Tell me about college majors.

[Pastulio_]

Well, I'm a junior in high school, and as of now, I have next to NO IDEA what I want to major in. I've thought about it a bit, but not enough so that I have any sort of good idea. Some ones I've been thinking about are: Psych: Basically, this is what I plan to major in if I can't think of anything else. I took a basic Psych course last year, which I really enjoyed. I have a friend whose mom is a psychologist, so if I planned on ever going into the field, I'd have someone I could ask. History: I'm by no means a history buff, but with the US history course that I'm taking this year, I'm starting to get more into it. Not exactly sure what you'd do with that degree though. Engineering or Biology: Bunching together the two sciences I'd consider. I'd lean MUCH closer to engineering than Bio. It would have to be a kind of Biology that really interested me for me to wanna go into that field. Teaching: I want to be a teacher someday, but preferably not immediately after graduating college. In a perfect world, I'd like to work hard for 30 years and make enough to relax a bit as a teacher until I retire... So...any comments or bits of advice are appreciated. Enlighten me!

[Sisyphus50]

I'm currently doing psychology, philosophy and geology. All very interesting and enlightening courses. Geology is a lot more useful than I thought it would be, so I recommend taking it as an elective just for the hell of it, you might like it a lot. I took one semester of Astronomy and blitzed it. Real eye opener. You'll not only learn lots of interesting facts about the universe, but you'll learn HOW we figured them out. Chemistry was a bitch. I did well in Chemistry in year 12, but first year Chem was very very hard. It's primarily focused on electron shells of atoms and is very involved. Tread lightly. Biology was interesting at times and highly tedious at others. I do a lot of extra reading on biology and evolution in my spare time, so I ended up dropping out of biology due to a lack of new material (boredom). Statistics is boring as hell, but necessary for some fields. If your background in maths sucks, you might consider doing this course simply to learn it a little better. Even though I almost failed it, I've gained a greater understanding of stats just having done it at all. Only take history if your idea of fun is reading long, drawn out essays on historical figures, then writing your own essays from their bland material. As you can tell, I didn't enjoy it. Number one piece of advice I can give you: learn referencing systems (APA or Harvard or Oxford, whichever your lecturer prefers) for doing your essays and research reports. You will be doing a LOT of them, in almost all subjects. They are difficult and tedious, but you won't get through uni without writing them. Accept that now before it bites you in the ass later RE: Teaching. Get a degree and get into a field first. Do at least 10 years of research or work in your field then go back and do a post grad in education. You'll be able to start in teaching at a higher pay grade due to your extra experience.

[Maria92]

Pharmacy, FTW. The fact you enjoy biology is a great sign. Not sure how you stand on Chemistry and math, but if you like them, this career may be for you. (Also, chemistry gets a lot easier after the first year.) Pharmacists earn outrageous sums of money, have excellent job security, and are in high demand everywhere. Really, the entire field of health care is expanding. If you like history, try looking into symbology, etc. Pick up a book by Dan Brown, like the Da Vinci code or Angels and Demons. Fun stuff. Don't become a teacher. Become a professor. Teachers are underpaid and overused. At least get your Ph.D and haul in some big bucks.

[Abra]

The more syllables your intended major has, the more highly respected you will be. Chemistry<Engineering<Chemical Engineering<Biochemical Engineering.

[lagunagirl]

if you're lucky you'll find your passion before you have to make a decision about what you'd be "okay" with doing for the rest of your life.

[trigotron]

Judging by your avatar I'm gonna guess you got into ASU. Good school, very hot chicks. I'd personally recommend an easy major like History. ASU is not a world renowned engineering school. If you take psych or anything that starts with "bio" you will be LOCKED in competition for the rest of your major plan with Premed candidates. Believe me, you do not want to be competing with premeds, they do anything to get an A, and you will screw over your social life trying to keep up with them. Engineering is pretty laid back. It's harder, but it won't be too bad at a school like ASU, and there won't be that kind of competition to deal with. I've been an aerospace engineer for around 3 years now, it's nothing you can't handle with a little dedication.

