Need Advice on Deciding on a Major for an Ignorant Incoming High School Senior

College Majors
1

I’m completely new to College Confidential and I made an account solely to ask this question so please just hear me out.

This fall, I will be a high school senior. Since it’s summer break, I want to get a head start on college essays, find the right colleges, and just set myself a roadmap (which, obviously, can change), however, it’s hard to start when I’m not sure of what I want to study in college and what I want to become.

For a couple years now, I’ve always wanted to become a doctor. The brain always intrigued me so I told myself I was going to study Neuroscience in college and become a Radiologist in the future. Many people asked me why I wouldn’t want to be a Neurosurgeon or anything to do with the brain since I was so intrigued by it but I always thought of being a Radiologist since they got paid well and from what I’ve heard from experience is that it’s, for the most part, a laid-back job. I know it may be sort of childish of me to wish to become a Radiologist for those reasons but yeah…that’s just me.
My Asian parents are not the type of people to pressure me into studying a particular subject but they’ve always told me they wished I majored in Statistics since I was never really strong in science and because math was my strongest subject.
I’ve been thinking upon this dilemma for days (premed route or statistics) and I’ve been leaning towards studying Statistics because the field is growing and a degree in it would help me find really great opportunities in life since Statistics is in high demand everywhere. Basically, Premed is very demanding (lots of time, stress, and money) and I would live a more “comfortable” life doing Statistics. I’m a huge believer that happiness is success and I’m not a good stress-dealer so I’d like to go on a less rigorous path.

My sister thinks majoring in Statistics is really out of the blue and believes I shouldn’t give up on my doctor dream. She also thinks I shouldn’t choose Statistics just because it’ll be less “rigorous”. I agree with her on all those points but I’m still stuck.
I, too, believe it’s too early to decide on majoring in Statistics since I’ll be taking the class as a senior, however, I just want to get a head start on my college application. I’m a huge procrastinator so I don’t trust myself to wait after a couple weeks of taking Statistics and then starting on my apps. It’s hard to find good colleges for me when I’m not sure of what I want to study.

What do you guys think? Is it okay for me to give up on an idea I’ve been holding close to my heart for years for a less rigorous path? I’m open to every bit of your guys’ criticism, advice, and guidance. It’ll really help me a lot since I’m really ignorant about this college application process.

Before I end this, I just wanted to clear up some things you might wonder.

  1. I’m aware of undeclared major and transferring majors but I’m trying to stay away from those options. You might think that’s foolish and I don’t have a good excuse to back up my stance, but that’s just who I am. It’s not something I wish to do and just seems like extra work. Also, I’d like to show colleges that I have something I’m interested in (very selfish of me). I fear regret.
  2. I had more to add but I don’t remember anything so I’ll just leave it at that.

Thanks to those who read this till the end. I know I’m very foolish and ignorant but I have my preferences. I just need some guidance. I also came to College Confidential because looking things up on the internet is so much work and it stresses me out. I feel like posting a discussion would be much easier.
Thanks again. :slight_smile:

HJ

2

If you think medical stuff is cool too you could do a Biostatistics concentration

https://www.brown.edu/academics/public-health/biostatistics/undergraduate-statistics-concentration

3

There are a lot of options available. Being in high school, you probably aren’t even aware of the majority of possible options.

One option is to major in mathematics. Statistics is of course one part of this, but there is a lot more to math. I was a math major in university, and I will admit that while I loved probability and stochastic processes, I didn’t like statistics much at all.

There are many options in the health field also. There are many versions of “doctor”, and many health professionals who are not doctors.

Generally the first couple of years in university involves taking courses in multiple fields that you find interesting. There is nothing wrong with starting university taking a variety of courses in math and science, including some courses which are on a premed track, and then decide after a year or two. The majority of college students change their major at least once while they are in college.

4

You don’t have to select a major right now, in the summer before your senior year. You’ve got at least a whole year - and more realistically, two years - to decide what you want to major in. It’s not a good idea to pick a major just because you want to have something picked, especially when at the moment your ideas of selection are to just fall back on things that are easy or sound like they provide “good” job opportunities.

It is very ironic that on the one hand you say you don’t want to transfer majors but on the other hand you “fear regret.” It’s far more likely that you will regret your choices if you select a major hastily now - before you’ve even had the chance to explore the options in front of you - than if you wait until you have more experience and know what you like.

You can show colleges that you have interests without having decided on a major. You’ve already shown interests: you are interested in the brain, and medicine, as you already stated; you also like and are good at math. Colleges don’t expect you to have planned your entire life out perfectly at age 16 or 17. You can talk about those interests without having settled on something specific. You can also pick colleges without having settled on a major - neuroscience is widely available, as is statistics, and there are alternatives.

Also, waiting until you get to college to select a major is not extra work. Actually, picking a major and changing it later is what is the extra work.