<p>My daughter is thinking maybe environmental science. She has taken on a new found love for this, because she has been doing a lot of volunteer work in this area. Her area of work has been in biology. However, then we recently travelled to visit relatives who live in the mountains and both cousins are civil engineers, but working in very specialty areas which involve working in the forests and mountain area. (one works with water, but it is his masters-civil engineering with hydro..something..specialty..he is my cousin, not me, so I am not really sure what he called it right now). Regardless, her time in the mountains has given her a new found love for geology. We live in the city so she rarely gets to see all that she has gotten to see and do this summer.</p>
<p>Here is my concern. Environmental Science was supposed to be what we thought would be a good major because she loves her work at the environmental center, being out in nature and teaching the daycamp kids about things like prairie grass, water, ecology, etc. And she could mix that with her new found love of Geology. But every time either one of us looks at a description of environmental majors, they refer to going toward a career in waste management or something. In reality, my daughter is currently planning to go toward a career in medicine, probably. Not 100% certain, but considering it. But, not everyone ends up in grad school or medical school.</p>
<p>Anyway, should she consider something different? Should she be looking more at going for a more non-interdisciplinary major such as geology or physics (she LOVES science, all science actually)?</p>
<p>She loves all her science and math. She did not enjoy the engineering class in the first semester but liked it better in the 2nd. She has not really enjoyed her English or History courses. She loves her French classes too.</p>
<p>Her volunteer work is at the Army Corp of Engineers at the Environmental area. She does more than the daycamp stuff and they said they might be able to let her go over and work in the research area too.</p>
<p>I should add that originally, she had considered Neuroscience. That was suggested by a counselor (college type) that she saw. She was excited about it. But, then she realized she would have to either work with people in a psychology type way or robots, not really what she wants. She loves hands on. She has no interest in robots. And for people, she likes the medicine side, but not what she has seen of neuropsych. She likes neurology, it is the psychology side of neuropsych that does not interest her.</p>
<p>She used to love math and then had a rotten math teacher this past year. The teacher was very nice, it is just that she did not know what she was doing at all and relied on a computer program that she did not know how to run, to teach the class.</p>
<p>She already knows about what she needs to do to go pre-med. She knows she can major in whatever she wants as long as she fulfills the other requirements for med school. She needs to pick a major that she can love and do well in, and take the pre-recs on the side.</p>
<p>I’m an applied math major with a physics minor. It’s not really worth her time to get a bachelor’s degree in physics if she wants to go pre-med. It won’t really help her get a job either unless she goes to graduate school and gets her PhD. </p>
<p>Avoid the liberal arts like a plague (although you could get a high GPA in that). </p>
<p>Honestly, though. It doesn’t matter what major she picks as long as she GOES to medical school. But if she doesn’t, well, that sucks. Engineering tends to be a GPA killer, so I’d think about that before going that route. Geology could work, but I’d do more research on that to see what kind of jobs are out there and if she could see herself doing them if med school doesn’t work out. </p>
<p>The most marketable majors have to deal with a lot of math or computer science. I would stay away from them if you’re not truly passionate about it but they do pay dividends if you’re good. Although, in math coursework you’re definitely expected to pickup some programming along the way.</p>
<p>The reason why you keep seeing listings for waste management is that to get beyond that, your daughter would need some sort of advanced degree. “Environmental science” is a pretty broad field, but if she’s interested in the geology side, she should plan on at least a master’s degree. Good news: unlike med school, geo grad school is typically paid for, and pays a stipend for living expenses. (I made the switch from biology myself, although I was on the ecology, not pre-med side.)</p>
<p>There’s not a ton posted right now, since they predominantly hire for summer internships, but it sounds like working in geology-related jobs in national parks might be right up her alley.</p>
<p>Physics is actually pretty good for careers, unlike some of the other science majors. The reason is that a physics major can often get an engineering job but can also work in finance or software engineering (physics majors from my university have done all that). So you absolutely do NOT need to have a Ph.D to get a job with a physics degree. That being said, physics is not the most direct route for a pre-med. usually a Biochemistry degree with some physiology is a better bet. engineering degrees are often packed with courses and there is little time to take the pre-med requirements unless your field is Biomedical, Biological, or Chemical Engineering.</p>
<p>Having been an advisor to many students over the years, particularly undecided ones, I find that students do their best when they really love the subject matter. If your daughter really wants to she can go to med school or geology graduate school from several different majors.</p>
<p>Engineering is out because unless someone is going to do engineering, that is not a good major. It is a hard one to keep up a high GPA to get in to grad school or med school.</p>
<p>This is not true NeoDymium. These two majors have very similar lower division requirements, at least at my school. So your daughter could feel out the waters and decides what she is really more passionate about while taking the lower division requirements for both (e.g. Organic Chem, Calc I and II, Newtonian Physics, etc.).</p>
<p>I’m not talking about major requirements. I’m talking about what you actually focus on.
Premed can be pretty much anything as long as you take the requirements. However, one focuses much more on GPA than the other. The question is, are you looking for a good stepping stone into med school or a good path for EnvSci?</p>