[Alric]

Getting a degree in biology and history are good if you want to be a teacher. Since they are both taught in a wide range of schools and at different levels, from teaching children to adults in collage. As for what you can do with a history degree, teaching, working in any kind of museum type setting, politics, writing, and researching all work well. Really I would suggest picking what you like the most.

[SkA_DaRk_Che]

I don't recommend taking History. Besides becoming a teacher, there are no real careers for a Histor majory, or at least there is not a great deal of variety in this field. Rather concentrate on courses that will contribute to any future career that you will have, something that is practicle but something that you like at the same time.

[whatdidyoudream]

If you want to know about engineering, ask away. I'm a recent engineering grad.

[Butterflies]

What about psychology did you like? History? Biology? Etc. You might want to go to your schools guidance counselor (if it has one) and ask about career tests. You could also google college major quiz/test and research majors that way too. Or if you have a specific college you want to go to, look at its website and see what it says about their different majors. For instance, my college has web pages for each major where they list what you can do with the degrees and what kinds of classes you’ll need to take for the degree. If you go into psychology be prepared to not be able to find many field related jobs right after graduation. You need at least a masters to do any type of therapy work. In most cases you need a PhD Engineering: lots of math. If you are good at calculus and physics, go for it. There are many different types: electrical, mechanical, civil, etc. Biology: I hate BIO so I can’t offer you anything there. History: I do not like history, history, but if you like reading dull textbooks go for it. However, as another poster said, there aren’t many careers that want history majors. Although, if you really like learning about cultures and people and what they went through more than memorizing dates and places, look into anthropology. (though again, not too many career options) Some advice: The General Ed classes especially bio, and certain others, in many colleges are there to get rid of students. My first semester in college I was told by 3 of my teachers that they had to give equal numbers of As and Fs and that 60% would not pass the class (C or better) and that 50% of us would drop out of college. GE classes are murder and are here to scare you. (Unfortunately, this has been confirmed by many of my professors.) I much prefer upper-level to graduate level classes. They are so much more interesting and a lot less work (at least in my experience), so if school seems horrible at first, it’ll get better!

[dark_grimmjow]

What about computers? I'm a computer information systems major (CIS) with a concentration in security and a minor in business administration. I'm in the second semester of my junior year. There are all kinds of different ways to go with CIS. You could do networking, programming (not quite as popular as it used to be), software engineering, game programming (i put that in a different category than other types of programming), webpage design, artistic design (like the people who help make animated movies like "Cars") and of course security, and i'm sure there are tons more. On a side note, you should try picking up a minor too. Or if you're really brave, you could try double majoring. There's one girl in my business law class who is triple majoring in journalism, communications, and i think business administration. She's either crazy or really smart; i'm not sure which.

[Pastulio_]

Well, quite a lot of things have changed since I made this thread. To give you all the update, I've now narrowed my choices down by a lot. The main two I'm thinking of now are either Biology with a focus on genetics, or Engineering, and I'm leaning towards engineering. Right now I'm taking both physics and calculus in high school, and am doing well in both. There's something about higher level math and problem solving that I find strangely fascinating.

[Invader]

Engineering majors are superior to all others. I am biased.

[Xei]

If you enjoy tougher or more abstract questions as you say, I strongly recommend you consider a physics or mathematics degree. I'm no expert on other unis, but I'm doing a maths degree and almost all of the set work (supposed to be 16 hours per week) involves abstract, interesting questions. I would imagine a similar or slightly less so circumstance if you were to do a physics degree. The basis of modern physics is the extremely powerful tool of vector calculus which, if you are enjoying calculus at the moment, is in itself highly enjoyable and interesting (it involves calculus in higher dimensions, finding volumes, energies, rates of flow through any twisted surface, all sorts of cool things which I myself find particularly exciting and beautiful (all of these things can be turned into standard Riemann integrals, if you know what they are, and it's highly satisfying to see that in action)). However I think that engineering degrees are kind of the 'next rung down', in the sense that the questions you'll be asked are more focused on rote-learning of various principles rather than learning how to think creatively. A mathematics degree is one of the most employable degrees you can have. First off it's among the toughest degrees and so shows that you are smart; second, most employers value mathematics graduates more on the problem solving skills they acquire as opposed to their actual knowledge, and as such if you have a good maths degree from a good institution, you can get a job doing virtually anything you want.