Hey guys!
I’m halfway through my junior year in high school, which mean I really need to start thinking about what I’m going to put my major as on my college apps. I know I can be undecided, but it’s really annoying not to know for sure.
Since I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian for horses. But now that I’m aware of finances, I’m not sure that’s the best choice. I have a passion for animals, but I annoy afford college let alone vet school and then debt for years after.
Through this struggle, I’ve found that I’m also really interested in the design and advertising aspect of the business world. I also really wanna work for Disney (whether it was as a veterinarian or as a business person) because they seem like the company to work for. I know looking at my future in terms of salary is dumb, because the dream is supposed to be overbearing of the money, my dream is to travel and help animals, and I can’t do that if I’m poor lol.
So yeah, what do you think my interests would fit into major wise? Again, I know that I don’t have to decide for sure right this second, but I wanna explore and see what else there is for me
Why is it annoying not to know for sure? Even if you write something on your college app, that doesn’t mean you know for sure or won’t change it once you’ve gotten the chance to try some classes out and see whether or not you like it.
Wanting to work for Disney isn’t a bad goal to have. If you had said you wanted to be an animator or engineer or something and really wanted to work for Disney, I’d get that more, because that would mean you want to produce the kind of content that Disney makes. But just saying you want any job at Disney? There are lots of great companies with good benefits and name recognition aside from Disney.
In any case, if you like design and advertising in business, then a marketing degree (or business with a concentration in marketing) seems like a straightforward major. However, you can go into business/marketing with all kinds of backgrounds - economics, English, math, political science, etc. Some majors will give you better skills than others (i.e. economics of course, English because of the communications and writing element of it, math because mathematical skills are often in demand in business contexts, psychology because marketing is basically applied psychology).
@juillet
I don’t want to work at Disney as like a clerk or dressing up as something, I meant I wanna work higher up in their company. I know it’s jot the only company with great benefits, but they just seem like they treat their people well. And growing up, and now too, Disney was always my favorite place, my favorite movies to watch, etc. I’d just love to work for a place that I love what message they are conveying to people.
Thank you for your advice, it was really helpful! I’m really poor at math. I’d love to focus on marketing design with psychology. That sounds cool. Or animal science, but maybe as a minor. Not sure yet.
Do some soul searching, but ultimately, you have to decide something and stick to it. Vet school is notoriously difficult to get into, so major in something employable. You could get a degree in marketing or something business related. Sounds like that would be a good fit.
My son is pre-vet animal science major (wanting to be a equine surgeon some day) and it isn’t easy. If you go that route know that your science grades need to be stellar. He isn’t great in math but is doing well so far. Being a B student won’t get you there. You may want to look at more of the marketing end of things. Agribusiness, or Animal Science and Industry, or Agricultural Economics are good majors.
Understandable. But working “higher up,” by which I guess you mean in a professional job, could mean working as a lawyer, or an accountant, or a business manager, or a product designer, or an animator or artist, or researcher…or anything. Even Disney has many subsidiaries and assets: Walt Disney Studios, which makes the movies and cartoons (and even that includes Pixar and Lucasfilm and Marvel); Disney Music; Disney Interactive Media (their video games and such); Disney Retail, Disney Parks, etc.
My point is not that working for Disney is a bad goal to have; my point is that aiming for working for Disney is not going to help you figure out what you want to do, because Disney hires thousands of people in hundreds of different types of professional jobs.
But marketing and psychology sound like good fit places for you. You will have to do a little math - business majors typically take some, and psychology majors have to take statistics. But that certainly doesn’t have to be the focus.
“Since I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian for horses.”
You have a lot of time to decide. Sometime in the next 6 years, if you are going to seriously consider being an equine veterinarian, you also need to spend time around people who own horses. Each animal comes with an owner.
Of course the financial issues and amount of schooling required and academic demand are of more important and immediate concern if aiming towards veterinary school.
Thanks everyone! It’s not that I’m aiming lower than what I originally wanted. Being a horse vet is hard, I know. But I realized that maybe I’m not the person I always thought I was (a future veterinarian), so that means I gotta explore my options. My math grades suck, which brings my gpa down a load. I want to be doing something that makes me (and my wallet as well lol) happy, and math isn’t it. I only have one parent and no cash in my name towards college, so vet school would be a tough option all around. And I love design, always have. And my psych class right now is so interesting, so I’m just exploring the options. I signed up for business and Econ classes for next year, so hopefully that will point me in a good direction.