I need help on choosing a college major, and I am unsure which route to pursue.

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,

I realize that soliciting advice online is often times unhelpful, given the person answering doesn’t personally know the asker. However, I seem to be lost on which path to take regarding my college major/career.

I very much enjoy mathematics, physics (less experimental and more theoretical), philosophy (logic mostly, or philosophy of math/science), engineering (electrical devices, robotics or aerospace), and computer science (cryptography, algorithms, AI, game theory, and computer graphics). I also like writing, logic puzzles, photography, cycling/running, painting, and chess.

I know one major isn’t likely to combine all of my interests, but what major would give me the backbone to proceed into many different fields?

Im unsure if I would like to stay in academia, but I would also like to option to pursue outside work in the private sector. If a major is to be chosen, which one should I pick?

Thank you,

Oliver

2

You seem to like a lot of things haha. Mathematics and statistics are both pretty safe majors to pick it seems. Both are becoming more relevant even in places like wall street as a lot of analysis becomes more data driven.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/math/home.htm

The BLS outlook for math majors is pretty good as well!

If you have a lot of interests, I would worry about going into something as specific as aerospace engineering because what if you don’t like it?

3

Looks like math or CS would allow you to hit many of your interests in your major, while leaving room in your schedule for your other interests.

4

One major that may be interesting to you is cognitive science. Cognitive science combines elements from philosophy and computer science (especially artificial intelligence) with elements from psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and occasionally anthropology.

Engineering seems like it would hit on a lot of your interests too - math, physics, engineering, computer science.

You could always also just major in one and take lots of classes in the others. A math major who knows a lot of CS and engineering concepts, or a physics major with lots of heavy math and CS, etc., would be pretty valuable on the job market.

5

You sound like my son, who is veering from being a straight CS major with major interests of AI, cryptography, and machine learning, towards Cognitive Science or Philosophy with classes in formal logic, neuroscience, AI, simulations, and the like. He may change from double majoring in math to one of these areas, or just take a lot of interesting classes. One aspect of his university that is helpful to him is that CS is in the “science and math” school rather than in the engineering school, so that there is a lot of overlap between theory-heavy classes in CS, Math, and Cog Sci, and also quite a bit of research in these areas.