I’m a rising sophomore and am trying to figure out a plan of study for the next three years. The options I am considering the most are a double major in Computer Science and Science, Technology, and Society (which is kind of like history and sociology of science) or Physics with a concentration in Business and Technology. As of now, my ultimate goal is a management position in a science-related field, and I would rather not be a scientist or a software engineer or anything like that. However, I enjoy the science way of thinking about problems and enjoy learning about science as a whole. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Or just the Science, Technology, and Society on its own, though I am somewhat skeptical about pursuing this type of major.
Any, either, all of the above.
It depends on what you mean by “manager” too. There are dozens of ways to be a manager in a science-related field. If you want to manage teams of scientists - like software engineers, physicists, chemists, etc. - the way that you do that is normally by being a scientist yourself, working in that field for a few years, and then getting promoted to management. So if you wanted to manage software engineers at a mid-level, you’d have to be a software engineer yourself.
However, if you were more interested in high-level business aspects of management - like marketing, HR, finance, CEO-level type stuff - what you major in kind of doesn’t matter. Of course, in the tech world people tend to be suspicious of managers with no experience/knowledge of tech, so having a tech-related major is probably a good bet. But any of the three majors you listed (yes, even STS) would work. That’s because in order to do what you want to do, you’d probably end up working a few years and then going back to get an MBA. Like let’s say that you wanted to go into marketing in tech or science. An STS degree would be pretty perfect for that, because they study how society interacts with technology and science - that’s pretty much what marketers do! You could work in the marketing department of a tech firm for a few years, return to school for an MBA, and come back into high-level management (or skip the MBA, depending on your career goals and talents).
It sounds like your real interests lie in the STS part, so consider majoring in STS and just taking significant coursework in computer science and physics, or minoring in one of them.
Those are excellent points and exactly what I needed to hear. I didn’t really think about the different paths of different roles in management, and the range of backgrounds needed for these positions. I’ve been kind of worried about going into the science or tech industry with a liberal arts major, but I think, like you said, taking coursework in computer science and physics to complement the qualitative nature of STS would cover that. An MBA also makes a lot of sense if I continue on the route that I am thinking of. I really appreciate the advice, thank you!