Totally paralyzed on choice of major

Parent Cafe
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<p>I am currently a freshman, but need to start planning around my major now. I would love to hear parent feedback about their own experiences or the experiences of their children.</p>

<p>I have a few thoughts about major; some of these options are more practical than others.</p>

<p>My situation is as follows:</p>

<p>1) I don't have any one field that I must study. When one says "follow your passion," I cannot because I enjoy many disciplines, but there is none that I feel compelled to major in. Thus, this statement is not helpful.</p>

<p>2) Writing papers is almost always painful. There have been a few in my educational career that I have enjoyed writing, but for the most part it is not enjoyable. The subjects may be, talking about them may be, researching them may be, but the actual writing is never something to which I look forward. I think this is related to number 3.</p>

<p>3) My college requires a senior thesis for non-engineering students (the latter need not write one). I'm just not sure that there is anything I would want to contribute to these fields. I love learning and I love knowledge, but I enjoy taking it in. Not necessarily contributing to it. I really enjoy learning languages, for example, because there is a clear end point and I don't have to do any interpretation. I enjoy learning about history, but would rather write research papers than thesis-based papers. I would rather someone talk to me about interpretations of a piece of literature than come up with them on my own, although there have been exceptions to this in the past.If I were to major in Classics, for example, I would love translating all of the texts. I would not enjoy analyzing them in an original manner as much. </p>

<p>In light of these facts, I'm wondering whether it would make sense to major in a quantitative field, although I've never identified myself as a math/science person versus a humanities person (or vice-versa, which is perhaps why choosing a major has been so frustratingly difficult). Choosing such a major seems weird to me for some reason, but it may make the most sense. I'm also concerned about job opportunities post-graduation.</p>

<p>Thoughts and advice are much appreciated; thank you!</p>

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<p>I don’t think your choice of a major should be based on avoiding the requirement to write a thesis based on an original theme. It seems you will have to write a senior thesis even if you choose to major in a natural science or math, is that correct?</p>

<p>Choose a field that interests you. As you study the field in more depth, it is likely that you will develop some interest in presenting your own thesis and defending it.</p>

<p>I have two undergrad. degrees, one in history and one in biochemistry. I do not recommend majoring in a natural science for spurious reasons. It is a lot of work; that work is joy for those with an unforced interest in scientific research, but tedious and stressful for those who don’t really love that sort of inquiry.</p>

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<p>“There have been a few in my educational career that I have enjoyed writing”
Why did you like writing those papers? What did they have in common? Was it a particular topic or process?</p>

<p>Which classes have you enjoyed the most so far? Why?</p>

<p>This problem calls for some serious self-reflection, and some interest and aptitude testing, which is probably available at your college career center.</p>

<p>Please keep in mind that a senior thesis can be an extremely rewarding experience, especially because you have the opportunity to work closely with the professor who is advising you. You will end up developing a relationship with this professor, and he or she will help you with your future and will write recommendations for you, so it is worth the effort to write the thesis.</p>

<p>In any case, you may just need to have a little more time and more exploration before you decide on a major. Most colleges require the declaration at the end of your sophomore year. So you could take a quantitative course and see if you like it.
Good luck!</p>

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<p>I would not major in natural science or math; I would probably major in an applied math/finance engineering field.</p>

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<p>One problem is that I have several fields in which I am interested. The second is that I am reluctant to commit myself to writing 100 pages without knowing for sure that I will want to. At this point, I have absolutely no reason to believe I will develop a particular topic on which I want to write a thesis because fundamentally that’s not something I enjoy doing – I would much rather solve practical problems than discuss theoretical concepts.</p>

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<p>I enjoyed a course on finance (specific topic, but that was the general area) last semester. I also enjoy learning languages (I am learning another one now), as I said. Unfortunately, finance is not an available major. </p>

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<p>I forgot to mention that I’m basically incapable of self-reflection, but that’s another issue. I will investigate the aptitude testing.</p>

<p>Also, I am able to write a thesis if I would like, regardless of major or school (A&S or S&E). </p>

<p>I also have narrowed it down to a handful of majors, but I must decide this semester because of the engineering school rules and prerequisites.</p>

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<p>Would you like to try something like international business, if it’s available?
Yes you’ll have to write papers. But don’t let that scare you. You need to overcome your mindset. Paper is not bad when you write something that interests you.</p>

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I don’t know about your college, but at mine foreign language classes are literature based after the 2nd year. Just throwing it out there…</p>

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<p>I am at Princeton, so Intl. Business is unfortunately not available.</p>

<p>I am not frightened of papers, it’s that I simply do not enjoy writing them – my high school was very writing focus and I obviously struggled through four years of paper writing. Nor is it an issue of finding a topic that interests me – I simply do not like writing in an academic context at all.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I love writing editorials and news articles. It’s quite bizarre, really.</p>

