My decision about majors is driving me insane

Parents Forum
1

<p>I'm going crazy deciding what to major in. I'm a junior transfer student at Stanford, about a third of the way through an Economics major, having second thoughts. Before going back to school, I was a generalist, and I still (after a year) can't get into the swing of narrowing my interests. I'm also a bit of an intellectual snob and don't want to choose a "soft" major like Communications. </p>

<p>I went in thinking I would do Economics and English, because I wanted to make money and like to read. It turns out that I don't really like the way that English classes analyze literature (it just seems like so much minutia to me). And Economics (childish as it may sound) just seems full of models I don't agree with. (I wrote a post about this earlier, to which I received a number of helpful suggestions, but I still can't seem to narrow it down.)</p>

<p>Here are the ones I'm currently thinking of, with links to the Stanford pages. Any help?</p>

<p>Symbolic Systems (Stanford's version of Cognitive Science):
<a href="http://symsys.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://symsys.stanford.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<ul>
<li>It's cool and interesting.</li>
<li>I'll learn to think better by taking math and logic classes.</li>
<li>I'll learn to program (something useful and geek-credful).</li>
<li>I don't like to shrink from a challenge. I'll be really proud of myself if I do this one.</li>
</ul>

<p>Cons:</p>

<ul>
<li>It has some really, really hard classes in it. (Three of the most difficult at Stanford, they say.)</li>
<li>It requires a lot of units (17 more classes I would have to take, requiring me to stay at least one more quarter, if not two)</li>
<li>I am <i>not</i> naturally good at this stuff. I am very good at memorizing facts and rules and applying them to situations. I am not very good at abstracting principles out of data, finding the base case in inductive proofs, etc. This is both a good and a bad thing, and it causes the GPA and time problems mentioned below as well as the "learning to think better" item above.</li>
<li>My GPA will suck. This is important if I ever want to go to law school, and I might, someday. It's something I really wanted as a kid. </li>
<li>I'm not amazingly hot on their paradigm of cognitive science (which is more about artificial intelligence than about neuroscience).</li>
<li>I'll have to take 3 more classes in the Philosophy department, and so far, I've been pretty uninterested in proving things like Russell's Paradox line by tedious line in the software they provided for us.</li>
<li>It's hard to explain what it is to people.</li>
<li>Because it's so hard and has so many units, I won't have as much time to do other stuff or to take other cool classes</li>
</ul>

<p>Human Biology (Interdisciplinary Biology): <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humbio/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/dept/humbio/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<ul>
<li>It's really intrinsically interesting. It's a BA program, not a BS, that has an interdisciplinary core with cool readings in a lot of subjects (history, economics, biology, linguistics).</li>
<li>I took three classes last quarter to test it out and they were all extremely interesting and enjoyable.</li>
<li>I only have to do about 9 more classes. </li>
<li>It's a self-designed major after completing a core of 6 classes, so I could choose classes I want to do anyway.</li>
<li>My GPA would be better (see above and take the inverse).</li>
</ul>

<p>Cons:</p>

<ul>
<li>As some people here have told me, "You don't learn to <em>do</em> anything. Because it's so interdisciplinary, you just read about stuff instead of learning a methodology. I'm not sure how I feel about that.</li>
<li>I don't know what I'd do with it. </li>
</ul>

<p>International Relations: <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/IR/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/dept/IR/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Pros: </p>

<ul>
<li>It's more interesting than Economics, and, I think, a more accurate description of reality.</li>
<li>It's more interdisciplinary, which means I get to take more classes I like.</li>
<li>My GPA would be better.</li>
</ul>

<p>Cons</p>

<ul>
<li>Doesn't lead as neatly into a finance career.</li>
<li>The Stanford department focuses on the military and states, rather than connections between individuals, societal trends, etc.</li>
<li>It's more "cream-puffy" than Economics.</li>
</ul>

<p>Economics: <a href="http://www-econ.stanford.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-econ.stanford.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good ol' familiar Econ.</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

<ul>
<li>I know what I'm getting into.</li>
<li>It does give me an opportunity to improve my mathematical reasoning.</li>
<li>It leads to careers in finance that make money.</li>
<li>It's the substantive social science major, with higher starting salaries than other non-engineering majors.</li>
<li>GPA---moderate between the other two, I guess.</li>
<li>(kind of) I will learn a discipline. As in, learn how a particular type of science (if it is that) thinks about the world.</li>
</ul>

<p>Cons:</p>

<ul>
<li>Grr... I just hate economic modeling. I'm taking a political economy course this summer and I like that a lot more, because it seems to address cause and effect, more than trying to oversimplify reality.</li>
<li>It's a medium-size major, about 11 more classes.</li>
<li>The core prerequisites (of which I still have two left) are pretty boring---and difficult.</li>
</ul>

2

<p>"Do what you love, the money will follow."</p>

<p>It's a cliche, but the reality is that doing anything you don't really love is just work.</p>

3

<p>What do you want to do with your undergraduate degree? Why is it so important to have the "right" major. Depending upon what your career goals are, your choice of major might not make any difference. Stand back and take a look at the big picture and see if the specific major is that important.</p>

4

<p>What dmd77 said.</p>

5

<p>If you hate economics, what makes you think that you will be happy in a finance career?</p>

<p>Your post, IMO, shows the greatest genuine interest and personal satisfaction with Human Biology.</p>

