<p>Originaloog,</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. It's nice to talk to someone who knows about similar programs. I took the Intro to Logic equivalent at Stanford and it was cross-listed as math too. It's very hard. I found it challenging, but did all right. I like knowing this stuff (I hang out with a lot of Silicon Valley geeks), but it doesn't come as easily to me as it does to others.</p>
<p>If you are not going to <em>love</em> your majors, then the next two years at Stanford will be very, very difficult. I did see your other posts. Right now, I think maybe you should take time off and figure out what you want to with your self and Stanford degree. You're very, very fortunate to be there and should not waste a moment (or money) wandering around.</p>
<p>Just because you read Wall Street Journal and other stuff about business, it still doesn't mean anything. For me, I'm a hard-core history major but I still love to read about education, other cultures, and science-y news (like stem cells, veteninary medicine). I'm terrible at chemistry and have no desire to be a teacher. I'd rather spend the rest of my life studying history (be a historian at a museum) and doing something that I can be successful at than to be a so-so but very caring vet or teacher. You want the best for your clients. Also reading about other materials gives your brain a mental break from its automatic pilot.</p>
<p>I'm not the only one in the world who goes off tangent when out of school- my mom was a econ/history major and works in financial investment but loves to learn more about art history and always hits up art museums wherever she goes. My dad's also in finance but reads up Scientific American. My parents read business only if they HAVE to for their jobs. Otherwise, their lives would just be boring. Having different interests is a good thing.</p>
<p>Back on track, pick something that you'd be good at (so you can have a killer GPA) but wouldn't necessarily mind "missing" reading these materials when you're not in classes so you can keep reading up those business schools and business trends. Believe me, I thought I'd love to learn more languages because they seemed soooo interesting but after a semester of intermediate level Spanish, boy, I wanted to be done already. I still look up foreign words every now and then but definitely not committed.</p>
<p>You'll be much happier this way. No major is ever practical unless you want to be a professor of that subject.</p>
<p>Ticklemepink,</p>
<p>Thanks for the thoughtful advice. </p>
<p>Of the easy majors with a "killer GPA", English and International Relations top the list, with Human Biology, a third option. I've gotten good grades in the Human Biology and English classes I've take so far (all As and one A-). I like writing papers (oddly enough). I haven't taken any IR courses except for a summer class I'm taking right now, which I am enjoying (a lot more than Economics!). I do love to travel and experience cultures, though, and to learn about causal factors in economic and cultural development. Not necessarily a career, though. </p>
<p>I was considering stopping out (and even have a CC post on it), but this is a bit complicated by the fact that I've signed up for some ECs for next year (officer in clubs, etc.) that I don't want to skip out on (although I could if it's really the best choice).</p>
<p>I'm also a bit afraid of taking a gap year, coming back, and <em>still</em> not knowing what I want to do. I've been out of school for a while, working, and still not come up with a narrowing of interests. I'm really a generalist at heart. I also come from a very entrepreneurial, and not at all college-educated (think first-generation immigrant) family, so the idea of choosing a major is <em>still</em> really foreign. </p>
<p>If I do stop out, what should I do? I have a list of cool and amazing things to do, from teaching English in China to going back to community college to try out some more courses in a variety of disciplines---but I don't know if any of them will help me solve this dilemma.</p>
<p>Study what you love. And as someone who loves too much herself, it's hard, but you have to start picking and choosing. </p>
<p>Not choosing a major because it's hard to explain to people what it is doesn't seem like a legitimate reason not to do it -- unless you don't want to major in it. Whatever-- now schools are making interdisciplinary degree programs with fancy (and sometimes convulted) titles and students aren't deterred because of it.</p>
<p>As people have said, if you want to go into finance it's possible with any major -- especially since you'll be coming from Stanford. One family friend in an investment bank in Manhattan was a chemistry major and told me that he absolutely loves seeing people walk into his office with scientific or engineering degrees. My dad's in finance and he was a history and IR major and my mom's in finance and she did a psych / more sciencey type degree. Test out the waters with a summer internship next year. You clearly have a lot of possible career paths, and while you should be aware of them, think about what you want to study in the present. You seem bright enough to go to law school or work in finance or whatever you happen to choose. </p>
<p>Personally, I'm an English and Economics double major (and am honestly scratching my head that you didn't really realize that an English major calls for heavy analysis of literature) and while I'm not walking around saying that both are my life's calling, I can tell you that I enjoy what I'm studying.</p>