Major/Career Help? Interested in the brain

College Majors Science Majors
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<p>I'm a high school senior preparing to go to Johns Hopkins. I ventured into this section feeling a little uncertain about what career I could get with a degree in Cognitive Science. After scanning 113 pages for advice, I feel as though I've been warned away from every major I could have been interested in. </p>

<p>What I'm interested in: The brain, languages, psychology, medicine, law, and technology (a bit tentative on the last two, for I have very little knowledge about these areas)</p>

<p>What I want in a major: Variety of learning methods and subject matter, the ability to go in many different directions with it (since I'm unsure about careers), something that <em>won't</em> end up useless or that is too dissonant between amount-of-education and level-of-job</p>

<p>Majors I'm considering: Biology, psychology, linguistics (minor only) neuroscience, chemistry, cognitive science (all apparently <em>very</em> bad ideas?), computer science, a language (probably French)</p>

<p>What I want in a career: The ability to interact with people and help them (preferably children, and directly as opposed to sitting at a desk designing products that will help people I'll never see). According to CC, this could mean giving up a well-paying salary, which I guess I'm OK with. I still want to be able to find a job, however, and have a degree of job security. </p>

<p>Careers I am considering: Speech-language pathologist at a hospital, some kind of social worker (Kind of unsure about this because of the low pay), something combining technology and one of the soft sciences or linguistics?</p>

<p>Careers I am (probably) not considering: Doctor? While it sounds perfect in theory, I don't do well in high-stress environments and having a mother who's an RN, I know that I don't want to be totally consumed by my job. Plus I've heard enough stories about pre-med at Hopkins to be wary of that in itself. Psychologist? I've had a therapist before, and the experience left me doubtful of how rewarding such a career would be results-wise.</p>

<p>I'm not really convicted to any of my above statements. I just feel kind of lost :/ I know it's early to be thinking about this, but I want to start taking related courses from the start and looking into different fields so I can narrow down my options and find what I'm looking for. I want a balance between studying what I love and not wasting my education. Sorry for the long post, and thanks a million to anyone who answers!</p>

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<p>To give you even more to worry about, consider the old saying “Charity begins at home.”</p>

<p>Imagine yourself a decade or more in the future with a few kids of your own. Working at a relatively low-paying job that lets you “help people,” you find yourself unable to afford music, dance or athletics lessons that your own kids want to take. You might have trouble putting away money for their college education, or for your old age.</p>

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<p>Haha, wow, that was depressing. Thanks for the reality check. Still, there have to be people who have never been to this website, who have studied what they love in college, and who help other people (not doctors and nurses) and earn enough to not just eke by, right? What and where are those jobs?</p>

<p>I wish I was blessed with a love for Economics and more than a vague interest in Physics or Math, but I wasn’t. And I don’t love my still non-existent kids enough to be unhappy for the rest of my life for them. :confused: Maybe I’ll get lucky and end up married to an accountant or engineer…</p>

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<p>Bump! Please give me some advice… :/</p>

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<p>This board has a curious way of bringing out the people who are the most down about their careers, so you should take all of the sky-is-falling comments with a hefty grain of salt. That being said (and I know you’re going to hate to hear this), it’s still really, really early. Go to college. Take some classes that sound interesting to you. Approach professors you find interesting for ideas. Someone directly in the fields you find interesting is more likely to have good advice for you than random strangers on an internet message board.</p>

<p>Why do I say it’s really early? I found a job in a field I had never even heard of until 6 months before I finished my Ph.D. It is Awesome. It has ZERO to do with what I thought I was going to college to do - and I was convinced I was going to be a biologist since I was 6, so I went in feeling a little more decided than you. That’s what college is for. In the meantime, if you’re sweating it, start scanning through the Johns Hopkins course catalog to find some ridiculously awesome class to take your first semester.</p>

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<p>Thanks so much! Reading your post, then rereading my own post, I feel silly for worrying so much. Your experience is very reassuring, and your advice is really good too.</p>

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<p>Are you kidding? I was freaking out about my career path right before I went off to college too, it’s totally natural. On the other hand, the job I’m doing now hardly even EXISTED when I started college - yours may not either. Congrats on getting into such a great school, now enjoy it!</p>

