<p>Hello there,
As we are all about to attend college or are already in our respective fields, I was wondering what are some of the reasons you chose your particular major? Is money and a comfortable lifestyle an important factor to you? Would it be enough to sway your decision on majors and career paths? I certainly am not one for living paycheck to paycheck, I would like to know that I can comfortably provide for family and pay my bills while living a suitable lifestyle. I'm simply not sure that my interests align with my currently proposed field.
Just a thought..</p>
<p>I'm a Political Science major, seemingly a rare breed on my campus outside of the Poly Sci classes. And even then, most Poly Sci majors just picked it up because it goes along with they other major (Admin. of Justice for example).</p>
<p>I picked Political Science because I've always been interested in politics and law and my plan is to go to law school after I complete my undergrad. At the same time though, I know many people who plan on going to law school but aren't Poly Sci majors because they "hate politics." Which isn't all Political Science is about, but nevertheless.</p>
<p>I'm not planning on going into Law because of the money, it really has nothing to do with my motivations. Later on, I want to go into public service (i.e. politics) which is another reason that I chose Political Science as opposed to another major that would also help prepare for law school.</p>
<p>International Business= I love to travel and do business!! :D</p>
<p>Well, I've finally settled into a History/Poli Sci double major. It didn't start off that way though.</p>
<p>I started with Social Sciences for Secondary Education at a different university, which was good in some ways, but bad in others. I was able to take classes in a lot of different areas (anthropology, sociology, poli sci, psych, philosophy), but I realized after a lot of internship/TA experience that I really didn't want to go into secondary education. So I switched schools and came in as an IR major, which I loved, and still do. But, I needed to take 9 French classes as part of the IR major, and I'm really miserable at language. It was also difficult to have that kind of requirement as a transfer student because I already had less time to complete the degree. So, I switched to Poli Sci - I get to take all the IR electives, but don't have the language requirement. Which freed up enough room in my schedule to add a History major. I took a history class to fulfill an IR requirement, and it rekindled my love of the subject. </p>
<p>Now I plan to go on to get my PhD in History and teach at the post-secondary level (or perhaps go into museum work if I marry someone who can support my minimal salary in that field). I have to say, money has nothing to do with it - in fact, it's the only thing that makes me doubt whether or not I should be majoring in these two fields. Unless you go to law school, there really isn't a lucrative niche for history majors. And I know that even if I get my PhD, there's not a great chance of me landing a tenure-track position right out of grad school with the job market the way it is right now. But really, money isn't everything. Maybe I'm a little naive, but I think at the end of the day, it's really important to do what you love. I don't think making more money in a career that isn't fulfilling and doesn't interest me is a trade I'd like to make.</p>
<p>This will be an interesting thread, I look forward to reading it. I don't feel that I've made enough of a decision yet to really post anything myself, though ;)</p>
<p>I'm going into athletic training because I am a huge sports fan. It won't make a ton of money, but I think it will be an enjoyable field. It is always bringing something different each day.</p>
<p>Mathematics, Political Science
Doing quantitative social research, and then housewifing the rest of the time.</p>
<p>Why I chose to major in Philosophy? I felt like it was "right"; I felt compelled, so to speak.</p>
<p>I'm majoring in conservation biology because I want to help animals on the verge of becoming extinct or endangered. People constantly push animals out of their homes and don't do much to help them. The money isn't really great, but I'll also probably be living in the middle of nowhere for a while, which I would expect is cheap. The money is enough for me to live, thats all I need.</p>
<p>Anthropology, because I love studying about people and cultures, especially ancient ones. I'm not sure if I want to specialize in archaeology or sociocultural anthro., both are just so interesting. I definitely know that I want to do research in Africa one day though. I want to eventually do museum/curator work. I'm minoring in French, because I love French and I want to live in La Francophonie (french-speaking nations) eventually, and also French is a major language in Africa. I want do a History minor as well, but I don't think I have time for it because I just transferred into Anthropology so I have to pick up some extra hours already to finish in 4 years.</p>
<p>I'm still a huge social theory nerd. I tried to get over it, but it just wouldn't let me -- political science is too conservative in some ways, so I'd like to think sociology is where the real magic happens (cultural anthropology is apparently the new sociology though, so maybe that's where my doctorate will land). </p>
<p>Didn't really think twice about choosing it. I want to teach, publish books in my field, and have time enough to organize politically. </p>
<p>I used to worry about surviving financially, but I feel more confident about my degree opening up some doors now. I have the luxury of having a back-up talent and education in the arts (design and illustration). And then there's always the odd bank robbery to get you through.</p>
<p>Why sociology? Because every single thing we do is situated within unspoken social rules, processes, etc etc etc. Why are mullets so ugly now? Why are the working class still busy voting for the next American Idol instead of rising up? Why do women keep their arms and legs more and more inward as they grow up? Why has porn changed so much? Why do I find Bernard Black so oddly attractive? Why and when did people stop defecating collectively in the streets of medieval Sweden?</p>
<p>As you can see, I have always been preoccupied with questions of grave importance.</p>
<p>frrrph, I find sociology to be rather interesting. It's very closely tied to my own major (anthropology). I just finished taking both sociology and anthropology intro classes and the topics discussed in each class were very much in sync with each other.</p>
<p>I do quantitative economics.</p>
<p>No long essays.
