Potential College Majors

[michimaize]

It's getting close to the time for me to declare a college major, and I'm fairly freaked out about it. I've put it off for as long as I possibly could, but the extra time hasn't cleared anything up for me. I apologize in advance for the length, but I'm only including info that might help explain my situation. I'm considering the following majors, in no specific order:

 

1. Statistics

2. Mathematics

3. Biology

4. Computer Science

5. Fish and Wildlife Science

6. Geographic Information Systems

 

I also have to declare a minor, which would probably be one of the above also, or possibly Economics or Communication. I'm not real certain of what types of jobs I would like to pursue after college, so I can't really gear towards that. My goal is to position myself to be able to enter numerous fields. I've realized over the years that I enjoy solving puzzles, mostly spatial ones. I'm okay at mathematics and enjoy it, but so far I've only taken Calculus I and II, getting a B- and B+ respectively. I'm not sure how well I'd do in the higher levels, and hear that after Differential Equations it's completely different. I'm not exactly a people person, which is why I'm considering the Communication minor - to strengthen a weakness. I'm interested in roadways and where they connect (such as highway interchanges) and also the population and commercial distribution that accompany them, which brings Statistics, Geography, and Economics into play, but most of the jobs in that field seem more business/marketing-related, and I'm not very interested in the actual operations of business. I've considered Operations Research, but again, I'm concerned about my long-term abilities in math. Biology has always come fairly easy to me, and I wouldn't mind studying it, but I would probably tend to concentrate in either Fisheries Biology or Biochemistry and most of those jobs are in academia which I wou;d really prefer to stay away from. I never could quite grasp Physics though .

 

I guess I'm just asking for some advice about which option would be the best potentially for a good job that plays to my strengths.

[cellbioS]

Your major can have nothing to do with your career. I know many science majors that go into sales and marketing, not necessarily a "scientific" product either. Personally, I would go with something that you find interesting and can understand but still offers a challenge. Besides, not all bio careers are in academics. I was in academics for only 5 years in a 13 year (so far) career. You would be surprised how many companies will higher biologists, as well as the government. Some positions include writing documents, clincal trial organization, etc in addition to the benchwork positions. Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals are areas that many science majors become employed for various types of duties.

[honestdude14]

Well.. I can think of a million different jobs already. It looks like your leaning torwards the field of engineering. Statistically speaking, engineering jobs are some of the best paying as well as most needed. Engineering has a vast network from biology all the way to computer science. Not everyone that goes to college knows their first year what they want to pursue. For most, it's trial and error. Your first year of college, try signing up for introductory classes to various degrees. These introductory classes can give you insight on the things that truly interest you the most.From there on, things will play out.

[michimaize]

I forgot to mention that I'm already enrolled in a community college, and actually have around 90 credits at this point that I've already picked up from trying to figure things out...after this coming year, I'll have around 115 credits, and (as some of you know) I can only get financial aid for 180 credits. that leaves me with about 2 years worth of credits to pull off almost an entire major that typically takes around 4. At the end of this year, I'll have a year of biology, a year of chemistry, a year of C++ programming, and two years of math (through Differential Equations) under my belt, but without the year of Physics, I'm not sure I could pull off an engineering program within 65 credits. I have no idea what area I would even pursue (Civil, Electrical, or Industrial). I know I don't want to do sales (working retail through high school and college completely turned me off from it), but something like Logistics might interest me as long as I don't have to take many business courses (maybe I would like Industrial Engineering because of this?). I'm just so confused as to what to do at this point because of how long I've already been in college. I've considered the military because I'm so lost, but was advised against it because of medical issues. I don't want to take time off either because I don't want to get out of sync and there are no full-time jobs around here that I would qualify for (pretty much just nursing and part-time retail jobs). I feel like I'm running out of options. Thanks for the advice so far, and please keep it coming!

[honestdude14]

Wow, sounds like you've got too many irons in the fire. First off, the military is a bad idea at this point in time. Second, there's nothing wrong with community colleges, but often times it can put a limitation on the kind of job you can get due to accreditation. Have you spoken to any local industries about doing a co-op or just working for them to get experience?

[michimaize]

Wow, sounds like you've got too many irons in the fire. First off, the military is a bad idea at this point in time. Second, there's nothing wrong with community colleges, but often times it can put a limitation on the kind of job you can get due to accreditation. Have you spoken to any local industries about doing a co-op or just working for them to get experience?

 

The bad part about that is that there is pretty much nothing around where I live. The nearest Walmart is 30 minutes away, and the only jobs that aren't retail within an hour are professional services (physician, nurse, accountant, lawyer, teacher, etc) and retail. I don't have the money to relocate at this point, so thats not really an option. I'm about ready to give in and go into nursing (virtually guaranteed job anywhere and good pay) even though I have no interest.

 

I feel like I'm making excuses and I hate it!