I need to pick a MAJOR..and soon. Help..?

[Dehumanizer]

Before I begin, let me say this. Whenever I talk to others about which major to pick, either they tell me to go straight for the cash or they tell me to go straight to whatever makes me happy. I don't fully agree with either--I fall somewhere in between. Here are my factors, in order of importance:

--Money. I personally truly want to make lots of money. That's number one for me, so "moneydoesntbuytruehap" etc does not apply to me.
--Job opportunities. I may pick a major that makes a nice amount of money and I may like it and do well in school with it..but it will be all for nothing if I'm unemployed and can't find a job.
--Difficulty of schooling. I am a fairly good student but I want to be able to handle these next 4-8 yrs smoothly.
--Interest. This is where it gets confusing. People talk about right thinkers and left thinkers, with one of them being the more science/math type and the other not. I am not. Let's just say English I am good at, Math I am in the middle with, and Science I am terrible at. Considering my goals, I'll probably have to deal with math and science no matter what, but I'd like to at least avoid physics and other type of analytical sciences. My parents want me to go to engineering school because it gives me a good direction to a guaranteed good job (which I agree with), but realizing my strengths and weaknesses, the schooling is not for me.

So there you go..what are my options? I'm still a senior in high school, which gives me enough time to think about it before I attend Rutgers in the fall. My parents want me to pursue something like engineering or pharmacy which I don't mind, it's just that I don't know if I'd be able to do either. I personally have been going back and forth, thinking about business-related majors and other fields. I've even considered just going through engineering to be on the safe side and then applying for law school. I just don't know what majors are worth it and what aren't. Does anyone have any lists of websites showing the pros and cons of every field, with the factors I mentioned? Man, this is difficult.

And please don't turn this into an artsy thread telling me to pursue whatever "makes me happy," listing your double majors of Painting and Disco Dancing as an example. Likewise, I don't intend to take dozens of classes to see what I'm interested in, all while changing my major a dozen times, because that's a waste of money and time. While 'happiness' in picking a major is great and all, I want to be practical also. It's a balance.

[Champion Jack]

1. Bat farming

Damn good money and great benefits too

[Stephanie]

2. You don't need to pick a major at all.

You have anywhere from a year to three years to think it over. You don't need to decide anything. Relax.

[htuttle]

3. Philosophy

I majored in Philosophy, and I'll tell you it's a fact that Philosophy majors earn the best tips in the taxi business, bar none.

[alexwcovington]

4. Engineering is a good field

If you're willing to work at it...

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

5. I would encourage you to look again at your priorities

Do you really want to spend 10-12 hours a day 5 days a week for the next 40 years doing something just for the money? Some people have to, but if you have options, find something you love to do. Doing it for the money never pays off in the end.

I was a history/urban studies major, which I loved, and now at thirty two I have a six figure income in something totally non-related, but which I also love. I would do my current job for half of what I make, but I get paid a lot because I do it well, and the reason I do it well is because I care and I have a lot of enthusiasm for it.

So, try to find what you enjoy studying, and try to find a job, no matter how low on the totem pole you have to start, that allows you to do something you have a passion for. Your odds of success and financial security go up immensely when you have a love and passion for what you do. Also, the joy and happiness in your life becomes a lot less dependent on how much money you make.

[Kathleen04]

6. Does Rutgers allow you to remain uncommitted to a major?

At many schools, they allow you to remain "undecided" about your major and just get your general education required classes out of the way first before taking your major specific classes.

If they have that option, you should really consider it since you're not sure what you want to pursue yet.

[section321]

7. Economics...

It can lead you into a wide variety of moeny making fields. Its good prep for grad school.

And its interesting (at least to me).

[strategery blunder]

8. History?

It is generally great for learning analytical skills (history in college is rarely freeped like history in high school). It also tends to be a good pre-law major if you want to become an attorney.

I'm assuming that since you are good at English, you would also do well writing history papers. You did not mention social sciences at all in your post, so I'm shooting in the dark here.

Full disclosure: As I am a history major myself, this is not exactly objective advice.

