<p>I will be a junior in the fall. I'm currently pursuing a BA in Economics, and I am about a third of the way through the major, and counting major units and GEs/misc., I have about 42 units left to go and I am on track to graduate in four years.</p>
<p>Recently, I decided that I may want to teach Econ at the high school level (I give it 60/40), but unfortunately this may require me to switch my major to Social Science ("In preparation for the Single Subject Teaching Credential"). This would require me to take an additional 21 units to get caught up with the major prep classes, and then another 42 for the actual major classes. All in all, if I decided to switch, I would have 87 units to complete (this is including GEs/misc), which of course, would require me to stay an additional year or two or three. My question is, is it worth it? I just don't feel quite "right" in having to stay longer, since I am already making good progress with my current major and I would just be delaying things. As a result, I feel stuck. With my current major, I don't know what I would want to do with it and not having job or internship experience doesn't help (of course, I will try and see if I can change this). I just feel that if I became a teacher, the "path" would be a lot easier. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just resorting to teaching because it is the "last resort". I actually love helping people understand things, but I'm not sure if it's worth having to stay longer in school.</p>
<p>I still love Econ though, and it would suck having to switch majors and not learn about it again. Would it be wise to minor in it?</p>
<p>I don’t understand why you would need 2 years to catch up. I think you would need 1 semester and a summer class to catch up and would you be back on track and still have the 42 units to complete, which can be easily done in a year and a half. So you would be looking at another 2 years, but not two additional years (4+2). Switch majors.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would switch majors. It will take you less time and cost less money to leave undergraduate with a teaching certification than go to graduate school.</p>
<p>Look into whether your state has a post-graduate teaching certification process. Sometimes, people who already have a BA/BS degree can simply take a short education class over the summer and get their teaching certification that way.</p>
<p>The only time it’s too late to switch to a different major is if you’re extremely close to the unit limit before the university tells you that you have to graduate, or if you’ve already filed to graduate, because you can’t change your major in the same quarter that you’ve filed for graduation.</p>
<p>In many states, once you have a BS or BA, it is much easier to get an MAT - A Master of Arts in Teaching. Before you make any decisions, check into your state’s requirements. If your parents are paying for your education, I would think you also need their permission, since they will be paying longer than they expected…
Push yourself to get an internship, or at least search out people working in the Econ field to interview about their career course…where they started after graduation, do they have graduate degrees, what kind of jobs have they done, what do they do now, and maybe job shadow if an internship isn’t possible. What do your professors say about the types of jobs people in your major get after graduation? Your career services department at your school should also be able to give you examples, and maybe help you find grads to meet with for more information.</p>