get a graduate degree, but if it’s a subject you enjoy then that shouldn’t be a big deal.</p>
<p>For psychology you definitely need to get either a master’s or go to medical school (if you do that then you can prescribe medicine!!). I’m definitely with LogicWarrior that unless you KNOW you wanna do Econ, you probably shouldn’t major in it. Maybe take Micro and Macro to see how you like it, but know that it is not an easy major and you shouldn’t take it just because you think it’ll earn you a ton of money.</p>
<p>I agree to study what you want and career follows, with a few caveats.</p>
<h1>1 – What can realistically fit in your schedule and still permit graduating without additional semesters? Bio may be out because of this. Can you handle the amount of lab time? At some schools this may be impossible and with added labs it would eliminate ability to dual major/minor.</h1>
<p>I disagree that double major is not worth while. I double majored with no APs and only 1 summer course. I did this because I loved English Lit, enjoyed reading and analysis, but couldn’t justify any job prospect if it was a sole major. 20+ years later, this major provided more skills for me than any other aspect of my life. But, I still don’t believe as a sole major an employer would view it as a skill building major.</p>
<p>I was drawn to Economics simply because I was fascinated by the psychology of it. My study of Economics was more concentrated in Bus. Admin. I had accounting classes and marketing, not just the straight statistics. I found the combination of classes very marketable right out of undergrad (esp. the Accounting).</p>
<p>If your school permits a self developed major, consider mimicing a PPE (Politics, Philosophy, Economics) similiar to Claremont McKenna. This may provide the largest combination of what you want.</p>
<p>Graphic Art – IMO, I wouldn’t major in it. You have a natural talent for it and experience, so would majoring in it really open up more doors than you already have? I’d rather see you choose a different major and have more career choices down the road. However, if you could blow through some classes because of your experience, maybe it is an “easy” dual major for you.</p>
<p>Double Minor – I would discourage a history & philosphy minors. One or the other, ok, but both his very reading intense and may impact major GPA. Either will provide exercises in reading/analysis skills.</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who struggled finding jobs in graphic design, and a couple who cam out making $9 or less an hour. </p>
<p>I think most of your majors would require grad school. </p>
<p>From my understanding, of you want to be a pysch, you need to go to med school. If you want to do research, you need to go to grad school. </p>
<p>I am a double major with history- it doesn’t open many doors other than looking good for law school. Again, you would need to go to grad school.</p>
<p>I think you have to go to grad school for most majors now. </p>
<p>When you start taking classes, you’ll be able to narrow it down. It’s better to like too many things than not liking anything.</p>
<p>For psychology, no, you wouldn’t have to go to med school unless you want to be a psychiatrist. There’s numerous other things you can do if you don’t want to go to med school–get your PhD (more research oriented) a Psy.D (more practical oriented) a Masters, or get a masters in counseling or social work. That’s plenty of options, but you’ll have to go above and beyond undergrad if you want to work in the field.</p>
<p>ABR is right. I believe you only need a Masters to be a psychologist (or maybe a Psy.D). But like I said, if you wanna be the kind of therapist who not only gives therapy but can also prescribe medicine, you’ll have to get your MD. From my own personal experience, therapy + medicine is a killer combo for treating mental illness.</p>