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<p>Exactly. Which is why I enjoy learning them, not analyzing literature in them. I would rather take an English class where the teacher lectures the entire time than one where there’s class discussion. In fact, the English classes at my high school that I enjoyed the most were precisely the ones in which a very knowledgeable teacher basically imparted knowledge to us.</p>

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<p>Did I miss something? Why do you have to decide your major so soon?</p>

<p>Oh- the engineering school pre-reqs. Okay. </p>

<p>I don’t really think you should major in engineering just to avoid writing a thesis. It doesn’t sound like you’re terrible at it, because you obviously made it into Princeton. Have you spoken to the writing center on campus? Or even an academic advisor?</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t be majoring in engineering to avoid a thesis, that would be silly. I’m simply asking whether there is legitimacy in that being a criterion, given that I don’t actually have some major that requires a thesis that I want to study way more than one of the engineering majors.</p>

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<p>Let me try:

  • Accounting, Banking, Finance
  • Biology, biochem
  • Math, Computer science</p>
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<p>What would you major in if you transferred to a college that does not require a thesis?</p>

<p>If you can answer that question easily, maybe that’s the field you should major in at Princeton.</p>

<p>And if the thought of writing a thesis is paralyzing you, maybe actually transferring might be a reasonable idea. </p>

<p>There are plenty of students out there who crossed Princeton off their lists because of the thesis requirement. You would just be doing it a little late in the game.</p>

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<p>There are so many misconceptions floating around in your whine, that it’s hard to know where to begin. What makes you think that a practical, problem-solving thesis would not be acceptable? Or a research-based thesis that used original source materials to address a specific question? Most academic writing is like that. Undergraduates may love to spout off on theory – I certainly did – but they rarely have anything real to contribute there. I am certain that you could write a great Princeton thesis that was just the sort of thing you value most.</p>

<p>On the other hand, you are pretty dense if you think something like translating a complex text from one language to another doesn’t involve a hunka-hunka interpretation. Read a couple of different translations of the same thing. Why do you think they differ? And, frankly, you don’t need to be at Princeton to learn a few thousand vocabulary words and some grammar in a foreign language. I like learning languages, too, but it’s not really higher education. It sounds like you may need to get out of your comfort zone a bit and understand what Princeton is challenging you to learn.</p>

<p>Finally, if you are not going to be choosing an engineering major, you don’t have to choose yet. Talk to your advisor about how you can use your next two semesters to help you make this decision.</p>

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<p>What about economics, the dismal science? ;)</p>

<p>I always enjoyed my economics courses because it invariably involved politics with analytical thinking…without too many papers. Don’t worry about the thesis…but going into it with the attitude that you’re not going to contribute something worthwile is self-defeating.</p>

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<p>I don’t know what it’s like to take upper division courses in Art History(I’m taking my first one this upcoming quarter), but I’ve found that in the lower division courses in Art History, so much of your exams or papers will be heavily influenced by the teacher’s “interpretation” or lecture.
In terms of writing papers, I find it easier to write a paper for an Art History class than a literature class.
If I were you, I would personally go through your school’s catalog of classes, and circle all the classes that interest you or you think would interest you. After you’re done, sit down and look at your top 3 choices and explore them further. Once you’ve done this, there might be one clear major that interests you. That, or you can always double major, or minor?</p>

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<p>Is there a campus website where students rank classes and profs? You could see which department sounds like a happy world. I’m not kidding. I found the Biology department at my university to be full of competitive pre-meds but the Wildlife Department had the kids who loved nature and being with friends. Total different atmosphere. </p>

<p>We just recently ordered the Dragon Naturally speaking software – including the voice recorder. I’m hoping that being able to walk and talk and have record/transfer to words function will help S get all his great thoughts onto the page. He’s bright and creative but can just freeze when staring at a blank page or screen.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input everyone – I really appreciate it and I will definitely follow up on some of the leads posted.</p>

<p>@Marian: Definitely staying at Princeton! I love it here.</p>

<p>@JHS: Thanks for the response. A few clarifications – </p>

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<p>Interestingly, the fields in which I’m interested don’t have “practical, problem-solving” thesis material for the most part, e.g. Classics. That’s part of the problem I’m having! Having read a lot of academic writing, I can tell you that it appeals to me on no level, which again is part of the problem – I simply do not like to come up with original claims, even if they are answering a specific question (I also have a tendency to be too factual in my papers already). I would much rather work on a problem set than write a paper, although I sometimes enjoy humanities material more. That’s the big incongruity that’s driving me crazy!</p>