No labs.
No projects.
No memorization.
No buzzwords.
No flow charts.
No gen-ed requirements.
No idiots telling anecdotes in class.
No people who think they're smarter than they really are.
No stupid people either.</p>
<p>Just math, reading, and logic.
I love it.</p>
<p>I'm a communication and linguistics major because I'm good at it. Why take classes in a subject/major in a subject that I'm bad at?</p>
<p>I'm not sure what I want to do yet, but I know that I definitely want to do something that interests me and not because the global economy demands it. I could be a dead end computer programmer working only because of the good salary or I could do something else that I definitely am interested in and will be able to pursue simply because of my personality and motivation and then the money will come in that way.</p>
<p>I started out a Journalism major, and after settling on a photojournalism specialty, decided that I HATED journalistic writing, my classmates and most of the faculty. I had gotten to the point the I was really depressed and dreaded going to class everyday.<br>
So, I switched to being an Elementary Education major at the start of my Junior year. It has added at least an extra semester to my degree plan, but I'm actually happy for once! The classes are pointless for the most part, but they aren't too hard and actually can be fun. My classmates are still kind of annoying, but can actually be fun to be around. The faculty are nice, sane people, too! Plus, with the end result I can actually get a job any where I want in the state, become a teacher in other states with minimal hassle, get the summers off to peruse other education/travel and I'm still giving back to the community!</p>
<p>International Relations and Honours Economics (so basically, a focus on development economics with some French, some IR electives, and some quantitative econ/econometrics)</p>
<p>I love my intended majors. I chose IR because it's interdisciplinary, so I don't have to box myself into one particular field - lots of choice that way if I want to do grad school. Econ is a good second choice because it's practical, I'm good at it (so far!), and it complements IR really well. One of my biggest pet peeves is Poli Sci majors who take no economics courses and try to explain that economics is somehow not relevant to their degree just because they hate math. I'm definetly a fan of taking courses outside one discipline to gain a broader perspective. </p>
<p>I eventually want to work in the foreign service or academia (or both!), so I think that my degree choice lends well to either option, or even a few possibilities I haven't explored.</p>
<p>With regard to economics and Poli Sci, I think it really depends on what area of Political Science the person is taking. At my University, you can major in Political Science by itself, or you can specialize in Pre-law (like me), International Affairs, or Public Service. Obviously the latter two should experience some economics, but for Poli Sci/Pre-law people like me, it's a little different. I hope to go into family law, so I'm planning on minoring in sociology or psychology which pertains more to my future plans.</p>
<p>Albeit, I tend to also gravitate to Public Service Political Science as well since I want to go into Public Service later in life too. It's interesting, within the 3 major subsets of Poli Sci, the people are very different. I, for one, get rather bored in IR classes because the ones that I've had are about IR theory. But my friends who are Poli Sci/IR majors get bored or annoyed with my beloved Pre-law and Public Service classes. Oh well, just an interesting observation.</p>
<p>I'm majoring in Anthro with probably a concentration(basically a minor) in Science, Technology, and Society, which basically means I will take a lot of ecology, zoology, and bio/enviro ethics/philosophy classes. My school doesn't offer evolutionary anthro, only cultural, but i find it incredibly interesting. I'm going to focus on mostly environmental/ecological anthro and how humans have and do interact and culturally give meaning to nature. I'm interested in Biodiversity and wildlife conservation (read The End of the Wild by Steven Meyer) and I think that having a strong basis in understanding how humans concieve of the environment and maintain culture will be incredibly valuable to later forming conservation efforts while maintaining human well being. Also plan on going abroad for a junior year semester to Costa Rica with the School For Field Studies to work on biodiveristy and sustainability research, yannow, get some practical and hands on experience. I'm looking into a Grad program at UGA in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development, with a Master's certificate in Environmental Ethics.</p>
<p>Marketing and Linguistics.</p>
<p>I found that I am pretty good at linguistics along with marketing. I eventually want to go into advertising localizations for companies branching out to new countries.</p>