Dude, I don't know what to major in.

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Discus: College Admissions: 2002 - 2003 Archive: May 2003 Archive: Dude, I don't know what to major in.
By Kad (Kad) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 08:11 pm: Edit

It sucks.

How about you help me out and tell me what to do?


By Batman (Batman) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 08:17 pm: Edit

Most people who can't quite figure out what they want to do end up with a Liberal Arts major because of its flexibility.

By Tenaciouselle (Tenaciouselle) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 08:18 pm: Edit

I'm in the same boat.

How about you try and think about the things you definitely DON'T want to do and go from there.

I've narrowed my list down to Pre-Med, Behavioral Sciences, or Psychology. Maybe Liberal Arts, not sure.

By Kad (Kad) on Saturday, May 03, 2003 - 08:31 pm: Edit

At first I was thinking Computer Science/Math, but it seems so boring. I've also heard a lot of bad stuff about job outlook and such.

Chemical Engineering sounds like a good major, but my grades aren't so good, and so I'd have a hard time getting accepted to a decent school because of the higher selectivity of engineering schools. Also today I found out that UIUC has a 3 year requirement for foreign language, and I've only taken 2.

English and Literature interest me, also, but I'm not sure how practical a degree in that would be.

Economics and Philosophy are also interesting subjects that I am considering.

By Divingin (Divingin) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 02:14 am: Edit

one way i think of it is, are you humanities or sciences? if you can decide even b/w those two, that really helps :)

By Arthurd (Arthurd) on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 06:33 pm: Edit

Kad, the only thing I an say is that whatever bad things you heard about the Computer Science job outlook must be false. Computer Science degrees remain to be in high demand. You can check that information at the US Bureau of Labor website (www.bls.gov). As far as what to major in, I agree with Divingin. You still need to narrow your choices down a bit more. It would be hard for someone to tell you what your major should be with such a broad listing of your interests. I, personally, am entering college in the Fall for engineering, so I'd say "Go Science!" all the way... but that's just me!!!!

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Thursday, May 08, 2003 - 05:01 pm: Edit

Kad: I'm a chemical engineering/classics double major, so a few notes on both. Chemical Engineering is a good major in some respects, but it is one of the most difficult majors you could choose. It is also a very dry subject: you'll spend a lot of time doing thermo, working on computer programs, and designing controllers for chemical plants. Typical problem sets ask you how large a reactor will need to be based on certain information, what type of controller should be used, or to model pressure drops. Before you go into a major like chem-e, look into the jobs and see if you would like to be a chemical engineer. I'm finding out now that the jobs are quite different from what I would like to be doing.

Now, for the other side: you should consider something like the classics. I've taken five Greek courses, three history, two literature, and one ancient medicine course, and it all works together to be a major. It's really good if you want to take several different types of classes (some schools let you do philosophy with that as well). Furthermore, classics majors have the highest admissions rate into med schools, and they do very well in law school.

When in doubt, find a school that lets you double major. :) Also, see if you can get onto some career services websites from colleges, as they list what you can do with certain degrees.

By Carrro (Carrro) on Saturday, May 10, 2003 - 08:07 am: Edit

Dude, take some general classes, and than take differnet classes in stuff your interested in. You'll figure it out.


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