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Chose my major just 5 months ago - Infrastructure Engineering
Long Story:
+ Show Spoiler +
I go to University of Toronto, Engineering Science.
This program lets you experience different aspects of engineering in the first 2 years (taking courses from all disciplines), then forces you to choose your major from 3rd year on.
Choices were: nanotechnology, physics, biomedical, electrical/computers, infrastructure, manufacturing, aerospace
Knowing that "simcities" in SC (as well as the actual game SimCity series) are what I enjoy the most - I chose Infrastructure.
Short Version: the university program was designed like that.
1 month into my major, not regretting it (that much) so far xD
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On October 06 2009 11:03 sith wrote:
This seems like as good of a thread as any, so here it goes. I'm applying early decision to Virginia Tech this winter (for those who don't know, pretty legit engineering school on east coast of US), but I am undecided as to what to do as I enjoy both math and physics and the applications of them, but am unsure if I want to pursue engineering. I have a few options.
1. I can apply early decision specifically to the school of engineering. I would most definitely get in (not to sound cocky, but with my grades I'm not sure how I couldn't get in) but I don't know if my interest lies outside engineering and in pure math/physics or not. I've heard it's relatively easy to switch out, but hard to get in, so this seems like a pretty good choice, but I don't know how much exposure I would get to actual pure math/physics and if it's enough to tell if i like those subjects or not.
2. I can apply to university studies and simply decide what I want to do from there (uni studies is basically undecided major, you take a variety of classes as to what you're interested in).
Can anyone with interest in these subjects give me some life experience? I'm currently in AP Physics C and Calculus BC in high school, both subjects I enjoy learning about.
It sounds like your plan is solid. Go for engineering and decide if you'd rather do that or the theoretical stuff. Either way you'll want to go for grad school, in which case it's not usually required to even have the degree in what you go to grad school for.
i.e. you can have a degree in math and then go on to a physics doctorate program as long as you've had a few physics classes and enough experience you convince the admissions committee that you know what you're getting in to. But I guess that depends on the specific programs you're interested in applying to.
Your general physics class will require college calculus, so either try to pass the AP calc test or take it over the summer or something, unless you don't mind waiting a year to start physics. Take what I say with a grain of salt though, since I'm not the expert on engineering/math/physics stuff. I'm mostly taking things I've seen and heard and extrapolating a bit from how I see things work on my side of the sciences.
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Basically I took the IB program in high school which let me see what was coming up in uni. I initially thought I'd do biosci, but after experiencing torture through bio and chem, i decided to go with what i excelled at, which was math and social sciences, so i decided to do business. also, my uni is great because all business majors do the same general business courses in the first year so that we get to recieve a good hard look at all the business specializations before we start specializing heavily in 3rd and 4th years
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On October 06 2009 11:47 Biochemist wrote:Show nested quote +On October 06 2009 11:03 sith wrote:
This seems like as good of a thread as any, so here it goes. I'm applying early decision to Virginia Tech this winter (for those who don't know, pretty legit engineering school on east coast of US), but I am undecided as to what to do as I enjoy both math and physics and the applications of them, but am unsure if I want to pursue engineering. I have a few options.
1. I can apply early decision specifically to the school of engineering. I would most definitely get in (not to sound cocky, but with my grades I'm not sure how I couldn't get in) but I don't know if my interest lies outside engineering and in pure math/physics or not. I've heard it's relatively easy to switch out, but hard to get in, so this seems like a pretty good choice, but I don't know how much exposure I would get to actual pure math/physics and if it's enough to tell if i like those subjects or not.
2. I can apply to university studies and simply decide what I want to do from there (uni studies is basically undecided major, you take a variety of classes as to what you're interested in).
Can anyone with interest in these subjects give me some life experience? I'm currently in AP Physics C and Calculus BC in high school, both subjects I enjoy learning about. It sounds like your plan is solid. Go for engineering and decide if you'd rather do that or the theoretical stuff. Either way you'll want to go for grad school, in which case it's not usually required to even have the degree in what you go to grad school for. i.e. you can have a degree in math and then go on to a physics doctorate program as long as you've had a few physics classes and enough experience you convince the admissions committee that you know what you're getting in to. But I guess that depends on the specific programs you're interested in applying to. Your general physics class will require college calculus, so either try to pass the AP calc test or take it over the summer or something, unless you don't mind waiting a year to start physics. Take what I say with a grain of salt though, since I'm not the expert on engineering/math/physics stuff. I'm mostly taking things I've seen and heard and extrapolating a bit from how I see things work on my side of the sciences.
