when did you guys decide your major?

On October 05 2009 14:18 ForTheSwarm wrote:
It's all about $$$ man. All about $$$...

Just joking, find something you aren't only interested in now, but feel would be interested in when your 40.

On October 05 2009 15:04 TheOvermind77 wrote:
Perhaps it's shallow, but I've seen too many of my friends pursue bogus career paths because of what they truly "love" only to end up bagging groceries at Walmart. I'm not saying do something you hate, but definitely consider that the primary reason you get a job with your degree is to feed and clothe yourself and your family. Hobbies are a great way to do what you love on the side, if it doesn't happen to 100% correspond to your job.

On October 05 2009 16:21 Humbug wrote:



FUUUU Right when I was about to consider majoring in technical theater too...T__T. First my mom tells me I won't be able to find a job, and then this...

On October 05 2009 18:32 Sadistx wrote:
By the end of 1st year in college.

Was going to do information systems, but they don't really have that at my uni, only a hardcore CS department that's like 99% software design and nothing else.
Switched to economics and kind of got into it, it's very relevant to the problems of humanity, and the professors are all top notch.
Was considering Business at Smith's Business school at UMD, but i'm not enough of a pretentious douche to get an MBA and start leeching off society as some middle tier manager so stuck with econ.

On October 05 2009 18:06 HuskyTheHusky wrote:
Oh god, lets see...

At first I wanted to be a veterinarian, but after doing research into a couple classes and talking to a few real ones they ALL said go into nursing/working with people.

So I did some nursing stuff. Found out after taking some of the preliminaries its like impossible to get into schooling in my state (I really dont want to move out of Oregon).

After that I went into computer science. To be completely honest I bombed out of it fucking harder than I've ever failed at anything, ever. Spent a year doing it at a university and found I CANT FUCKING STAND IT. I love computers, dont get me wrong. But 7 math classes and a shit load of programming classes? Nothx.

So now I'm finishing my 4 associates (yes... 4) in random computer fields (software, networking, database, and programing) and after that will probably go to a tech college. I found out I like computers, just not programming/math.

In other words, I'm 22 and still dont know what my major will be. For some people its easy, for others its a lot more difficult.

On October 05 2009 21:22 illu wrote:
A lot of people I know in mathematics started in some other department... only to realize later that mathematics is the easiest subject of all.

On October 05 2009 15:04 TheOvermind77 wrote:
I LOVE astronomy. But I knew that wasn't going anywhere...what could I do? Become a theoretical physicist in the sea of PhD's, teaching at a college, making shit money and hoping I'd have an Einstein moment to push me onto the forefront? I also LOVE spanish, but I'm not native and would suck as a translator and barely make ends meet. I also love medicine (maybe not as much as astronomy), and so I'm going into the medical field. It also has money. So it's a win win.

On October 05 2009 14:18 ForTheSwarm wrote:
It's all about $$$ man. All about $$$...

Just joking, find something you aren't only interested in now, but feel would be interested in when your 40.

On October 05 2009 15:04 TheOvermind77 wrote:
I'm going to be a pessimist compared to these people and tell you that money matters. At least partially.

On October 05 2009 21:09 Day[9] wrote:
i love math

i chose math going in

i did it

maybe woulda done CS or electrical engineering. hooray hard science! ^_^

On October 05 2009 15:04 TheOvermind77 wrote:
but definitely consider that the primary reason you get a job with your degree is to feed and clothe yourself and your family.

On October 05 2009 22:06 Zortch wrote:
It was a choice between math and physics during my first year. But then math got more awesome and physics got less awesome so I'm in math . Pure math of course^^. Graduating this year.


Profs make good money, have awesome benefits and get a lot of other perks too. Not to mention job security.

