Undecided in my Major

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I am a freshman currently doing my general coursework before choosing a major. I'm freaked out because, to be honest, I have SO many interests and I'm not really bad at any of the things I'd potentially enjoy majoring in. </p>

<p>I have a fair amount of interest in: the natural sciences, mathematics, language, computers, logic and philosophy, social sciences, graphics and web technology, history and culture. I HATE business/economics, accounting, politics (just because of procedure, though I like the theory), and a few other things along those lines. I'm good at anything that involves systemizing and critical thinking as well as creative interpretation. </p>

<p>Currently, I am thinking I want to major in linguistics because I absolutely love everything about language... Historical linguistics, sociolinguists, foreign languages and their acquisition, the list goes on. There are a few problems with this choice aside from being crestfallen at other majors I'd be forsaking in lieu of linguistics. The main issue is that careers in linguistics are vague and make little money, so I'd likely want to get a PhD and teach which is a scary prospect and lots of hard work. </p>

<p>Since deciding on linguistics, I've given some thought to ways I can study linguistics but still be marketable. I decided maybe a minor (or likely a second major) in computer science would be a good way to do that. Trouble is, for one, there is the constant voice in the back of my head nagging at me for not choosing one of my many other interests, and what would likely end up happening is that I'd just get a job in IT when I graduate (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it makes lots of money and is interesting, but then why major in linguistics?) And no, I don't really want to do computational linguistics to be honest. Not my cup of tea. Also I figured computer science would be a good route because I've been wanting to do more with math and I wanted a more scientific course of study to compliment a liberal arts major. </p>

<p>So, I realize my story is complicated but I NEED help, all the help I can get. Any advice? I'd be happy to answer any questions as well, as I'm sure I skipped over a thing or two as I was trying to finish my post and get to the point. Anyway, thanks for reading, and hopefully answering.</p>

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<p>The vast, vast majority of people aren’t going to do anything related to their major post-graduation unless it’s a professional major (business, etc). </p>

<p>Take some linguistics classes. See if you like them. I love languages and linguistics and was thinking about doing linguistic anthropology in grad school… until I actually took linguistics classes and realized it was nothing along the lines of what I wanted to do. </p>

<p>You can, you know, just take classes that build skills (math, CS, etc) and major in whatever you want. You’re over-complicating things, really. </p>

<p>And if you <em>do</em> want to go to grad school in social sciences or humanities, you don’t have to have majored in that in undergrad.</p>

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<p>Comp Sci + Math = Lots of job opportunities. </p>

<p>There’s probably opportunities for Linguistics + Comp Sci as well. </p>

<p>Double major is the way to go.</p>

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<p>I’m a double major in linguistics in computer science. In my completely and utterly unbiased opinion, you should focus on those two!</p>

<p>One thing to keep in mind if you’re thinking of CL though, is that it’s much easier to catch up on linguistics than it is on CS. What I mean by that is, if you minor in CS and major in linguistics, sure you’d have everything you need for the linguistics aspect of it, but you’d be playing a bit of catchup on the CS parts of things. This is a bit harder to do than it would be to catch up on ling should it turn out you not have enough knowledge of it under your belt. So with that in mind, if comp ling is your goal (can’t tell from your post) and you’re thinking of a major and minor, I would major in CS and minor in ling. Alternatively, double major if it’s feasible.</p>