As I look more into colleges and their academic options, I’ve become curious as to what other people find interesting major-wise. What else is out there, or what do you find to be an exciting subject? (For example, marine biology sounds fascinating, or something like astronomy). I just want to be able to keep my mind open on what I could look into science or liberal arts wise. If anyone could offer up a few subjects that would be great!
Classics, cognitive science, linguistics, philosophy, religious studies.
It really depends what your interests are, and what majors are available at the schools that you might attend. Most students major in one of the traditional academic disciplines. Some of the more interesting options would consist of the various major/major and major/minor programs that students combine. Often, there are certain “hot” majors that change in popularity over time (e.g., currently, cognitive science, neuroscience, Chinese/East Asian studies, Arabic/Middle Eastern studies, international relations, environmental studies).
Some possible majors (not all of which are available at all schools) that I think might be overlooked include Agricultural & natural resource economics (instead of economics); financial planning (instead of finance); statistics (instead of math); Turkish or Hindi/Urdu (usually as part of Middle Eastern or South Asian Studies, instead of Arabic or Chinese); Korean (instead of Chinese or Japanese); Russian (instead of Chinese or Arabic); history of science; microbiology; informatics (instead of computer science); American studies (instead of English or history); geology; nutrition science or bio-anthropology (instead of biology for pre-med); public policy (instead of economics or political science); philosophy or classics (instead of English or political science for pre-law).
If you’re asking what I would major in? If I could go back in time and pick a different major from the one I did pick (psychology), here are some other ones I would pick:
Computer science - because of the tech boom, but also because I’m really interested in social media and user experience and using technology to improve health. I’d combine it with a psychology major or minor.
Statistics - because it’s so useful, but also so interesting to be able to use data and math to help explain human behavior.
Cognitive science - a blend of psychology, computer science, neuroscience and a dash of philosophy. Very interesting; very cool!
Earth/ocean/atmospheric science - I grew up wanting to be a meteorologist, because I wanted to be on TV telling the weather. It’s still a long-standing interest of mine, now that I’ve learned more about it. Atmospheric scientists use a lot of computer and statistical modeling to study earth, oceans, and space to understand the movement of weather patterns, and all of that is stuff I find really interesting. Plus, some atmospheric scientists study the relationship between human behavior and weather/climate, and that would be my niche.
History - I love history! It’s one of the other majors I considered in college. Learning about our past illuminates why humans do things the way we do and helps us avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
Public/global health - my college didn’t have this major in undergrad, but it’s what I studied in graduate school. SO interesting! It’s more about population health - what do entire populations of people need to be healthy? Things like vaccinations, water fluoridation, social marketing campaigns, that stuff.
I have a friend who is an agricultural economist; he works for the federal government in DC at a very good job! (He has a PhD in the field.)
Physics is love. Physics is life.
That is all.
Soil science: it’s vitally important, and few people study it. I’d imagine it’s a field work intensive major like geology.
Hospitality and Recreation Management: there’s a good chance I’ll end up working in tourism, and talking classes about that field seems interesting to me.
History: just a fantastic subject which can cover everything from consumerism in 1980s America to the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations.
Archaelogy: Last year I spent a good hour talking to an Archaelogy major about how cultures react to infant mortality. It was absolutely fascinating to hear her talk about the subject as well as how her own research played into it.
Environmental Policy/ natural resource economics: I love politics, money and the environment. Sounds like a cool combination of the two.
MIS: My roommate is a management information systems major and she does a lot of interesting work with the school. Seems like a useful minor.
Regional geography: pretty much a field that lets the student take classes in whatever and hand it count towards his major. I like the idea that someone can use GIS to track regional preferences.
Trade school -
Electrician: Seems like an interesting, highly employable field, especially for those who don’t want an office job.