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Yes, and you could even still go to med school along with this and work in the policy arena. You wouldn’t have to work in private practice if that doesn’t appeal to you.</p>
<p>dabate, major in something you love.</p>
<p>The rest will come.</p>
<p>There are careers that may be of interest to you that don’t even exist today. There is no question that the intersection of public policy, science, economics and public health will create a huge sector (think of the industrial/military complex which grew up after WW2) which will have opportunities for people who understand the legislative process, economics, and medicine.</p>
<p>So find something you are passionate about and go for it. The rest will follow.</p>
<p>fyi- I would not waste time or energy on a second major at Yale. It will be hard enough finishing your senior thesis in one topic. Take a broad range of classes that interest you instead of a second major- it will pay much greater dividends. Your summer job sounds fantastic and will probably open many doors for you down the road.</p>
<p>And agree that you should be tapping into Career services whenever it’s relevant.</p>
<p>And checking the internal Yale database for employment opportunities for next Fall once you’re back on campus. You could end up working in the nursing school, law school, some institute you’ve never heard of which will open up a broad range of possibilities.</p>
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<li><p>My experience maybe completely out of date, of course. My assigned academic advisor was a great guy who taught me a lot about quality Chinese food but who didn’t have a clue about the stuff I was interested in. In the spring, I went to a famous professor whose office hours I had haunted a bit, and asked him to be my advisor. He said “sure”. The paperwork was easy. Later, when I formally declared my major – which I delayed because of this issue – I changed advisors again, because there was a specific person assigned to advise all of the people in that particular major in my residential college. He was a great guy, too, but had interests that were very different from mine.</p></li>
<li><p>I chose my (your) college specifically because it had the greatest English department in the world, and I assumed that I would be an English major. When I got there and found my sea-legs, however, I learned that there was kind of a civil war going on within the English department, and that the side I liked best was in the minority there. It had its “fort” in other departments, mainly the graduate-only Comp Lit department. So I wound up as a Literature major, because the Lit major program had enough flexibility to let me do what I wanted, and about half the majors were people like me who were looking for an undergraduate Comp Lit major. (There was a different undergraduate Comp Lit major that had nothing to do with the Comp Lit department, but that’s another story.)</p></li>
<li><p>Obviously none of this was practical. I also took some economics courses and got a business-related internship through the college. I wound up going straight to law school, but I had several offers to work on Wall St. if I hadn’t done that. It was a recession then, too. You don’t necessarily need a major that screams “Career!” if you do a little bit to position yourself.</p></li>
<li><p>My wife has had a really zig-zaggy career path that has led to awesome jobs and significant power/responsibility. She double-majored in Psychology and American Studies, and her first job out of college (her only job ever in the for-profit private sector) was selling wholesale jewelry. You really ought to trust yourself, your abilities, and your education.</p></li>
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<p>Dbate–I liked your “proper dearth of moral fiber” comment! Also, your summer internship sounds great!</p>
<p>I initially read this post because my daughter (a HS junior) really doesn’t know what she wants to do, but science is one of her interests. I think she would make a good doctor because she is compassionate and a great listener. However, it is hard for young people to make decisions about majors when they haven’t even taken a course in the subject.</p>
<p>I wonder in your case whether you could take the first course in the biomedical engineering sequence plus the next course in the biology sequence next semester. If you strongly preferred one subject over the other, that could help you make a decision. Also, if you ended up in a public health or medical management field and decided not to pursue biomed. eng., you’d have had some exposure to that field that might help your understanding.</p>