someone please help me with my major lol

hi.

Im so stressed out right now, on the verge of tears. I started college as a pre med major. However, after a couple of months I quickly changed because of my fear of not getting into med school (what would I do with a freaking bio degree??? research doesn’t sound thatttttt fun). So, I switched to Mechanical Engineering. Right now I’m on the path to eventually get a masters in biomedical. But, I hate mechanical. I dropped my technical drawing class in frustration. My brain does NOT work in that kind of way.

Subjects/Skills I Love and am passionate about:

-Life Sciences (Chemistry and Biology)
-I’m very sociable and extroverted
-I’m great at math (and it’s kinda fun)
-I like problem solving
-Helping people

Things I don’t like:
-business
-TECHNICAL drawing lol
-any artsy major or psych major
-not really tryna be a nurse

Also I’m at the end of my freshman year right now and freaking out about my major. Am i in a good one?? like idk idk idk idk help me pls

Don’t freak out. You’ll find calm once you realize that you do not have to tie your major to a pre-determined career. If you like math, major in math. Stop worrying about what career you will have. Math majors are highly sought after for many, many types of jobs and companies. When you go back for sophomore year, visit your school’s career center and ask them what you have to do to get a summer internship (for summer between soph and junior yrs) with a company that recruits math majors.

I wouldn’t base your opinion of mechanical (or any other) engineering on whether or not you like technical drawing. That is a very small piece of an engineering curriculum.

I did electrical engineering…but I don’t work as an electrical engineer but someone who uses a technical background and problem solving skills.

I would not worry yet about careers, but here is some information to learn more. You can look up various engineering careers, but maybe first, figure out what classes you like and take a survey of your strong skills, to match yourself to career perhaps.

Better yet, try an internship in mechanical engineering, and learn more about it. You can still back out of engineering with an engineering degree, so don’t worry year about that.

Engineering majors can work in the following areas–product development, manufacturing, sales, marketing.
They can also get a law degree and become a patent attorney. You would need to like to read and write to
become a patent attorney. its a lot of solitary work! And its more writing than math. Do you like math? Business is another option, so people management, but its hard to predict now if you will like leading groups of people, so don’t focus on that yet.

Basically engineers focus on building things, does that excite you? Pharmaceutical related engineers build
factories to manufacture drugs for instance. Or, scale up a lab process that makes a drug into an industrial sized process.

How good are you at math? Have you considered combining computer science/data science with biology?
Look up bioinformatics. That is part of some masters programs in biomedical engineering. Some mechanical engineers learn how to design orthodics for feet. There are degrees at U of Texas Austin for that field, masters degrees that lead to internships in the field of orthodics.

Spend some time reading about product development. It involves some creativity, some incremental work, so improve
the product already out there.

If you want to combine heath and engineering, you could also get a masters degree in public health.
That involves analyzing data thats used for human good, so epidemiology is part of that. Convincing parents
to vaccinate children, see the measles outbreak on the west coast. Much to do for public health!

Ask yourself to you like to design things? I am not sure what you mean by drawing, are you talking about CAD design? Most mechanical engineers understand design. If you prefer biochemistry, you may want to focus on careers in pharmaceuticals, and that means take fluid mechanics and thermodynamics or maybe look at chemical engineering as a major. Do you like chemistry? Do you want to take organic chemistry?

You have plenty of time to decide. Try to take a public health class, and also take some chemical engineering classes too. Is your university flexible enough that you can build your own major? Try that! Take control !

Speak with an advisor at your school. Ask your career services about any tests they have to help you narrow down your interests and skill sets.

Talk to adults in a variety of industries. Either through your college’s alumni group, or through family and friends networks. Ask for an interview or a job shadow day to discover the reality of a job.

Talk to your pharmacist, your own doctor, etc. Go to your library and ask for the occupational handbook. It will be a reference book full of job titles that can jumpstart you with some ideas.

I knew someone really stuck, no clue what to do with their life. He literally struck up a conversation with a stranger who had an interesting job. My relative was fascinated, inspired, and switched his education plans. Thirty years later he is still doing that job and loves it.

Ask your own family for help networking. They can help connect you with relatives that have jobs you have interest in.

Think about jobs that are dying out vs. jobs that are still in infancy or jobs that will always have demand. Education and Healthcare will always have jobs. But explore the variety of jobs in each of those sectors. Healthcare and Nutrition, Public Health, elder care. It is more than just doctor or nurse. Same with education.

Why did you choose Engineering to switch into? I suggest you use your Fall Semester to explore several different types of classes.

Use your summer to explore! It is not too late.