Hi, so all my life I’ve wanted to be a doctor. I’ve always wanted to help people; however, I got to high school and I flunked all the core science classes. I hated all the science courses, I had tutors, and I still was doing awful. So later, I decided I was going to major in Accounting since I like numbers. I changed that decision because I thought that accounting would quickly be replaced by computers in the future. So I then changed my mind and decided I wanted to do Business and Finance. However, in my mind I feel like I was fantasizing about meeting up with clients and signing business deals. So now I want to do mathematics and statistics. I just am so confused and as a junior I feel pressured to know what major I want to do so I know which colleges to apply to. Any suggestions?
It seems you have many areas of interest in terms of what you want to study in college. That is very good.
I’m not sure how much of the accounting industry will be computerised, so I’m not focussing on that. What I will describe is my approach to finding my areas of interest, and how I applied to university through them.
You’re not required to know what you want to study and major in until the second year of college, so you actually have a lot of time to decide. You still have about 6 months before the applications, so if you feel like it, try and find internships relating to your fields of interest, or try advanced courses for them, to see how you like it and whether its a good fit for you. This would give you a decent idea as to what you would likely want to pursue in college.
Its okay to have a variety of interests, so I would start searching for colleges that have very good programs for those fields. University rankings over multiple sources are generally a good place to start, but visit the college websites or the campuses if you can, and see if they would be a good fit as well. This way, you can start compiling a list of universities that you want to study from, that have good programs in your area of interest. Take into account costs, and other factors that you feel are important when making this list.
Doing so, I would recommend a list of no more than 25 to 30 universities, and a minimum of 15. Then, depending upon what you find most interesting (through the courses and internships mentioned earlier), you can arrange the list in terms of what you find best/ most appealing.
Statistics and mathematics is a very cool field, with a lot of scope and opportunities in almost any type of employment.
If you find it really interesting, and want to try it, I would recommend taking some advanced courses, and if you like it, working with a local internship in data handling. This would give you some insight into whether you would want to do this college.
If you feel that your sciences are not working out and want to try something else, you can alternatively try looking at social science majors, such as experimental psychology, economics, sociology etc. These have also increasingly become data driven, and so you’re most likely to still apply your math and stat knowledge in these fields. Another interesting possibility is computer science, because it does not utilise core sciences as much, and still uses a lot of mathematics.
Ultimately, the choice comes down to you. Quick advice: If you ultimately decide to pursue statistics, try looking for universities which have great statistic labs, and internship opportunities. If you have secondary interests (which you can still explore through University electives), you you could take them up as minors.