Thanks for the advice. I didn't explicitly mention it, but Calculus BC is an AP course, it's the second of two total AP Calculus courses, and I passed the first (Calculus AB) with a 5 on the AP exam, so I'm hoping to do this same thing year and remain exempt from the basic calc classes in college.
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This is about halfway through my 4th year of university...and I'm still not sure this is the major that I will go all the way with.
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It's not really a big decision. At least, a lot of the health related professional schools will take you with any major as long as you have prereqs. Grad school is kinda similar (although if you are totally switching from like Literature to Comp Sci I would probably expect some trouble doing well). I am not sure about any other jobs though.
I would say just go with something you enjoy AND can see yourself doing after. Even if you enjoy something you may not want to do that as a job.
I personally just kinda chose mine in high school and stuck with it because I enjoyed science (biochemistry). If I found something better I would've changed in a heartbeat.
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When I applied for college, or a little after, actually. I put down "Engineering Undecided" on the application, and since the first two semesters are identical (as far as I know) for all Engineers, it gave me a full year to decide. I applied for Biomedical Engineering in the end and should graduate in a year (plus or minus a semester, as is expected with engineering =\).
The key, I think, is to do something that you're interested in and which you feel good about. I have friends who went into this major or that because they were expected to, or for the money, or whatever. They ended up floundering around and now they'll graduate after me (if I don't fuck up). There's a saying, "Do something you love and you'll never work another day in your life."
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I decided in the 2nd semester of first year to go into electrical engineering (will graduate spring 2010 and head to graduate school), but my school has a required general engineering program that I was in for the first 2 semesters that everybody has to go through before they decide on their actual engineering program.
I would suggest going to your school's counseling/career services/etc. department and schedule an appointment to talk about things. Also, walk around a university (maybe schedule some appointments with professors beforehand) and start asking people what they do, why they like it, what the work is like, etc. Target looking at the majors you might be interested in. Maybe try to sit in a couple classes to see what they are like. You also might want to take one of those pseudo-MBTI online quizzes to get your personality type. Of course, personal interest and aptitude in a topic are important, but some personality types are really not suited for some majors (and more suited for others).
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i figured that my life goal is to start a private boarding school for poor but hella smart impoverished people.
found out to my surprise that there is no major for starting private boarding schools.
decided on a proxy via medicine ala cognitive therapy psychiatry. all in all, took me 3 extra years. i'll have a pilot study of the private school running while I attend med school.
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lols theres really no time you need to decide on a set major, im in my second year of college and will be changing my major today from Biology to Medical informatics
aka college of science to cs
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I was planning on majoring in psychology, but at the last second switched to philosophy purely because I was more interested in it.
Psychology has more job options I think, but after thinking about it, there's not as much interesting about it for me, and it's a saturated department in terms of number of students doing it.
I absolutely love my major.
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I am a sophomore and I'm about to switch from biomedical engineering to biology. (Have only taken two engineering classes lol)
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I am not sure completely the english equivelant
I chose maths when i was about 16. I wanted to do something like maths since i was 12.
Now i do maths and im 19. And its more maths, and maths and maths all the way
All other mathematical subjects are just maths for pussies
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Too fucking late is the answer to mine..
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I chose petroleum engineering in order to maximize my income coming out of school.
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On October 07 2009 04:04 PH wrote:
I was planning on majoring in psychology, but at the last second switched to philosophy purely because I was more interested in it.
Psychology has more job options I think, but after thinking about it, there's not as much interesting about it for me, and it's a saturated department in terms of number of students doing it.
I absolutely love my major.
I would actually say that psychology degree has absolutely no job oppurtunities unless you pursue a masters and then a PhD.
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I declared my major as math at the end of my sophomore year.
Seriously though about majoring in philosophy for a bit, but changed my mind. I think that's a good choice in hindsight.
A lot of courses interests me - anthropology, philosophy, sociology, history - but with regards to job prospects I "chickened out" and took the easy way out so I majored in math.
With a math major and some working experience, I had no problem landing a position in the purchasing department of a cosmetic company.
For those of you interested in what happened afterwards - I hated my 9-5 job and left the job. Went and got my M.A. in math education and started teaching math in high school.
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On October 07 2009 04:04 PH wrote:
I was planning on majoring in psychology, but at the last second switched to philosophy purely because I was more interested in it.
Psychology has more job options I think, but after thinking about it, there's not as much interesting about it for me, and it's a saturated department in terms of number of students doing it.
I absolutely love my major.
I've always thought that philosophy would make a great degree for anyone going on into a field where your undergrad doesn't matter so much (any health profession, law, etc). We need more people who are good at thinking instead of just regurgitating.
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my parents dictated my major.
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Keep in mind your major doesnt decide your job entirely.
I was a geography major and now I'm a financial consultant.
Study what you like!
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EPT
