I’m a college freshman, and I am currently registered as a chemistry major on the pre-med track and a Spanish major; however, I am struggling in the basic classes like gen chem and Calculus 1. I’m starting to have second thoughts in majoring in chemistry. Before starting college, I really wanted to major in Spanish to become a translator and professor; however, my guidance counselor told me that I would never make any money. I would, however, still like to try med school. Everyone I’ve talked to, primarily students, has had a “science is superior” complex, which ends up making me feel like crap for even considering the liberal arts.
I probably don’t have answers for you, as I’m only a student too, but I thought I’d share that you’re not alone. I’m a junior majoring in International Politics, also a liberal arts major, and I’m having an extreme change of heart now and kind of wish I would have stuck with my initial interest in physics. I, too, found math to be difficult and I quickly gave up on it and pursued International Politics instead. But now I’m really unhappy and disappointed with my career prospects. It is true that STEM degrees, in general, give you a wider field of potential career opportunities.
But I think in the end it comes down to a combination between what your true passion is and also the career opportunities/salary. If you really love something enough to see you doing it your whole life, then I think it’s always a good idea to go for it…even if it might not pay the best, but you have to have a plan to reach out and connect with different fields and rise to the top. It can be done.
On the other hand, if chemistry and math is really challenging for you, but you determine that the career prospects are much better, then it may be worth it to dig down and just push through the struggles to get the STEM degree.
I’m sorry I can’t give you a direct answer without knowing more. But it comforts me and I hope it helps you too to know that we are not alone in this dilemma. Mine is much worse; I’m close to graduating and having such a massive change in heart and it’s really difficult for me to figure this out. There are a lot of great posters here who helped me out and I’m sure will help you out as well.
MrElculver2424 couldn’t have said it better. “only student”…perhaps but a wise one. Press on and follow your heart. Honestly I think most students feel unsure about their choices (and a lot of adults too). This is why people have many career changes throughout their lives.
Wow, your guidance counselor was not so great. And also incorrect. You shouldn’t pursue a career only for the money, and while you do need to be pragmatic about your career it is possible to get a good job with a major in Spanish. You just have to be pragmatic about the kinds of classes you take, skills you learn and experience you gain while you’re in college.
You can also be pre-med and be a Spanish major.
Also, translators and professors do make decent money, if you actually go that route.
It’s actually not true that STEM degrees given you a wider field of potential career opportunities. Some STEM majors give you more access to career opportunities that are stable, direct-route and traditionally higher-paying. But there are some non-science majors that do that, too. And majors in other fields simply need to be creative and open-minded when it comes to finding a career.
Most students nowadays don’t have the historical sight to remember this because were too young. But when I was in college, computer science and engineering weren’t the “hot” majors that would make you money. Back then, the hot Masters of the Universe type jobs everyone wanted were finance/banking, real estate, and corporate BigLaw. People’s dreams were more Wolf of Wall Street or The Firm than Silicon Valley. Actually, that’s a good point too: if you look at the high rollers in media from the 1990s and early 2000s, they were largely lawyers and bankers. The concept of the tech billionnaire hadn’t really arose yet.
I say all this to say the hot jobs and majors rotate every so often. You’ll find some old articles from the 1960s and 1970s asking if American society is focusing too much on the humanities and arts to the exclusion of the sciences! You never know when the pendulum is going to swing the other way, a bubble will burst, a field will get saturated, so it’s better to make your career choices on the basis of actual interest mixed with pragmatism rather than pushing through a subject that makes you miserable for the same of money.
It’s easy to cast a look over at the engineers and software developers and feel dismay because the route to do that looks so easy - major in computer science and walk off into a software engineering job, done. By contrast, finding the right fit with a good salary with a social science or humanities major takes a little more ingenuity and work. But trust me, as someone who did that work and is now in a dream career with a social science major, it’s worth the work.
I’ll end by saying that I’m on a recruiting trip right now for Microsoft. We had lots of STEM majors come up to our booth. Nice. But about 1/3 of the way through the day, our HR lead came over and asked us to start circulating around and inviting non-STEM majors to come by because we hadn’t had enough of them stop by to fill all of the non-STEM jobs we have to fill!