Hi everyone, I’m attempting to figure out what to do with my life. But before that, I’m attempting to decide on a college major. I hear a lot of people tell me “oh, your major doesn’t matter at all! Follow your dreamssss.” And then I have a lot of people tell me “study engineering or else just assume you’ll live in your parent’s basement forever.” (Both slight exaggerations on my part, but you get the idea.)
So, I thought it would be mighty useful (to myself and to others like myself) to have a thread on which you wise, wizened parents of College Confidential posted your
Undergrad major, and whatever further education you received;
1st job coming right out of college (with emphasis on the field it was in, and how that field related/did not relate/tangentially related to your major in college);
Jobs/career path since.
Oh, and bonus your ‘passion’ and whether you attempted to pursue that, and how that worked out for you (if not evident from above).
So that we would have, all in one convenient place, more concrete examples of major-to-career, and a better idea of how careers pan out and switch directions during adulthood.
Good idea? Bad idea? Or let me know if a thread like this already exists, in which case, I apologize for cluttering up the forum.
Major: The equivalent of pre-med (she went to college in another country, so it’s a bit different). Went on to get her PhD in something to do with oral surgery, then did the whole residency thing and was all set to become a surgeon in her home country. Got certified here in America to practice general dentistry.
1st job: General practitioner at an existing firm (she didn’t start her own practice because she wanted free time).
Still a general practitioner at an existing firm (not the same one).
She actually dreamt of being an elementary school teacher. And a singer and a dancer. She dances in an amateur group, and actually makes money off of it, so that worked out for her.
Undergrad major: Finance at a decent large state-flagship, then got an MBA at an average school, then (12ish years later) a JD at a law school ranked around 50.
1st job coming right out of college: an auditor for a bank in NYC… Finance I guess
Jobs/career path since: moved up through the bank and then moved to a better job at another bank which paid for his law school. He became a tax lawyer for the bank and currently is mid/high level executive at a bulge bracket bank, now making a ton of money.
You can look at some of the career surveys on university web sites (like those at Cal Poly, Berkeley, MIT, CMU, etc.) that list job titles by major for graduates responding to surveys. This can give you an idea of whether any given major is strongly associated with a particular type of job (and then you can think about whether such jobs are of interest to you). If not, or for majors not strongly associated with a particular type of job, then you need to consider the generalized job market for bachelor’s degree graduates.
You can also look up potential jobs and careers that interest you to see what kind of undergraduate preparation is needed.
Note that medical and law school do not require any particular undergraduate major, although medical school requires some pre-med course work, and some undergraduate majors are helpful or needed for some law specialties (e.g. engineering major for patent law).
@puremuddle. First, keep in mind that things change over time. The economy changes, and a person’s goal and interests often change too. Passions die. New interests arise. Family obligations may trump them.
I majored in comparative literature. Graduated during recession, worked in retail. Eventually got job in publishing company (partially because a high school friend introduced me to the company - and she got her job because she typed really fast). Loved my colleagues, but got bored with the work and tired of being poor, so decided to go to law school to pursue my interest in the environment. Worked for many years at a legal job that was not really that comfortable for me but paid well. Decades after graduating from college, I found a job I love in environmental law field, which totally meshes with my values and abilities. Of course, its not perfect but its pretty good. And I have time for a family and outside interests.
Almost everyone I know started out with BA or BS degrees, worked for a while, and eventually decided to go to grad school. Not sure we planned this, but this is how it worked out. Many of us switched from one thing to another, including from engineering to law. As ucbalumnus says this is a nice combo - though in my limited experience, comparative literature won’t hold a person back.
Also, in general, it is probably a bad idea to pursue a major that one does not really enjoy just because you expect to land a job in that area. But if you do like engineering or whatever it is (don’t need to love it), you don’t need to feel that your whole life will be defined by your major if you have other interests.
You do need to follow your dreams instead of trying to game the job market. You choose STEM or social sciences or humanities or teaching or… because you LIKE it, not because it is lucrative, safe or other such reasons.
Nursing- there are cycles of undersupply and oversupply. I have seen layoffs and shortages over the years so even this needed profession does not mean job security forever. Medicine has changed since my day and now more salaried and it has different working conditions than decades ago.
Teaching and other school related jobs also can change. Never high paying but if that is your passion it is worth pursuing.
Engineering. You need to enjoy it to take the required courses in college. Different fields have different job possibilities. Electrical is now combined with computer at at least one U, which shows how things change.