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<p>Stylistic difference. When I’m translating (Latin in particular), the appeal is in how everything fits together grammatically, not in finding the most beautiful reading. So although I agree with you, I do not approach languages that way. If I look for aesthetics, I look directly to the Latin sentence structure (and approach this mechanically) or consider the translations themselves.</p>

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<p>The problem is that I can learn a lot of different things from Princeton. Some people don’t get math. Others do not get literary analysis. They accept this and move on, learning what and how they learn best. My case is especially aggravating to me – there is a huge disconnect between my interest in the material and my interest in how the material is presented, at least for humanities. And I’m just not sure that I would be willing to go through three painful years that are avoidable if I pick a quantitative major.</p>

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<p>Baelor, your instinct may well be right that you should do something quanty rather than Classics, but I do think that your impression of what are valid things to do in the humanities is a little off. As an undergraduate, I was theory-drunk, but I had a cousin who was an English major at Harvard (and later an English professor at Princeton) who wrote HIS honors thesis on some grammatical problem in Piers Plowman that affected interpretation. It bored me to tears, but that sort of thing may be right up your alley. And you should seek out some literary historicists. A few years ago, I had a long conversation with someone at Berkeley who was devoting all his time to reconstructing the state of Holderlin’s scientific knowledge so that one could better understand what his occasional scientific metaphors meant. Believe me, this was very precise, defined work, not flights of theoretical fancy, and this guy was a star. (Of course, he was also conversant with the theoretical approach he was using vs. other theoretical approaches, but he probably thought about that stuff 15 minutes a year. Most of the time he was doing work, not debating what sort of work he should be doing.) And while historicism is perhaps somewhat controversial in English departments, it seems to be regarded as utterly natural in Classics departments. And if you really like that sort of meat-and-potatoes work, you may (like some other college classicists I know) get really turned on by other ancient languages, where every known text is not the subject of dozens of books, and there is plenty of work to be done just to make certain you can get the jokes. (Just to make certain you can tell what a joke is!)</p>

<p>If all you want to do is get the grammar right, that’s probably not enough in Latin and Greek (where I think lots of people pretty much know already how to get the grammar right), but it may be plenty in Akkadian or Old Serbian. But even if you have the grammar completely right, you can’t translate anything without taking an interpretive position about what it means, and how it’s trying to mean that. And if there are ambiguities – as there often are with lots of texts – you have to decide what you are going to do to preserve them, or whether you think they should be resolved one way or another. If you like translating (and if you are any good at it), then you ought to like the process of making clear why it is you decided to translate something THIS way rather than THAT. And that, boychik, is interpretation.</p>

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<p>Or how about Linguistics - the quanty humanities major!? Or History - you could spend months trying to reconstruct labor market fluctuations following asset bubble collapses in 17th Century Holland? Lots of real, honest-to-god historians are extremely quanty.</p>

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<p>Hi fellow Princetonian! What year are you now, and what math/science courses have you taken thus far? Doors close quickly on the physical science fields if you haven’t taken the introductory courses during freshman year. I was an astrophysical sciences major, in which new research topics are constantly available, but you need to take 4 years of physics. After working with professors for a couple of summers, it was easy to zero in on a thesis topic. In the olden days, 35 pages for a quantitative study was deemed sufficient for a senior thesis. The 100+ paper was saved for the PhD thesis! The actual paper is secondary to performing the research. Just don’t wait until the last month to start it.</p>

<pre><code>I know what you mean about retreading the same paths on a long humanities paper. I was tempted to major in Classics due to my love of Latin, but I deemed that it had been too long since the last original work of Latin literature was released. Have you considered a thesis on science policy? That might be a way to combine finance and science interest, and there are new problems and projects to consider all the time. Several different majors might accommodate such a topic.
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<p>You remind me of my husband, at least from your description of your “problem.”</p>

<p>He majored in classics, and later got an MBA. (He enjoyed both.) He hates writing papers, hates analysis, hates coming up with a creative idea to guide a thesis, etc. At least that is what he would say. He has trouble generating ideas and content in papers, but I have to say that the result is always- and there is no other word that says what I want to say- elegant.</p>

<p>So you may be talking about difficulties in process, not product. (You don’t have any learning issues that have been identified, do you? Or, perhaps, a learning style that has been identified? My husband’s mind was termed “synthetic” versus “analytic”. It is a form of brilliance that involves seeing the whole, but having trouble with the parts.)</p>

<p>Princeton is pretty unusual in its these requirement. Isn’t there a long junior-level paper too?</p>

<p>But if you love it there, clearly that is the price to pay, and from what you say, it seems as if something “dry”, but not necessarily math/science, would work well for you.</p>

<p>Classics, economics, history of science…?</p>

<p>I can relate to the problem of having many interests. I am in my late 50’s and still feel as if I don’t know what to do with my life!</p>