On October 05 2009 23:18 Foucault wrote:


LOL

You know it's not very uncommon that women make a shitload of cash nowadays as well. welcome to the 21:th century

On October 05 2009 23:41 EchOne wrote:
I entered my school's undergraduate business program, found everything else but marketing to be hella boring, and chose marketing. My father dissuaded me from political science, but in retrospect he was all nonsense. Don't let others steer you like that, choose what will not bore you and what will make you money. Money is king unless you're a maniac (that is, always pumped to work tirelessly on what you love.)

On October 06 2009 01:11 Sir.Kimmel wrote:
decide your major asap.... taking general education courses and all the stuff first will screw you over...... I decided on psych... but after 2 years I was bored with it.. and I was still just getting all my gen eds out of the way so I was like no big deal... then I enter digital forensics... and its like yeah.... very grueling schedule... and I had to take an extra semester to a year.. and even then the professor had to make some exceptions so I could graduate this year......

if you decide on a major that isn't as grueling thats fine but most majors especially teaching.. your plan is laid out for you.. and if you deviate your screwed.....

so decide asap... if you dont like it.. change.. but its going to cost you in the end.

On October 06 2009 00:43 Manit0u wrote:
Could someone explain to me how education works in the US? It seems like you have to choose the stuff you're gonna do pretty early. Here you have to pick your field of expertise when signing up for a university and then after 3 years (for the last 2 years in most cases) you choose a specialization.
Example (in my case): basic school - 8 years, highschool - 4 years; -> pick your university stuff (you can't really just sign up to univ and choose your courses there, you sign up for specific field right off the bat and you're stuck with the compulsory courses there, in most cases you don't even have an option to take some extra courses).
After the change: basic school - 6 years, gymnasium - 3 years, highschool - 3 years; the rest is the same.

On October 06 2009 01:38 bburn wrote:

When you apply for college/university in US you apply to a specific program (biology, chemistry, computer science, etc) then depending on your program you will have a certain number of required courses and a certain number of electives (free, and professional).

Free electives you can take whatever courses you want, professional electives are electives within your major (possible a concentration within your major). In general science and engineering majors have relatively few free electives while liberal art students generally have quite a few.

Generally speaking it is quite difficult switch majors and be able to complete the program within 4 years unless you are able to get courses waived or you are coming into college with AP credits from high school.

On October 06 2009 02:05 El.Divino wrote:
I decided last year. I'm a senior in High School. Materials Engineering. Taking a couple classes already, and liking it.

On October 05 2009 14:18 ForTheSwarm wrote:
It's all about $$$ man. All about $$$...

Just joking, find something you aren't only interested in now, but feel would be interested in when your 40.

On October 06 2009 05:49 ghostWriter wrote:
The first year or so can just be core classes if you got those and you don't have to choose a major until later, although it might be hard to fulfill all the requirements on time.
I figured I would be a chemistry major by 11th grade and I stuck with it. It's nice because it's not as hard as physics (the math is much simpler) and it's not as much memorization as biology, so it's a happy medium for me. Also, with a Chemistry degree, there's a lot of choice: I can apply for pharmacy school, medical school, dental school, etc. or go to grad school and then work for a pharmaceutical company or hospital as a researcher or become a professor or something.
Science majors give you a lot of leeway and opens up a lot of opportunities in what you can do, but if you don't want to work in an area that has to do with your major, you might be saddled with a lot of knowledge that isn't applicable in your life.

On October 05 2009 21:39 HeaDStrong wrote:


i have noticed this too.
maths in first years is easy- take this algorithm and apply- problem solved. but damn these ppl will be disappointed after a short period of time when they'll have to think for themselves. (again im talking about ppl who chose maths just because it's the easiest)

On October 06 2009 06:49 emucxg wrote:

accountancy makes $$$$?

On October 06 2009 07:05 3clipse wrote:

Actually, it does. But I'm pretty sure your soul becomes a hollow shell within a year.

I was originally going to go into Journalism, until I realized that A) I was learning nothing at all in post-secondary english/writing courses and B) It's kind of a dying field and even if I were to find a job the pay is generally bad.

