Choosing a college major

[Nerdling]

If you enjoy biology, then by all means, go for it. A lot of the lab-based biological professions are increasingly in demand. Genetics, microbiology, stem cell research, disease research. It's a growing field with plenty of niches to be filled.

-=EDIT=-

Of course, you're not obligated to choose a major at all right now. Many people I know go into college with no clue what they plan on doing, take some exploratory classes in subjects that they find interesting, and find something they are good at and enjoy.

 

[Blln]

ughh I am supposed to be sort of figuring out what I want to major in or at least that's what my college counselor at school keeps asking me. I know you don't have to know what you're majoring in until your sophomore year, but even still I think it is important to have at least an idea so you can choose a college that has a good program for what you might want to do. I don't really have such concrete interests, but I really love reading literature, and I am interested in things like philosophy and psychology, so I am pretty definitely going to be doing liberal arts, and I am also pretty interested in economics if my AP econ class was any indication of what economics is like. I am also not really that concerned with how well my degree will set me up for a career because I am fine financially and will most likely go to grad school. With that in mind, I am thinking I am probably going to end up double majoring in like English and Economics. English is what I love and Economics I also like a lot and would be a lot more useful in real life.

After telling my college counselor this, he told me straight up I should use my early application at Columbia, because I have strong legacy and go to a high school that is practically a feeder school to Columbia and I fit the profile anyway, and that it excels in my interests. Now the only reason I was not so happy to hear this is that I have lived in Mahattan my entire life and was kind of hoping to get away, but I really would be doing myself a travesty by not going to Columbia when it is one of the best colleges in the country just for that reason. Urrrgh it is a tough decision.

 

[Aeolus]

So... I know this isn't exactly a popular answer... but it's going to be the truth based on my experience.

It is my view that while picking a field of study you enjoy and are "good at" will give you an excellent college experience, it will cause you quite a bit of heartache and distress your entire senior year and beyond if there isn't a job market for someone with the skills you've acquired. For example, I really really love math and linguistics... but I know that I don't want to teach and I don't want to enter into a PhD program. That severely limits the job options in those fields and I'd be up a creek now if I had chosen those.

You have to remember that when going into the job market, not many people graduating from college can point to much significant, relevant experience that would qualify us for jobs. It is our education that we have to rely on. For that reason, I think it is very important to have a JOB IN MIND that you want to do when you pick a college major.

My advice is to consider the following questions:

"How long am I willing to go to school beyond an undergraduate degree?"
"What job options present themselves to people with XYZ degree?"

Once you do that, do the research on what jobs are available. It becomes easier then to choose a job/career that you really want to pursue. Once you do that, you choose the major and course of study that best prepares you to be successful in that market. And like everyone else has noted, you have plenty of time. If you can pick by the end of your sophomore year, you should be just fine.

 

[Flurospar]

Just Finished up my degree in Culinary Arts. Its something i love to do and its a field of work that's always going to be needing people, because you have to eat sooner or later. And I'd much rather be working in the field i love rather than working somewhere where my degree wouldn't have any relevance.