Let’s take the example of Physics. If I major in it, I can do so much more after graduation. I can continue in the field of physics or go into banking, or law or languages. But if I major in English, I can’t become a physicist nor can I work in financial analysis. Even Biology majors can get jobs in banking and the like. It seems that majoring in the sciences is the best option if you have a hard time making up your mind. Agree?
I disagree. A major like physics is not a “placeholder” major for people that are undecided on what they want to major in. Physics is an appropriate major for someone that genuinely likes and is good at physics. It does open up a wider range of opportunities than many other majors post-graduation, but that’s because it’s a very difficult major. It requires a great deal of problem solving and critical thinking abilities, which happen to be very beneficial qualities in law, finance, etc. However, declaring a physics major due to the possibility of getting a job in banking or law later on is a poor reason to declare a physics major. I don’t know that there’s such a thing as a “hardest major,” but if one were to make a list…physics would be one of them. If one does not genuinely like physics, one is not going to succeed in a physics major.
@comfortablycurt - What about other science majors like Bio and Chem? They are not as hard as physics.
Science Majors typically have comparatively stricter requirements than their humanities/social science counterparts. Thus, no science major is likely the best for someone who is “indecisive”. “undecided” is probably the best major for someone who is “indecisive”.
Physics, to be honest, has better job opportunities at the bachelor’s level than biology or chemistry. Very few of these jobs are actually in physics (you need a PhD for a chance at those), and the ones that are in physics are low-paying. Thus you could study physics and likely find a decent job after graduation but it would likely not be in physics. I would agree though that if your aim in studying physics is to specifically seek out a banking, language, financial analysis, etc. job, majoring in physics is probably not a good idea.
Biology and chemistry have less direct application to other fields which makes them even less viable for stable employment, let alone actually in their respective fields.
To reiterate most of the points made by Ctesiphon, the other sciences like biology and chemistry tend not to be as widely employable as physics. Physics is very mathematically intensive, and although there is certainly some math in biology and chemistry, and particularly in upper level chemistry, it’s not as mathematically intensive as physics. A lot of the math in chemistry is more along the lines of repeated use of defined formulas (that were mostly discovered/invented by physicists). These majors don’t foster problem solving and critical thinking skills in quite the same way as physics.
If one wishes to work in physics, one essentially has to obtain at least a masters, and one must have a PhD if one wishes to do real research in physics. These jobs are often filled with physics majors because there aren’t any jobs available in physics to a person with a bachelor’s degree.
Do you have any kind of interest in actually working in physics, chemistry, or biology? If these are fields that you’re already interested in purely for their own merits, then that alone is a good reason to pick one of them as a major. The relatively wider range of employability is an added bonus or ‘comfort zone’ for a student in one of these majors.
Of the sciences, the more mathematical ones (computer science, statistics, applied math, physics) tend to have better job prospects in such areas as computer software and finance, where “smart people who can do math” can adapt to (or where their majors directly apply). Obviously, as noted above, the better paying jobs for physics majors tend not to be in physics; the most closely related jobs would be the occasional engineering jobs that they get into.
Chemistry and biology majors tend not to have as good bachelor’s degree level job prospects. Note that biology is a very popular major, so the biology-specific jobs are flooded with applicants.
What the sciences do is keep your options open. They keep you in math as well as put you in a rigorous course of study which may be required for something you might want to get into in the future.
Not all of the sciences keep you in math. Chemistry and biology majors often don’t take anything beyond calculus III, and many of them don’t even take that. Chemistry majors often take linear algebra and differential equations, especially if they intend to take physical chemistry. Biology isn’t a very mathematical major though. It can use a wee bit of calculus to model population growth and decline, and it uses a fair amount of statistics. However, math isn’t really a part of the “toolkit” for biology in the sense that it is for physics.
@comfortablycurt
“Do you have any kind of interest in actually working in physics, chemistry, or biology?”
Yes. I’m interested in the sciences but I’m also into other subjects like economics. My dream plan, tbh, is to go into some sort of finance career right out of school, make some money, have some fun and then go to grad school in the sciences.
@ucbalumnus - Yes, I’ve been reading about the issues that newly minted bio grads go through in trying to get a job in their field. I guess, I’ll avoid a bio major.
Yes it will. Most science students will be taking Calculus in their first year. That buys you another year to decide and at least you’ll have the math on track.
I think Calculus III is first semester sophomore year (Calc I and II as freshman), and what comfortablycurt was saying is that those chem/bio majors don’t generally take anything past Calc III.
I was saying that chem/bio majors typically don’t take anything past calculus III. Many of them aren’t even required to take calculus III. It’s often the case that chem or bio majors only have to take calculus I and calculus II, which doesn’t keep a typical student in math beyond the freshman year.