Comments on: What should be your college major?

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:25:44 +0000

Eric, if one’s major matches one’s aspiration for advances study, that is good. But if it doesn’t, getting the right courses in before graduating is much more important than redoing the program to get a full major (the two are not the same). You are making a bit of a straw argument by suggesting that I’ve equated having an English degree with being prepared for advanced study in engineering.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 01:18:04 +0000

I disagree with the idea that a college major does not matter; especially with regard to STEM and health degrees Many manufacturing companies will go to college campuses to recruit students in specific majors. If the company needs mechanical engineers, then they are not going to hire English majors. A hospital looking hire nurses is not going to hire Anthropology majors. Changing majors is smarter than winding up in a dead-end career with no future.

By: Laura Ellisie

Laura Ellisie — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:54:31 +0000

Try this app called ” Major:Education”.. Has the jobs you can get with a major, the money, how fast you can pay back college, and a bunch of free classes you can take to try out a major.

Helped me pick my major! Business admin:)

By: Mindy

Mindy — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:48:05 +0000

“If you want to go into a graduate program involving science, and your major is related to that science, but you have C’s on all of your tough, hard, grueling science courses and you have only the minimum required, then your application to a good graduate program is shit. If, on the other hand, you have a major in a field not that closely related to the science related field you want to study, but you’ve recently developed a sincere interest in that field, and you happen to have more hard science courses than required for your degree and they are all A’s, then your application is golden. All else being equal.”

I feel like this was written just for me.

By: Daniel J. Andrews

Daniel J. Andrews — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 19:22:29 +0000

Just skimming here so maybe this was mentioned in Ali’s post, but if you’re not sure what you want to do, why waste time and money on school. See if you can take a job for a year. It’ll give you time to make a decision and likely will give you an idea of the type of job you never want to do again. 🙂

By: Jim Thomerson

Jim Thomerson — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 20:04:18 +0000

My major interests are model airplanes and fish. So I set out to e an aeronautical engineer. Was not good at it. I talked with a grad student friend about biology. He told me I would have to have a PhD to do what I wanted. Could not conceive of same. Well, dinosaurs are cool, so I became a geology major along with 2000 freshmen. Did not turn out all that well. (I did take introductory physical and cultural anthropology for no degree credit.) I had a C+average and graduated on scholastic probation. I took the GRE, because I do well on standardized tests, but no thought of going to graduate school. Couple of years later after school teaching and National Guard Active Duty for Training, I got provisional admission into a geology MS program on the basis of my GRE scores. It did not go particularly well, but I made connections to get into the zoology PhD program at Tulane, and wound up a professor, an ichthyologist with lots of study of fishes.

Two thoughts: Get in the short line. Do not go into a major with 2000 entering freshmen. There will be no jobs. Secondly, never give up, keep maneuvering, do not be overwhelmed by bad choices.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:39:47 +0000

Ali, thanks for your comment.

I’m sure you are right about experience. I didn’t really mention that though I thought of it while writing “and other things” or “etc” or something. That is a whole other ballgame. If during that year of taking one or two community college courses you also work for the State Museum on a geological survey, and then later during college work as an intern on a field school, then a crew chief, and while you are at it, instead of being a server in a restaurant you are part time back at the museum, then your application to a geology program is going to the top of the pile!

Personally, I did not go to college at all. Just the experience. I got an individualized degree before entering graduate school. This is one reason I liked working at the individualized degree program at UMN for a while, although the program I went to was far more sensible.

By: Ali Marie

Ali Marie — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 05:22:21 +0000

First off, thanks for your response, Greg. In particular, your point on the difficulties surrounding class offerings was good; it’s something I’d considered writing my post, but it got so long that I left it out. Also, on the liberal arts education: while I enjoyed those courses, I hadn’t really thought about the impact they have on creating a generally informed society, or the potential disadvantages they can present to those looking at a major. In my case, they were a chance to meet people at the college I would have never crossed paths with locked in my department. It was a good way to make some different friends and discuss topics with those with a different point of view.

I’d never heard your position of the value of an undergrad major before, but I’m only a little surprised. As I’ve been starting the graduate school and job application processes, I’ve been noticing that practical experience seems a lot more important than grades or my major (or minor). It certainly can’t hurt, but it is a little sad that it’ll only show up as a brief, ignored line on my CV in a short period of time.

I don’t have time to respond to all the comments right now, but CherryBombSim: In general, I agree with Greg’s point that the minor isn’t all that important. In my school, I don’t even think it shows up on my degree, it just becomes a footnote in my transcript. In my personal case, I chose to take on a major because music has always been my “other” passion; I’ve played instruments since I was three years old, and didn’t want to quit in college. I also had very little history and context to the things I was performing, and felt I could grow as a musician if I took some time to learn it. Plus, the minor required at least one year in a music ensemble, which kept me practicing during the challenges of first year. Yes, it makes scheduling a major pain, as I have to work around major courses, class labs, my job as a lab manager, and any extracurriculars I want to do to schedule my music classes and practice time. But it’s worth it to me, and I knew coming into the college that I’d have to deal with that issue. It’s my stress release now, and my fallback should something happen in the future and I can’t do geology anymore.

By: CherryBombSim

CherryBombSim — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:15:58 +0000

On second thought, remembering back, someone with a guitar or an old violin who knows how to use it is very useful on field trips.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:11:10 +0000

I think it depends a lot on the schools and the advising. I’ve generally advised against minors for the same reason I say that the major itself is less important than often regarded. If, however, a minor is already attainable without additional work because you accidentally took the classes, then why not. Having said that I’ve helped design a number of minors in UG and Grad programs, but still, I’ve generally regarded them as advertisements rather than good idea. If you like the minor, come and take a couple of classes in our discipline, just the classes you really like, and never mind the minor itself. (A department generally does not get much out of students from other depts taking their minor; they get more just from students taking classes. In fact, many faculty don’t like minors because it draws in a certain number of unwashed students which for some reason many academics find loathsome. )