Business- consider how many successful people in business had a different undergrad major. Engineers often get an MBA and know their field so make excellent people in their field.
Sciences. Not all with a PhD from elite U’s can find jobs.
This is why you need to choose a major you actively like instead of one because of the current job market.
The old movie The Graduate featured a young man being told to go into plastics- the then hot field. Now it would be computers. Who knows what will be hot in ten or twenty years. No matter what the era there will still be a need for good people in thousands of other fields.
This is why you have been told to follow your dreams. Once you are in college you will also discover fields that may never have occurred to you that you find interesting. It is best to use your college’s career center to do some testing to find fields that match you for interest as well as aptitude. That can help you find job possibilities that link to your passion for X, whether it is literature or math or…
Accounting (including 15 years as a stay-at home mom, during which I did volunteer accounting-type work for my D’s dance studio and Girl Scout troop, as well as my church).
My passion was an ill-defined polyglot consisting of psychology-ish/sociology-ish, with some French thrown in. My dad sat me down at the end of sophomore year and asked how I intended to support myself with such an educaton. Hence Accounting.
But it’s actually been a great major to have, because it’s so universal. Every entity – large, small, old, new, public, private, non-profit, service, manufacturing, tech, religious, political, government, educational from pre-school to HYPS Top 10, and every other entity – all of them need someone to count the money, and always will.
Undergrad major, and whatever further education you received: Undergrad- Visual and Environmental Studies (included studio art, art theory, film, design, one architecture course, one urban design course, lots of architectural history. I wrote my thesis on low cost housing in London and Berlin before and after WW2.) Graduate school: Architecture
1st job coming right out of college (with emphasis on the field it was in, and how that field related/did not relate/tangentially related to your major in college): Grad school in architecture
Jobs/career path since: gap year between college and grad school (grant to photograph fire stations all over the country), first job out of architecture school was running the Munger Africana Library at Caltech (hit the 1982 recession). I actually loved that job - it was part-time, one professor’s collection. I did everything. Next job was doing graphics at an urban design firm and after about a year I finally got a job as an architect.
Oh, and bonus your ‘passion’ and whether you attempted to pursue that, and how that worked out for you (if not evident from above). My passion is probably watercolor painting more than architecture. I used to find time for it, because I only worked about half time, but this past two years or so I’ve done barely anything as my business has gotten so busy.
Undergrad major, and whatever further education you received: Undergrad- Electrical Engineering at TTT.
1st job coming right out of college (with emphasis on the field it was in, and how that field related/did not relate/tangentially related to your major in college): Top engineering company founded by MIT grad and a lot of my coworkers were from MIT. My first boss is now a Computer Science professor at Princeton.
Jobs/career path since: Chief slacker
Oh, and bonus your ‘passion’ and whether you attempted to pursue that, and how that worked out for you (if not evident from above). My passion is gardening and diy. I would have been happy as a peasant and Bob the tool guy.
Majors: EE (UG), Computer Science /Engineering (2 MSs)
first job after college: analog circuit design (more like “tuning”/testing only as the chips were already available to us) in a TV manufacturer. (I feel old by mentioning the nature of my first job but at least I did not start my job in vacuum tube circuits. My professor did try to teach us this “lost art” because he knew more about vacuum tubes than transistors.)
Jobs since: Too many different kinds. But luckily, generally still under EE, but become less and less about the hardware over the years. Also, the computer languages I have been using become more high level (I used to program in assembler exclusively for several years. These days, none of my coworkers have ever written any such code except when they were students. Another sign that I have been past my prime age in my field.)
Passion: Not much. (Maybe one in the long past: Hunt down good, age-appropriate self-learning materials when my child was growing up with us.)
Degree - Bachelor of Interior Design, College of Architecture
First job: Junior Interior Designer for a small design firm
Currently: Certified Interior Designer, Principal of my own design firm
Passion: To create amazing spaces for my clients to work, live, and learn in.
Degree: B.S. in Math/Computer Science, minor in Interpersonal Communications.
First job: OS/2 programmer using C.
Career Progression: Moved to database programming using Oracle, moved to being a business analyst and writing requirements. Then completely moved out of IT to be a web content manager.
Current job: Manager of digital strategy.
Passion: Loved all subjects/classes, never really felt like I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up until I got the job I have now. Hey, at least I figured it out before I turned 50 (barely)!
Of course, the commercial Internet and web sites didn’t exactly exist when I was in college, so it would have been hard to know that digital marketing and strategy is where I’d finally find my home.
