What Major Should I Do?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>TL;DR. I'm a freshman in chemical engineering but don't like it that much. I like physics and learning in general, but I don't want to have to commit to getting a PhD. What should I do?</p>

<p>I know you guys probably see a lot of posts like this, but I'm not sure what major I really want to do. I'm currently a freshman enrolled in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at a good school. First let me give you a little background so you can kind of understand my situation.</p>

<p>I mainly chose Chem engineering because I enjoyed chemistry in high school and chemical engineering seemed like the natural route, as I'd be able to get good money with just BS doing something I would potentially enjoy. As I'm getting more involved in it, though, ChemE seems less and less interesting.</p>

<p>In high school, I took a ton of AP's (semething like 13) and got 5's on all of them. I got straight A's and was first in my class. I really enjoy learning and discovering new knowledge and am always trying to learn more about the world, from psychology to physics. I liked just about all my classes, but I really found my science and math courses interesting. I loved physics and chemistry (especially physics), and am really fascinated by quantum physics and the like. I loved solving physics and chem problems. I thought biology was cool, but I really hated all the memorization and specifically memorizing the names of proteins and whatnot. I was more interested in what this stuff did at the macroscopic level than all the microscopic mechanisms, although that might've been because of the memorization.</p>

<p>Anyway, to get to the point, I'm now starting my second semester of college and really am not all that interested right now in ChemE. Just looking at the course lists and descriptions of the profession, it seems like chemical engineers (at least those with undergrad degrees) pretty much design reactors and scale up reactions. I kind of wanted to work in pharmaceuticals, but even that seems pretty boring as well. I'm a guy that's naturally really interested in just about anything interesting out there, and I'm not finding this interesting at all.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I find physics fascinating. The Higgs boson, the different types of quarks, weird phenomena with light and things like that -- I find this all really cool. I don't know if it's just the fact that I've only taken intro courses (Mechanics, E+M) that makes it seem interesting to me and maybe upper level courses are more boring, but I really enjoy physics. I would gladly do a physics major except for the fact that I have no idea at this point if I want to (or if I'll want to in 5 years) go to grad school and get a PhD, which from what I gather is basically required for a physics major. I was also considering doing something like MechE major/Physics double major/minor, because MechE seems kind of interesting and that would leave me with the option to continue physics in grad school (I think). Aerospace engineering also seems neat (there's a minor in aerospace at my school), but I hear that Aerospace employment fluctuates a lot with government conracts, etc.</p>

<p>I was also considering Biomedical Engineering partly because my school is ranked #1 for it. It also seems interesting as well. I've only really taken one Bio class (AP) and it was really interesting to see how living things work but, as I said before, I like problem solving more than memorization. I've also thought briefly about becoming a doctor.</p>

<p>Basically, I can't decide what to do. If you can't already tell, I'm a pretty indecisive person who likes to weigh everything and I really want to choose the best route considering this is what I'll be doing for the rest of my life. I've researched basically everything a pretty lot and can't decide just one thing that I want to do. I hate having to just do one thing and abandon everything else.</p>

<p>One problem is that I haven't really done true engineering courses yet and won't for a while. I have no idea if I'll love it or hate it. Considering that all this seems interesting, I have no idea how to decide now what I want to do, and I'll need to decide soon.</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for your responses.</p>

2

<p>Also, I want to do something that leaves me financially stable making a good amount of money and that hopefully doesn’t require crazy hours, etc. I’d like to do something meaningful. I feel like I’m very talented and have a great work ethic and I think that I can do just about anything better than anyone else and really make a difference, not to sound cocky. I also really like debating with other people, participating in class, doing presentations and I enjoy writing a pretty lot as well.</p>

<p>In other words, I like a lot of things and have to choose one :(</p>

3

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html#post15425078[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html#post15425078&lt;/a&gt; may help you with the job and career prospects of various majors.</p>

4

<p>Sounds like you are not really that interested in engineering. It might be better for you to study physics if that is what you like best. Don’t assume that you won’t be able to find a good job with a physics degree. There are many directions you can go with physics. Physics majors from my university have gone on to work in the software, financial and insurance industries. They have found jobs in R&D companies as technicians and engineers and there are the physics related fields of Radiation Health Physics and medical Physics which will require a graduate degree of some kind. It all depends on what skills you develop as an undergraduate and how you prepare yourself with internships, etc. Companies do value the kind of analytical training that is developed with a major in physics but you have to do a bit of extra work in selling yourself. Fortunately, your university’s career management center can help you there.</p>

<p>Another option that you might look into is whether your university has 5-year co-terminal degree programs which will let you complete a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in engineering in 4-5 years (depending on the amount of AP credit you have)</p>

<p>You might even change your mind about pursuing a career in research and decide to go on to a graduate degree.</p>