<p>About the methodology point: a possible counterpoint could be to say that Human Biology, as you've described it, teaches one to think and judge. Today's "methodology" might be superseded tomorrow, but the ability to think and judge will never be out of date.</p>

<p>You can go to law school with any major--including Human Biology.</p>

<p>You can also have confidence in yourself and say that you are an intelligent person and will be able to figure out what you want to do next (if not law school) when the time comes. </p>

<p>So, in short: follows dmd77's advice. :)</p>

6

<p>dmd77 is right - find something you love, and you'll never "work" a day in your life.</p>

<p>Life is too short to be majoring in something you hate, just because it's more "prestigious".</p>

7

<p>From what you wrote, I think you should go with HumBio. It's something you'll enjoy, and it's not any more "general" then any other major you're considering.</p>

<p>It sounds like Symbolic Systems will kill you. And will cost you quite a bit extra. It is hard to major in something you aren't "good at" at Stanford, and if it's not something you LOVE, why would you want to do that?</p>

8

<p>By the way, everyone, I'm sorry for the super-long post. It was only after I checked my responses that I realized how much space it takes up. Apologies!</p>

<p>Thanks for the "do what you love" advice. I guess what concerns me is that my career to date has been a bit, well, unusual, and I was interested in "normalizing" it by pursuing a standard major, such as Economics.</p>

9

<p>If you're unusual and aren't interested in things like finance, then continue along your unusual path so as to match your talents and interests. Don't try to force yourself to do something usual if that's not the type of person who you are.</p>

10

<p>Northstarmom,</p>

<p>The tricky thing is that I'm "unusual", as you say, but also interested in finance. It's an odd combination. Most of my friends are computer geeks, the creative, interesting kind. And they all encourage me to go into Symbolic Systems, because it's like computer science, the "light" version. </p>

<p>It's true that people in finance tend to be pretty, well, boring, but the subject matter interests me. One of my favorite classes so far was Corporate Finance, and I read business school brochures for fun. </p>

<p>It's Economic models that are driving me crazy.</p>

11

<p>Stop thinking so much. And get rid of your "intellectual snob" attitude. It will get you no where in life. </p>

<p>No one will ever ask what your major was after school is over, so just major in what interests you the most. You sound like you're thinking this over too much. Over-analyzing will only make you more confused. </p>

<p>Go with what you love.</p>

12

<p>It is not hard to get a job in finance if you are graduating from a top school with good grades and a quantitative or analytical major and you're interested in finance.</p>

<p>It is very hard to re-live your college years once you're out in the working world busting your butt working a demanding job which you hate.</p>

<p>So, study something you love, do well in it, and figure out the future when you have to.</p>

<p>If you loved Corporate Finance and are good in math you don't need to worry about getting a job.</p>

13

<p>Citygal,</p>

<p>That sounds a bit harsh to me. "Stop thinking so much" and "It will get you no where [sic] in life" doesn't sound very constructive.</p>

<p>I don't <em>love</em> any of the majors particularly. I like some more than others, but I don't feel "called"---or this would be an easy decision.</p>

14

<p>Blossom,</p>

<p>Thanks for the vote of confidence. :) </p>

<p>The concern I have is that the only majors listed above that are quantitative are Economics and Symbolic Systems. Human Biology is not really that quantitative.</p>

15

<p>To all who say that I should go with what I love---I think that's the issue. I don't think I've found anything I love that can be shoehorned into an academic major, or, I should say, into two. ;)</p>

16

<p>I vote for human biology. For business, there is a school of thought that your undergraduate major can be almost anything since you will learn much of your business specific stuff in an MBA program. In fact, when I am hiring, I prefer to see interesting, i.e. different undergrad majors besides the standard econ and finance simply for variety. My own undergrad major was Middle Eastern Studies and I have spent my entire career in finance. Follow the advice to have fun and careers will pop up.</p>

17

<p>TheAnalyst, </p>

<p>Can I PM you? I'd love to hear how you got started in finance.</p>

<p>And thanks, everyone for your advice on this. It's part of the reason I was thinking of stopping out!</p>

18

<p>Sure. I will be happy to share my story with you.</p>

19

<p>you are normal. sorry. ask any grownup how they got to where they currently are-jobwise, marrage, location, and be amazed at their answers. life is like a box of chocolates. in the young years 19-24ish, lots of stuff happens. if you do follow a few basic guidelines as this post has suggested, you should turn out just fine. we all do. even though how we got there is a suprising, unimagined journey.</p>

20

<p>The symbolic systems curriculum is very similar to the Minds and Machines major our son is taking at Rensselaer. It is a cognitive sci/computer sci dual major with the same focus as the Stanford major, ie artificial intelligenct-logic-human/computer interaction. Most of the courses in the major involve very abstract thinking and yes some of the courses are extremely difficult and overall the major is a very difficult one. For instance the Intro to Logic is a course which should be cross-listed as a philosophy-compsci-math course. And I am not sure how "cool and interesting" it will be for you when you get into the meat of discrete math, algorithms, data structures, sequent systems and diaprogrammic/modal logic.</p>

<p>I doubt that many of the courses which you have taken will be applicable to the major which will most likely extend your degree program by as much as a year.</p>

<p>In addition, none of the pro reasons you gave choosing this major are valid ones IMHO.</p>