Hi, I’m a senior applying to a bunch of universities, but I just don’t know what to put down as my major and alternate major. I’ve been doing a lot more research and generally different branches of engineering are at the top for post-grad employment and salaries, but I’m not a huge math fan. (As in, I can do it well enough, but I have no passion for doing math.) I really enjoy the humanities (publishing??), as well as biology, but job prospects seem to be slim for those, so I really don’t know what to do.
Basically, I want to pursue a major that involves reading, writing, analyzing, learning about humans/human society… but that will have decent chances of getting me financially stable. The idea of being unemployed while struggling to pay off loans for a 4 year degree is terrifying.
If you have any advice/suggestions, thanks! I want to finish my applications up, but I really need to decide this.
It’s okay to put down undeclared…
I have this job. I make six figures. I majored in psychology in college.
Granted, I have a PhD, but I know lots of people with humanities and social science majors who are gainfully employed and make good money and pursue jobs that are like this.
The world is so much bigger than just engineering jobs and software development jobs. There are SO MANY more jobs in the world, and those jobs employ history, political science, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, art history, music, and more majors. The idea that only physical science and engineering majors can get jobs and make a living needs to die! (Not directed at you. I just hear it…so much.)
Major in what you want. Then develop skills. (You can, indeed, learn to code - or learn a language, or statistical analysis - as a humanities or social sciences major. You just need to take the appropriate coursework.) Then get good internships doing things that you like, so you can explore those careers.