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<p>Have you considered psychiatry? It’s a good alternative (with great pay) if you do not like psychological therapy. It leans more heavily on medicine, and you will need to go to med school, however. On the other hand, speech pathology is very good, though I suggest you concentrate a bit on child psychology if you go that route. My professor at my university both acts as a speech therapist as well as a professor and I know you need lots of background on psychology (and patience) to be successful.</p>

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<p>@MusicGuru5</p>

<p>One concept behind a forum such as this is to allow for the expression of differing points of view. Those on this board “who are down on their careers” are simply presenting another side of the story. They don’t necessarily have the benefit of slick brochures and flashy Web sites, so a few of them show up here. Maybe they even took some “awesome” courses during college. However, freshmen usually take courses such as “Introduction to <fill in=”" the="" blank="">" which might be somewhat less than “awesome.”</fill></p>

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<p>@OnMyWay2013:</p>

<p>You could do some research on JHU and similar schools to find out the distribution of family incomes of their undergrads. </p>

<p>If you find that few poor and middle-class kids are attending such schools, you might explore whether it is because they can’t afford it or because they aren’t being accepted anyway. If the latter, consider whether their growing up in an impoverished environment is a contributing factor in that.</p>

<p>If you really want to study for a career that lets you “help people” try to figure out what kind of help they really need, or better, what kind they really need and want.</p>

<p>Short of that, go for a secure, well-paying career, save some money and pay off debt. Then if it turns out that you really hate that career you would at least have the resources to try something else.</p>

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<p>@DTBTSE</p>

<p>That’s a really cool idea, but I don’t know. I’ve always pictured myself working with individuals or groups of people; I’m good at details, not so much big pictures. The very idea of trying to solve such a large-scale problem is mind-boggling. I’ll keep an open mind though; college is the place where dreams are realized. Or shattered, I guess. What would I need to study for such a project? Sociology, education, and economics, I’m guessing?</p>

<p>Is sociology a good major to get into in general? I imagine it could give a person some good job prospects in law…</p>

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<p>@OnMyWay2013:</p>

<p>I wasn’t actually trying to suggest that you make a career out of studying who gets into college and who doesn’t. That information is already available from various sources. It can give you important insight into making the most of your educational opportunities. There isn’t any need to major in sociology, education or economics to make sense of the data.</p>

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<p>If you are interested in speech pathology, you will need to first earn a bachelor’s degree, then apply to a two year master’s program for speech therapy. The master’s degree is the entry level for a speech pathologist. Speech therapists work in school, their own private practices, etc.</p>

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<p>@Rousse54:</p>

<p>The salaries for speech pathology seem a little low considering that it requires a specialized Master’s degree, plus licensure, etc., even for entry-level. It also looks like a hard-exit career and it probably exists mainly in high-cost-of-living areas.</p>

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<p>Biomedical engineering?</p>

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<p>@simba9:</p>

<p>Biomedical engineering is an interesting idea. JHU has that, but one must be accepted into the major program. Engineers can do well at the bachelor’s level. Does this field have the possibility of interaction with the patients?</p>

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<p>@DTBTSE What is a hard-exit career? </p>

<p>Also, BME did sound very interesting and I regret not giving that more consideration until after the fact. Still, I feel like I would get bored or feel a sense of dissatisfaction with my job unless I got to interact with people. I like the idea of combining technology with health, though.</p>

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<p>@OnMyWay:</p>

<p>“Hard exit career” is an old, and now rarely-used term to describe a career that requires a large amount of education, training, experience and skills that are not easily applicable to other careers with similar pay, prestige or opportunities.</p>

<p>Elementary school teaching was sometimes given as an example, nursing was another. Almost any career can be viewed as such, but some far more so than others.</p>

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<p>DTBTSE, I’m not a biomedical engineer, so I can’t tell you exactly how much they interact with patients or other people. My guess is that some constantly interact with patients, while others rarely do. I suppose you could go to the engineering or biology sections and ask there.</p>

<p>I just seems to be a hot field right now.</p>