<p>The time for college is nearing and I consistently get the question, "what are you gonna major in?" The response is the same every single time: I don't know. I've been lead to believe that I should go to law school in the long run because that's where the money is but I don't know about that anymore. Now my friend, junior in UMich, is telling me I should double major, which one of those majors being CS. I know veeeeeeeery little, if anythign at all, about CS so I'm not sure if its worth. I know could drop the major if I really wanted, but I just want some insight before I take it up as a major at all. Thank yous</p>
<p>No. 1 - Never choose a career path because someone else wants you to. </p>
<p>No.2- Define what is more important to you- a career that doesn’t pay so much that you get real satisfaction from or a high paying job you really wish you could quit. </p>
<p>No.3. Your lifestyle dictates the money you need to live on. Generally, the more expensive the basic things like your big house, big car, private schooling for the kids costs you more in the long run- taxes, repairs, fuel, uniforms and travel abroad etc. You sort of get trapped into a cycle of needing to earn more to maintain your standard of living. </p>
<p>No. 4 Law School isn’t the short cut to a massive salary. Many law grads can’t even get jobs in the field. </p>
<p>No. 5 Be creative in finding a career/field of interest. There are thousands of options out there. </p>
<p>No. 6. The greater the return, the greater the risk. Starting your own business is one way of potentially earning lots but most businesses fail within the first year. It takes tenacity and a lot of luck. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Double majoring can be a excellent choice, especially if one of your majors is less ‘commercial’. But it can extend your time at college which in turn costs more money. </p></li>
<li><p>You can start college as ‘undecided’. No specific major. Let yourself take a range of gen ed classes and see what you like. </p></li>
<li><p>Speak to your parents about your concerns. They’re totally normal. </p></li>
<li><p>Even if you major in one field, you may change career many times over your working life (intentionally or because you have to e.g. redundancy). Do what’s best for you now. You can’t tell what your personality, interests or economic reality will be like in 10 or 20 years. You only know where you are now. Live this life. Don’t waste time trying to second guess the future.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Best wishes!</p>
<p>Definitely do not go to law school for the money. There is a lot of competition in law school, and it can be really difficult to get a job as a lawyer unless you graduate from a top law school (and even then, there’s no guarantee). Things might change by the time you would go to law school, but go because you want to be a lawyer not because people say you should be a lawyer. I mean if you’re just in it for the money, I’d recommend majoring in computer science, over going to law school. Law school, in and of itself, is very expensive, and it can be hard to find a job. With a bachelor’s in computer science, on the other hand, you can usually find a pretty good paying job for right out of college, and programming is a very marketable skill in a lot of different areas.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about double majors right now. You can figure that out later once you find any major you want to major in, and keep in mind that double majoring in computer science can be difficult and would take some planning.</p>
<p>It’s okay to major in computer science with no knowledge about computer science or even computers. Everyone has to start somewhere, and the computer science tracts will likely have classes that start at the beginning. I had a friend that didn’t even know what an operating system was when she started with computer science, and she ended up graduating as a computer science major at UCLA. It’s really okay, not to know anything about your major before you begin.</p>
<p>That being said, you don’t have to know what you want to major in right now. It’s really okay to say “I don’t know” when people ask what you want to major in. All you have said so far is what other want you to do, but that’s not something that others should be deciding for you. Just take GEs your first semester–look for classes that you might be interested in majoring in, but that also fulfill GE requirements. That way, you’re still working towards graduation, but you have some time to explore. If you’re thinking about computer science, take a beginning programming class and see if it’s for you.</p>