<p>I'm a transfer student and I was admitted to UCLA as a history major and to UC Davis as an Animal Science and Management major. I've visited both campuses and although I preferred UCLA, I have other important considerations. Mainly, I'm concerned that a history degree won't help me land any jobs. I'm planning to go on to law school after I complete my history degree, but with the over-saturation of the market for lawyers and the exorbitant cost of law school, that doesn't seem like a great option either. Meanwhile, even a BS in Animal Science and Management will help open doors and will be more practical in the long run. The caveat for going to UC Davis, though, is that I'm a weak student when it comes to science. As a student, science has been the subject that I've struggled with most. Thus, I'm hesitant on joining a field that is even loosely science related. I know that Animal Science and Management is not a "hard science" in the way microbiology or organic chemistry is, but I worry that I will struggle with even the basic sciences that I will be required to take. I know this is a decision that only I can make, but ANY insight from you guys will be greatly appreciated. TL;DR</p>
<p>UC Davis (Animal Science and Management)</p>
<p>-More practical major, but I struggle with science.</p>
<p>UCLA (History)</p>
<p>-Less practical, but almost an assured degree. </p>
<p>I would suggest checking if you can change your major because the medical field is currently growing immensely </p>
<p>If not do history work hard and get into a prestigious law school and I can promise you a 130k job but u have to work hard to get into an Ivy League </p>
<p>Employment for law grads out of top 10 law schools is somewhere around 60% I believe. That means 4/10 people graduating from the best law schools are unemployed. Especially considering the $200k that I may have to shell out to pay for law school, I’m hesitant in going that route. Thanks for the input though; I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I am not sure that an animal science BS is more marketable than a history BA. I think people have overhyped the “uselessness” of history and other humanities majors; the stats show that humanities majors are no more likely to be unemployed than students who majored in a variety of natural and physical science majors. See this Georgetown U “Hard Times” report: <a href=“https://cew.georgetown.edu/unemployment2013”>A Better Metric for the Value of a Worker Training Program. In 2011, the unemployment rate for people who majored in the humanities and liberal arts was 9.0%. For computers and mathematics, it was 9.1%. In the life/physical sciences, it was lower - around 7.3% - but not so fantastically lower. And these are for recent graduates; it doesn’t include graduate degree holders. Humanities majors and life/physical science recent graduates also had the same median salary - $30,000.</p>
<p>There’s no numbers for a recent college graduate specifically in animal science, but there are for experienced college graduates - the unemployment rate is 4.1%. For history majors with experience, it’s 5.8%. (And for management majors with experience, it was 5.6%!)</p>
<p>What gets you a job is not so much your major - with the exception of a few kinds of technical or quantitative jobs - but your experiences. A history major from UCLA with the appropriate internship and/or part-time experience and extra acquired skills can be very employable.</p>
<p>You say that you prefer UCLA, so I think you should go there.</p>
<p>I also think you should go to UCLA. You are not locked into the History major, you can explore it and other Arts and Sciences majors. I say this because of this flexibility and that you prefer UCLA. And because you struggle with science it doesn’t sound like a good fit. I really don’t think it sounds particularly employable (if that is what you mean by practical) or flexible, but I can’t say I know much about it. </p>
<p>Sorry I edit because I see you are a transfer so I don’t know how much flexibility you have to change majors. But I do know that a variety of businesses hire humanities undergrads I know of two (sociology, art history) from good schools who are employed with Google People Operations, in very different roles, for example.</p>
<p>Thank you Juillet and BrownParent. Your responses were very helpful. I do remember seeing those unemployment figures elsewhere, but I just can’t imagine a situation where I would feel confident about filling in history major as my college degree in a resume and I could imagine a few situations where I would feel confident writing about an Animal Science degree. I do agree completely with your point about how experience is one of if not the most important factor in gaining employment. </p>
<p>I did forget to mention that my true passion is with animals, but I am mildly interested in history and politics as well. I guess I’m just looking for an excuse to go to Davis at this point despite the fact that I’m bad at science. </p>
<p>What other science courses would you take as an animal science and management major?</p>
<p>@whenhen If I’m making sense of the UC Davis website, I’d have to take biological sciences, chemistry, plant sciences, nutrition, neurobiology, and physiology.</p>
<p>Why do you think you are “bad” at science? Bad grades in HS science classes? Which concepts have been hard for you?</p>
<p>Once you are at Davis, and start your classes there, you will begin to get a better sense of how students like you manage to finish the program. Lots of them struggle with some of the classes, but the ones who are truly committed to the field, and sincerely interested in the work do finish their degrees.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>
<p>When you took your prerequisite science classes at Community College (or your current college), what grades did you get? </p>
<p>Based on the “major requirements”, you need
2 classes in Animal Sciences, 4 pretty hardcore chemistry classes, 1 computer engineering class, 3 Biology classes (like premeds take), 3 classes in calculus for non stem majors, 2 classes in management, 2 classes in economics.
That’s a LOT of science even before you get to the specialist part of the degree.</p>
<p>@myos1634 I only took 1 science class and I got an A. And yeah, those are a lot of science classes. Three classes in calculus too. Ouch…</p>
<p>Since you got an A in that class, what makes you think you’re a little weak at science?
That’s just the prerequisite classes you’d need to complete before you’re admitted to the actual classes for the major… Since you only took one science class, it’s possible you’d have to take a lot of classes at Davis in order to “catch up” with these prereqs. 3 classes = 1 year of classes in a subject. So you’d have at least 1 year + 1 summer of science classes to catch up upon before you get to animal science.</p>
<p>The science class I took was a very elementary level course and everyone who had a pulse and put a semblance of effort into the assignments got A’s. That’s strange that I would even get admitted into a major when I had almost no prereqs finished. All those science classes I would have to take even before getting into animal science seems daunting…</p>
<p>yes, at this point, you’re like a 1st term freshman as far as those prereqs go.
You have to think long and hard whether you want to start on that path, whether you “'like” the idea of animal science or whether you have what it takes to succeed in it. Only you know the answer to that question.
Honestly, with a degree (in history or other) from UCLA, you should be able to get internships - and those will be what gets you to a job as long as you maintain a good GPA. So if the UCD program seems daunting, UCLA may be a better choice. How did you do in your history, philosophy, English… classes at community college?</p>
<p>I got A’s in those classes (didn’t take any philosophy classes though), although I’m waiting for one of the classes to give out grades. And yea, thanks you helped me a lot. Figure I will go to UCLA now.</p>