College Majors

[gKash187]

My senior year in high school is right around the corner which means that I really need to be giving thought to what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. The problem is, I have no clue of what I want to do.

My question to you college kids is, how did you figure out what major you wanted to persue?

[zizuhyte]

well im not quite in college yet but i have my major picked out. i just graduated and well my pick was easy, ive been an artist all my life so thats what im doing. art and design. at nc state's design school no less :D most of you dun care but its pretty prestigious and competative. im proud. i just took all sorts of art classes...who knows.

[Longest]

Here's a long drawn out story to answer your question. When I was in HS, I was a geek, plain and simple. A computer geek. Big time. So when I went to college, I went in in computer science, that being the major for that type of geekocity. I struggled/fought that major for a while, then I added statistics as a major. So I fought them both. After about 2 years of that, I dropped stats and put in math as a major (still with CS). Struggled with that for a while. Finally, after 3 and a half years of college, I dropped both of those and added political science, which is what I'm on now. How did I end up in poly sci? Because at the time I liked arguing/griping/*****ing about politics, and I had accrued enough credits to where I was within striking distance of a degree. So here we stand, I'm about to go into my 6th year of college, still in poly sci. Hopefully I"ll graduate in May but it's still up in the air.

The moral of the story here is, decide WHAT YOU LIKE. What activites are fun for you, inspire you, what are you passionate about. That could be lax, art, playing the bongos, visiting shutins, weaving baskets out of hemp string. Whatever it is, chances are good that you should try to find a job later in life centered around that passion. So for college, just pick a field you like enough to stomach for 4 years. Don't be afraid to try out some random stuff for the first 2 years, b/c most of it will be general ed crap anyway and you wo'nt get behind. 2 cents from an old, old undergraduate :-)

Dan

[GeorgiaMiddie2]

first of all, it's not really that important to know what your major is your fist couple years of college. but, to answer your question, i'll ask you the same question someone asked me once... if you never had to worry about money, what would you do with your life?

[WarriorLax22]

haha. basket weaving....like longest said, do what you like. you can try almost everything until you have to officially declare your major. i highly doubt this to be your situation, but at MIT, i think only six students remained undecided by their sophomore year. so it kind of depends on where you're going, too.

[gKash187]

I have always had a fascination with weather, I could pretty much watch the weather channel every second of the day and not be too bored. What are different weather related majors?

[anjang86]

Well when I graduate with my degree I'm gonna get a job with some company that builds airplanes, submarines, cars, whatever. But I'm not gonna be designing those vehicles, my boss is going to come up to me and point to a light on the wall and say, 'you see that light, its green now, dont let it turn red' and that will be my job. I'll be trained specifically to make sure that light doesn't even think about turning red, if it turns red, then I will be suspended/fired/shot (if I work for the CIA).

My point is that no matter what you learn in college, no matter what you specialize in, the majority of us will go into entry level jobs where they train you to do something and you do it, no college education required. Sometimes I wonder why I'm in college at all, I can do that red/green light job as well as any college grad w/ a 4.0 GPA.

[anjang86]

Originally posted by gKash187
I have always had a fascination with weather, I could pretty much watch the weather channel every second of the day and not be too bored. What are different weather related majors?

meteorology

[gKash187]

I didn't see meteorlogy as a specific major, or at least on the princeton review for VT.

[WarriorLax22]

Originally posted by nrvlc
My point is that no matter what you learn in college, no matter what you specialize in, the majority of us will go into entry level jobs where they train you to do something and you do it, no college education required.
ordinarily, i'd disagree, but since you said 'most' i really can't. from the people i know, if you graduate from a top 25 school like an ivy league, stanford, MIT, UChicago, etc. you're pretty much guaranteed a job out of college. but if you work really hard in college, i think you can land a pretty sweet job when you graduate. i mean, i'm going to syracuse, not exactly the most prestigious among the universities, but if i really excel in my major and ace the MCATs, then i can work in some pretty prestigious hospitals and even attend a top 10 medical school. i think it just comes down to how hard you're willing to work.

[anjang86]

Originally posted by WarriorLax22
ordinarily, i'd disagree, but since you said 'most' i really can't. from the people i know, if you graduate from a top 25 school like an ivy league, stanford, MIT, UChicago, etc. you're pretty much guaranteed a job out of college. but if you work really hard in college, i think you can land a pretty sweet job when you graduate. i mean, i'm going to syracuse, not exactly the most prestigious among the universities, but if i really excel in my major and ace the MCATs, then i can work in some pretty prestigious hospitals and even attend a top 10 medical school. i think it just comes down to how hard you're willing to work.

actually man that was just a little rant I was on, I know it's different for you cause doctors actually have to know stuff and all. And that's true that you can find a good job and all, but if you go to a competitive university and you can't compete, you'll be stuck getting trained

[anjang86]

Originally posted by gKash187
I didn't see meteorlogy as a specific major, or at least on the princeton review for VT.

actually its just the name of the science, I dont know what the major is called

[GeorgiaMiddie2]

if you're lookin for somethin to do with meteorology, then check out the school of science, mathematics, etc at different universities and see if any have a degree you're interested in.

[Longest]

The science that deals with the phenomena of the atmosphere, including and related to weather and weather conditions, is meteorology. Some schools may have some courses about that in the Biology major, or the Geology major, or some such other. Find contact information for the dean of whatever school you're interested in, and shoot them an email "Dean X, I'm interested in meteorology. I don't see that as a major. What's up with that"

Dan

[laxgirl09]

even though they tell u that u dont need to declare a major until ur sophomore year, they practically force u into doing it before then... make sure that you have some idea of what u want to study and that the school u choose has a few majors that u are interested in. when i came into my freshman year i had no idea what i wanted to do but now i really want to do sports med and my school doesnt have a major for that or anything close so basically im stuck with a major i dont like because im not leaving b/c of lax

[Dan]

i'd have to go with industrial design and perhaps a minor in computer science. you see, i come from a family of nerds, and my brother is teaching me webpage design. but industrial design is my passion, which is why products in lacrosse are my passion. so industrial design is my chosen major.

[laxbabe2121]

uhh i chose my major beucase when i was little i always wanted one of those CIA jackets, and when i grew up, i put a little more research into it, and realized that they need lots of engineers. my dad's a mechanical engineer for lockheed martin, and they work for the department of defense building missles and fighter jets.

[Despise Purity]

I am still trying to figure out why I choose mine. I guess because I know a few people who do it and from what they said it seemed intresting to me. My major is Air Traffic Management.

[GeorgiaMiddie2]

yeah, idk why i chose mine either... i have to work my *** off takin hard *** classes so i can get a stinkin teaching degree...

[squire]

If you're interested in weather, you may want to look into geology or geophysics. The latter may be overkill, but eh.
I picked my major based on what I could do well. In hindsight, that wasn't the best reasoning.

[BG Lacrosse]

The best advice someone can give you is to do what you love. Don't just choose a major because they make lots of money. Also don't rush yourself into a major if you are not sure. I am a still not sure whta I want to do and its going to be my second year so just give it time