Edit: punctuation. Also, engineering will involve lots of physics.

[neoteric lefty]

11. history is tough to get anything

outside of education or research, from what I have heard.

[Endangered Specie]

9. Construction engineering... which has less math/science than most...

Or architecture.

If you can hande Chemistry/Biology then Bio Med or Chemical engineering might be another idea.

I think those fit the (money/jobs) outfit.


If you want a guaranteed job, work in:

- Funeral / undertaker business - people wont stop dying
- Waste management - people wont stop shitting.
- Food Industry - people wont stop eating

[neoteric lefty]

10. I am a senior in college

and I will tell you, do something that interests you. The money will follow if you have a passion for your line of work and work hard at it. I have friends that have graduated in stuff they have no passion for (accounting, public relations) and they are already hating what they are doing 2 years out of school.

That doesn't mean you have to be an artist or dance major. Usually with state universities, you can get your general education requirements out of the way first and take a year or so before you figure out which major you have to stick with.

With engineering, there are tons of different paths you can go. If you are into computers and like to solve problems a lot, you can become a software engineer (Thats what I am. I am in it for the chicks :) j/k). Go onto the school's website and get as much info from the different colleges' own websites. That's about it I guess. Good luck!

[furrylitldevil]

12. You'd be surprised at how versitle an English degree is

Most companies looking for upper-level employees just look for a college degree, not caring too much what that degree is in unless the field is highly specialized. My sister is a Chemist, she works in a lab with other Chemists, but she is one of the rare people working there who actually has a BS in Chemistry. English will do you just fine until you figure out what it is you really want to do.

[neoteric lefty]

15. yeah, get an english minor

if you do engineering. You would be shocked how many engineers can't write coherent papers/memos/etc. And I am talking about the ones born and bred in the U.S.A. I know a few management guys in engineering firms and they are shocked how bad some of their guys write. Communication is key in any technical profession.

[furrylitldevil]

16. I think that if it's all about utility

and trying to keep as many options available to make as much money as possible, then English is the way to go. If your job requires any further education, that can always be sought after later.

[FDRrocks]

13. History, by far..

History is what brought the populace of the Soviet Union to realize what Stalin was.

History is what can bring current first world countries to thier knees for the collective crimes committed in modern history.

The world needs more honest historians.

[ringmastery]

14. finance, accounting, economics

You can't go wrong in those fields.

Just make sure to get the internships during your sophomore or junior year.

Co-ops are good too.

If you graduate without good work experience, you are as useless to employers as a history major.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. College is four years. The rest of your life is the rest of your life.

I was in the academic world long enough to see students who majored in accounting or computer science or business or engineering, aiming exclusively for the big bucks, only to come back after a few years talking about how bored they were.

Sorry, I fall on the "do what you love" side of the argument. I'm reminded of the story of the playwriter Wendy Wasserstein, who has had a couple of long-running Broadway plays and won a Pulitzer Prize. When she graduate from college, she told her parents that she wanted to write plays. They were horrified, because everyone in the family had always been either a lawyer or a stockbroker.

She struck a deal with them. "Give me five years, and if I haven't made any progress in my playwriting career, then I'll go to law school. But I don't want to be a forty-year-old lawyer who is miserable because I keep thinking that I could have been a playwright. If I try and fail, fine."

Even during my student and teaching years, I noticed that the students who were majoring in what they thought they ought to major in (usually business) but had no interest in it were the ones most likely to drink too much or take uppers and downers.

To sum up, I would strongly advise against doing something you hate just because you can make money at it. What's the use of having money if you hate to get up in the morning because your day will be so unbearable?

[aquart]

18. They're going to need CPAs to straighten out the Bush mess.

That should employ people for years.

A lawyer/cpa is even better. Gonna be lots of work in financial crimes.

Have you considered geology? You can bill over $300 an hour just to diagram a water table. Well, you have to clunk thru some mud, too. If you can do graphs, you can be a geologist. You'd have to like mud, though. It's the best possible science for people afraid of physics and uncomfortable with the concept of disecting a cat.