It became apparent very quickly that I had an interest in Political Science and Economics. I was torn between the two until I discovered that a nearby school had a Policy Studies program which incorporates both and has a 100% job placement rate. The choice was pretty easy at this point, especially considering that this sort of background would be very beneficial if I do in fact decide to try my hand at Journalism someday.

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.

On October 06 2009 11:47 Biochemist wrote:


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.

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.

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.

On October 07 2009 09:07 YPang wrote:
my parents dictated my major.

On October 07 2009 09:10 Rakanishu2 wrote:
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!

On October 07 2009 09:19 Neverborn wrote:


Is that fairly normal for families from your culture? If so, do most people in your shoes just go along with it even if it's something they hate? I have a really hard time understanding this, since I'm so fiercely independent.

I feel very, very sorry for all the people who are pushed into being doctors by their parents because for the most part, doing medicine really sucks ass as a career if you're not into it.

On October 07 2009 09:19 Neverborn wrote:


Is that fairly normal for families from your culture? If so, do most people in your shoes just go along with it even if it's something they hate? I have a really hard time understanding this, since I'm so fiercely independent.

I feel very, very sorry for all the people who are pushed into being doctors by their parents because for the most part, doing medicine really sucks ass as a career if you're not into it.

On October 06 2009 06:39 illu wrote:


Well, it's still the easiest. All you need to do is to think, that's it, and other people judge you solely on how well your logic is. There is no problem with labs going unexpectedly or people having biased opinions about it.

On October 07 2009 09:19 Neverborn wrote:


Is that fairly normal for families from your culture? If so, do most people in your shoes just go along with it even if it's something they hate? I have a really hard time understanding this, since I'm so fiercely independent.

I feel very, very sorry for all the people who are pushed into being doctors by their parents because for the most part, doing medicine really sucks ass as a career if you're not into it.

On October 08 2009 10:17 duckett wrote:


I don't understand the "fiercely independent" attitude. How did you decide what career you liked? Was it a scheme hatched in the deep recesses of your fourteen or eighteen or twenty year old mind, a passion you felt you had felt at one point or another and proceeded with because you valued the "independence" of your decision making, the glorious rooting of your life in the frame of your self? Did you ever stop to think that your self, your independent decisions, are probably just a misdirected and uncoordinated concoction of your parents' values, your violent and disagreeable (read: American) reactions to your parents' values, and the values of friends and neighbors and socialization that have been bestowed upon you largely by random chance? Are you pretentious enough to believe that at the kernel of your person you are anything but some arbitrary combination of a million commonplace and not at all valuable elements? Did you ever reconcile this germ of passion hatched from arbitrariness with the realities of the world; how much did they sync up and how much did you find you could trust to lead you to a shade of success, in whatever way you end up defining it?
Don't you think that by rectifying your dreams across the ideas and hopes your parents have for you, the values they have come by through their own struggle through life and want you to value as well, you would be a more internally consistent and sensible person?
Don't you think that by subordinating your bastard value system, the frankenstein product of an often fucked up society, to one valued by your elders, you might bring a little bit of happiness into the world through them?
Well even if you don't think that way, a lot of Asian people do, and there's a lot of value in this culture.

I think some Joseph Heller is called for.
"My daughter is not obscene, but her speech is dirty now when she talks to her friends and growing dirty also when she talks to us. (I talk dirty too.) She is trying to establish some position with us or provoke some reaction, but my wife and I don't know what or why. She wants to become a part too, I guess, of what she sees is her environment, and she is, I fear, already merging with, dissolving into, her surroundings right before my eyes. She wants to be like other people her age. I cannot stop her; I cannot save her. Something happened to her, too, although I don't know what or when. She is not yet sixteen, and I think she is already lost. Her uniqueness is fading. As a child, she seemed to us to be so different from all other children. She does not seem so different anymore.
Who is she?"

Are money and a prestigious career what matter most in life?