what should I major in if I want to go into business or law?

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Okay, the thread title is a lie. I have no idea what I want to do in my life. At the moment I'm leaning towards entrepreneurship or becoming a lawyer or working in the film/music/other media industry. My secret dream profession is graphic designer, but of course it's not "practical" enough, and honestly I like money a little too much. Not enough to do investment banking, probably, but still.</p>

<p>I'm in the College. What majors would be most helpful to me? Currently I was set on the economics/poli-sci interdisciplinary, but I'd like to hear some other opinions. Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>You obviously have no clue what you want to do with your life, and none of these things you potentially want to do really require a certain major. So, I’d say to major in whatever you feel like and find interesting, and take it from there.</p>

3

<p>The best thing you can do is have all of your classes be Core requirements. Take lit hum, a music or art hum if you can get in, other things that will contribute to you global core, language and science requirement. If you don’t know what you want to do, there is no reason to get a start early on a major you might not even do. By fulfilling Core requirements early you are not behind other students who are bulking up on econ early, because they will need to take these courses as well. </p>

<p>The funny thing about the Core, you may find out that the major you want is in some of these classes you end up taking. You probably will find out that some things you DON’T want to major in.</p>

4

<p>okay, i am gonna have to call you out on this one asiantofu.</p>

<p>you are looking for some degree of affirmation and honestly you don’t deserve it. are you conflicted about life, yes. are you the only person in college that is conflicted, no. should you air out your insecurities online, no. why? because 1) this is not a self-help group, 2) we don’t know you that well. this is the kind of question you ask friends, family, people that know you. so why am i being so harsh - well your post spells out what you are going to do. you will major in something that you feel you can justify (to yourself, family, friends) and go into a career that has value and money. this is certain, why? because you are no different than other very intelligent, motivated students that go to columbia or other top schools. and you are especially no different than other previously idealistic students who catch the law/consulting/banking wave. </p>

<p>what this ultimately means is that what we say here wont sway you one way or another. and if you are teetering away from a ‘dream profession’ it usually means it is not that strong of a dream. </p>

<p>when someone posts when the answer to the question is so obvious (such that the poster answers their own question) the purpose of the post is purely emotional and for affirmation. you want to feel affirmed you are making the right choice. well guess what, there is no such thing. you make the most of what you got. i could tell you what i really think your post implies about you - but i don’t want to be too mean, and as i said i don’t know you at all.</p>

<p>in the end though i hope you chew on this: you could major in Visual Arts at Columbia and still become a lawyer. your major does not dictate your life. you are going to probably find a fine job, make good money, but honestly you got to get over this insecurity (asking others for things, relying on others). if you have a passion - live it out, do it, do it well. if you want to be part of a pack - then do econ polisci. i gather 80-90% of all econ-polisci majors are currently in law school, consulting or banking (you say you don’t want it now, idealism is one of the first things to go). nothing wrong with them, most kids i know in the major are absolutely brilliant. but like anything, those that are not passionate about it stick out like a sore thumb.</p>

5

<p>admissionsgeek - Your point is well-taken. I can see how my initial post made me seem as though I was asking for other people to choose a major for me. I already know what I don’t want to major in, and I have looked through the programs of study available at the college. The purpose of my original post was to help me continue to narrow down possibilities and perhaps shed some light on whether I was going about this whole major business correctly from current students or alumni. Perhaps I was looking for affirmation, but if I was then I was hoping for a perspective on how my major did not dictate my career as much as I thought.</p>

6

<p>Hiya,</p>

<p>At this point, you’re not alone. When I entered my first year as a CC student in 2007, I had no clue what I wanted to do. Back then, I thought I had a plan but looking back now, what I really had was a clear understanding of what my parents wanted me to do: medicine.</p>

<p>But at least that was something so I started knocking down the med-school requirements to fill up my schedule beyond Lit-Hum, Frontiers, etc. I took Chemistry but ended up hating it, partly because it was very different from what I had learned in High School but mostly because I didn’t take it seriously. I took Chem-Lab for 2 weeks and dropped it. I began to hate the pre-med requirements and they quickly burned me out. I realized that even though I had this perfectly planned schedule for the next 4 years that would put me on my way to med-school, I would fail because I simply had no interest in medicine. I certainly admire my friends who did stick with pre-med and hope it pays off for them but pre-med certainly wasn’t for me. At the beginning of college, I thought I was going to be a bio-chem major but I was miserable.</p>

<p>During second semester, I changed my plans. I was still taking Chemistry but also decided to take Principles of Economics. I was thinking maybe that I could still do the pre-med track for later in life but while in school, I could really devote myself to something that I enjoyed. I started looking at the requirements for Economics-Political Science - the major you’re looking at right now - because looking at my college application, my high school experience was defined by my genuine interest in political science and economics. It may not be as clear cut for you, but even in my case, it took me a semester to remember what really got me excited in high school. I thought I had this major business all figured out: a balance between what I really wanted to do and what would be a rewarding career.</p>

<p>The result? Disaster.</p>

<p>Maybe I was greedy but I could not have the best of both worlds. My pre-med requirements were still edging out the classes that I really wanted to take for my major and also caused me huge amounts of frustration. I still didn’t put my real effort into those classes because I still hated them.</p>

<p>Sophomore year, I decided to give up the pre-med idea altogether. It certainly wasn’t easy. While I had hinted to my parents that maybe this whole pre-med thing wasn’t for me, my parents didn’t accept my decision at the time and even now, my dad gives me crap about my current major, saying how it’s all bs and there’s still time for me to go back to pre-med. I will also have to live with the consequences (wasted time, energy, grades) but the fact is that I’m happy at school now and I like going to class. I look forward to this coming semester and when I stress about my classes, homework and grades, I don’t wonder why I’m going through it all because I choose it for myself and (so far) love my major. </p>

<p>My circumstance was different from the one you’re going through now because while most careers don’t have explicit class requirements, pre-med does. But I can hopefully give you some good general advice.</p>

<p>Take the classes that you want to take. If you have no personal interest in your courses, you will let yourself down. If your interest is for the wrong reason, you will let yourself down. I won’t categorically say that future salary prospects is the wrong reason for a major but it is in the majority of the cases. Consider what really excites you and look for it at Columbia, you’ll have a pretty good chance of finding it.</p>

<p>C02’s advice is the best you’ll hear from this board. Go for what you like and test yourself. I’m going to add that you should build a strong network of people whom you can trust so that they can add their perspectives to your decisions. I owe a lot of my current happiness about my major to one of my friends who just sat down with me one night and frankly told me that he felt I was doing pre-med for the wrong reasons and he was right.</p>

<p>Other than that, keep in mind that Freshman year is still a time to test yourself. You don’t have to make a decision this early (unless you’re pre-med). Ask people about their favorite classes, sample other majors and get a feel for what’s available to you.</p>

7

<p>Are you a freshman? If so, don’t worry about it (unless you’re engineering, then worry about it.) your core classes, well part of their existence, is to help you choose a major and force you to take classes you otherwise would ignore – hence, possible new favorite subject/major.</p>

<p>Explore the field a bit before deciding.</p>