Major in business or health??

College Majors
1

I really don’t know what I want to do with my life, but I’m probably overthinking everything.
I’m a sophomore at a CC and I have to decide what classes to take for next semester like RIGHT NOW and basically plan out my entire college career. I’m transferring to a university next Fall. I’m taking gen ed classes right now to see which one I like best.

Macroeconomics: I actually kind of like this class, and I actually understand it.
Cellular & Molecular Biology: I hate this class. Every time I’m in class, I get so, so bored. It could just be the professor though.
Calculus 1: Not my favorite class. It’s actually really difficult for me.
English: Have always loved it, still do. Love reading and writing, writing in particular.

My mom really, really wants me to become a physical therapist. She’s been pressuring me to consider it everyday and we talk about this kind of stuff almost everyday; she just really wants me to have a well-paying career after graduating and says that physical therapists are in high demand. She also says that the job is practically stress-free. I know that physical therapy is a great profession, but I’ve never been into health or science, and I’ve always been such a shy, reserved kind of person. I’ve never been a “people person.” I know you don’t have to necessarily be outgoing to be a physical therapist though.

With business, I feel like it’s something that might interest me. This may sound a bit weird, but I wouldn’t mind having a desk job, and I don’t mind the thought of going to work to an office everyday. I’m fine with doing simple calculations and such, and I like routine.

I’ve looked into careers like market research or database admin, but I can’t seem to choose between the two. The overview of what market research analysts do interests me, like figuring out what people like and what sells, etc. And DBAs work in business and technology and with data, something that I could see myself doing.

One downside of business is that I feel that it would also be a bit “risky.” Nobody in my family is really in business, they’re all in health careers. If I majored in health, I know I would have a lot of people to ask for advice and I feel I have more of a “straight path” to a career, if that makes sense.

I’ve always been a tech geek as well, but programming is something that never really clicked for me. Therefore I don’t think I would major in CS>

Any help is appreciated, and thank you for reading all of this if you’ve gotten this far.

2

If you are not into health or science, then you don’t really want to be a physical therapist. I understand your mom’s anxiety - every parent wants their kid to be successful. But there are many careers out there - PT is only one of them. You’ll be unhappy if you shoehorn yourself into a career you don’t want. (Also, unless she herself is a physical therapist, she can’t say that the job is “practically stress-free.”

It doesn’t sound weird to want a desk job - most people these days probably work a desk job. I work a desk job and I love it. My field is actually a cousin to market research, and I really like it. You can combine business and tech - tech companies have a ton of business folks work for them, like program managers, marketers, managers, finance folks, accountants, etc. Many of those jobs fields are plentiful and quite lucrative (especially accounting and finance!)

You don’t have to choose between market research and database admin now - you just need to develop some skills that you could deploy in either. Fortunately, there’s some overlap - statistical analysis, some programming, communication skills, SQL. You could potentially move between the two or have a role that combines them, like being a database administrator or the quant/data person on a team of market researchers.

Most people don’t have a straight path to a career. Don’t shy away from something that you really like because it may take a little footwork on your part. There are plenty of ways to find people to ask for advice if you don’t go into the same field as your family.