College Major...?

[OrionsByte]

Alright, in all seriousness...

I used to work at the "Career Center" of our local community college as a student assistant, and I saw a lot of people come through who had started out majoring in some subject only to find out they hated it. I also saw a lot of older folks coming back to college because they went through all the schooling and everything, got started in their career, and then found out they hated it.

Why go through all that?

Here's my advice: start out undeclared. Take several well-rounded general education classes that will count towards your graduation requirement no matter what you end up choosing. Make sure there's a good mix of them - sciences, math, arts, etc. In your freshman year of high school you should be able to knock out a majority of your general ed classes.

While you're taking those classes, pay attention to yourself and what you're enjoying the most vs. enjoying the least. You may think you want to get in to business or finance because "that's where the money is" or whatever, but if you take some business classes and find out you suck at them or just hate them all to hell, then you're going to be very unhappy. I personally would rather be working in an industry that I enjoy and that I find fulfillment in in some way than be miserable all the time and make 10 times more than I make now. So if you can use college to help you figure out what you actually enjoy being interested in, so to speak, then you'll be a big step ahead of a lot of other people.

Also, take advantage of the counselors at the college - they know their stuff. They can help you figure out which classes to take that will fulfill the general education requirement for pretty much any major, and they will also be able to help you figure out where you could start to focus. Once you've decided on a major, they can help you pick the best classes to take, and in which order. It would be stupid to pass up that kind of help. Talking to a college counselor about your college and career future is the exact opposite of asking a bunch of random people on the internet who don't know a lick about you.

 

[Mike_E]

Girls and booze. Get it out of your system.

After you sober up figure how much you need to make to live the way you want and find the jobs that pay that much.

Pick the one that sucks the least and major in whatever that is.

You will never be your job so long as you have a soul, be who you are and grow into the best you are there is.

mike

 

[behanana]

Screw going to a big school, save your money go to a community college and get a general degree in business. In the end what a BS degree is anymore is an equivalant to what used to be a high school deploma, it will take some time for you to figure out what you want to do and a degree may not be neccessary. Hell I'm a BMW technician, enjoy doing what I do, sure didn't need to get my business degree to do it, nor did I need to go to Pitt to do it. Just my incoherent $0.02

Don't rule out the trades either, there is good money in electrical, plumbing, ect. just doesn't hold the glamour as an engineering position.

 

[usayit]

Girls and booze. Get it out of your system.

Did the booze and partying throughout... can't say I recommend it. But it was fun.

 

[er111a]

what if I did food science major?

 

[molested_cow]

Screw going to a big school, save your money go to a community college and get a general degree in business. In the end what a BS degree is anymore is an equivalant to what used to be a high school deploma, it will take some time for you to figure out what you want to do and a degree may not be neccessary. Hell I'm a BMW technician, enjoy doing what I do, sure didn't need to get my business degree to do it, nor did I need to go to Pitt to do it. Just my incoherent $0.02

Don't rule out the trades either, there is good money in electrical, plumbing, ect. just doesn't hold the glamour as an engineering position.

Typical small town mentality.

A good friend of mine was going to the same school. After sophmore summer break, he decided to not continue school and wanted to become a landscaper. So he packed up and went back home to his rural PA town. Why did he decide to leave? He said he wasn't liking school and like to be around "nature". I am not going to judge his said reasoning, but it was really his family that pressured him to quit. No one in his family went to college and was questioning why does he need to. They felt that they were doing alright without a college degree, so he shouldn't waste his time and money.

Then when I visited him, some of his family members, those who really cared about him, told me that they were disappointed that he didn't finish school and asked for my opinion. I still encourage my friend to finish a degree, but having a girlfriend (soon to be his son's mother) who only got to high school and kept moving from odd job to odd job because she "didn't like the job", really doesn't help push him.

What big school offers isn't just a name. It's competition. It's social skills. It's the ability to navigate your way and find success among a huge crowd. It's about knowing how to identify your resources and learning how you can utilize them to help yourself.

My friend is complains about not being able to get more business through advertising and unsuccessful in trying to sell his truck, but he doesn't even think about going beyond just local listings. That's small town mentality. I am not saying that he needs to go big and be corporate and all that, but you got to do what it takes to get your message out. Being in a big school allows you to experience failure with insignificant consequences. When you are on your own, every lesson is a hard one.

 

[behanana]

molested, my comment has nothing to do with small town mentality. It has to do with the cost/benefit analysis of going to a big school. With a big school comes big bills after you are done. When you come out of college with student loan bills that could have bought you a house is most markets that's just kinda screwed up. What I'm saying is if this kid doesn't know what he/she wants to go to school for then why pay for a name, or an expieriance, go to a community college and get an "all around" degree like business, then get a job, expieriance, and knowledge. What's the worse that can happen with that, decide they like a certain field and then transfer to a better school.
It would be nice if high school helped students determine what it is they would like to do in life, unfortunatly it seems like all HS seniors are just told "Go to college because you don't have a future if you don't!" and that's a lie, granted you won't be an engineer if you don't go to college, however if you enjoy let's say electrical work, you can make a good living being an electrian.
I knew alot of people that did the same thing your friend did, I almost left school my sophmore year to train to be a heavy equipment opperator, and guess what they make decent money. I now make good money working on cars, and I have a great deal of knowledge in my head doing so.

 

[molested_cow]

On the car mechanic part, I just think it will be very interesting when mechanics will need to be sent back to school to become electricians and programmers when EVs become a bigger part of the automotive market.

There will probably be a separate garage or repair station altogether for gas and electric cars. Perhaps there will also be a clash between those who work on gas and electric cars. The grease monkeys vs copper nerds.