[Guaranteed]

19. "Let's just say English I am good at, Math I am in the middle with, and...

...Science I am terrible at."

Alright, well that's going to create a problem with your number one priority- making lots of money.

If you want to make a lot of money, you need to do something technical, whether it's being an engineer or a doctor or whatever.

If you're going toward the liberal arts, you're either going to have to have a best-seller, star in a blockbuster movie, or be a lawyer in order to make lots of moolah.

Go for the lawyer. That's what I'm doing.

[Lorien]

20. Don't like "arsty"?

I worked for Disney Feature Animation years ago, and three of my fellow animator buddies were making $15,000 a WEEK, with a one million dollar signing bonus. Does that sound like a decent salary for guys who majored in art?

[Fight_n_back]

21. Pick Major Healey

Because then you get Jeanie as well.

[Indiana_Dem]

22. My daughter is only a sophomore who still doesn't know....

if I were her I would pick something that has to do with the environment or renewable energy because that's where we're heading. I was never strong in math or science but I managed to get myself through miraculously in nursing school. Had a C average in high school then came out in the top 10% in my college graduating class with a 3.6!!! I had to take Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology, etc., with only taking algebra and one year of biology in high school. If I can do it, so can you. It just takes discipline to get yourself through it. It was truly a plunge when I went for it but I did it beyond my wildest dreams.

I see in the future lots of jobs having to do with environmental concerns so lots of chemistry, biology and probably math. Almost every degree anymore requires at least pre-calculus and statistics even if you go into some of the "softer" majors. Might as well go full-force since that's the case. Electical or mechanical engineering might be a good degree, too. Even something agriculture will be a good field. Maybe I'm wrong but I think that's where the money and demand will be.

[fujiyama]

23. Don't take this the wrong way...

but are Indian? I see this mentality often among Indians and other Asians. BTW, I'm Indian. I honestly wasn't too sure what I'd want to do and ended up choosing electrical engineering. I started off wasting a year on all sorts of classes and then decided upon electrical engineering because it was "safe" and because I had some interest in it. Well, it can be interesting but in all honesty I wish I had majored in something a bit closer related to those issues I love, particularly politics and history.

Looking back, I probably do wish I had chosen a major in either history, economics, or political science. I'm sure I would have had a much higher GPA than I do now (low 3s).

In terms of money, as another poster stated, something related to environmental sciences and engineering should take off. It's a growing field, and while physics will be required, that's not all of it. I'm not very familiar with environmental sciences and engineering but I'm sure chemistry is important for that.

Other fields are medicine, but I honestly would NOT recommend going into it "just for the money". You will hate yourself for it, and will probably make a very shitty doctor as well.

Law is good, and you can major in pretty much anything. Just make sure to get a good GPA and study hard for the LSAT.

Keep in mind that engineering and the sciences will all require physics as part of the curriculum (calc based for engineering programs and algebra based for pre med...not sure for pharmacy).

Other fields include computer science (which requires a particular way of abstract thinking - not my cup of tea, but you may find that interesting), accounting and finance (not too heavilly mathematical and they offer "safe" jobs) and economics (a great well rounded liberal arts degree -- compliment it with math courses).

Then there are all the liberal arts degrees, which can be used in avariety of ways. They are primarilly great for preparation for professsional schol (med, law, biz) and grad school.

Good Luck, and while you'll hate hearing this -- you should choose what you're INTERESTED in, but at the same time work hard in whatever you end up choosing.

[bloodyjack]

24. be like me, major in bio

--Money: yes, you will be paid generously. but then there's malpractice insurance. just make sure you never, ever screw up EVER.
--Job opportunities: not a problem unless you ever, EVER screw up EVER or you are a proctologist. and you could always teach . . . i mean, do college professors really DO anything, honestly? and they ARE paid well.
--Difficulty of schooling: might be a problem if you grow uninterested. heck, as an undergrad i've noticed the devil and his grandmother all want to be "doctors" . . . but think of the rewards! you WILL have to work, ultimately, if you want to pursue any career that meets all the given criteria.
--Interest. eh?