Some Discussions Concerning College Majors

My major is Marketing Management. I have chosen this because I think this will suit me well. I first chose Business Administration and then chose Marketing Management after 2 years on the BA department. Our university gives us 2 years to go soul searching and test the waters(by taking up the basic courses about majors) on what majors we would pick.   Though I had last minute second thoughts on what major to take up. I still chose marketing over entrepreneurship. My reason for this is that in my point of view, I can run a business though I am not on entrepreneurship. And on marketing, I can run and MARKET a business cos I specialize on marketing.   I chose marketing because I always imagined and thought of bright and newideas. I am not artistic- then I thought that Marketing is the major that I should pick. I can apply my ideas on marketing strategies and advertisements. I knew what I wanna do after college even before I entered college.   You just have to assess yourself. Know your strengths and weaknessess. Also your likes and dislikes. Good luck to all  those incoming freshmen.

For some people, deciding on a college major is difficult. For others, it is extremely easy. Fortunately, I was part of the latter group. I knew that I wanted to major in English by my sophomore year of high school. I was blessed with amazing teachers, and I could never possibly thank them enough for pointing me in a direction that has brought me so much happiness. If you want to major in English, make sure that you love reading. You will have more reading assignments than you could ever possibly imagine, and I’m not just talking about novels. You will be expected to have a good grasp on the genres of poetry and nonfiction as well. There will be a lot of essay writing involved as well. People tend to make comments about how an English degree is useless for getting a job, but there are actually many careers available after college. One of the most unlikely ones is marketing. English majors have the ability to know what sounds good when it is written, and advertisers idolize this knowledge to make effective advertisements. I am extremely happy with my choice of major. I am minoring in business to make myself more attractive to employers, which is a good move for anyone receiving a degree in the Arts. The one piece of advice which I can offer is that if you do something that you love, it will make you happy and despite what people might say, it is totally possible to earn a living doing so.

Whew! It’s been a long road to discover that this major was the one for me, and those who hear me talk about it may be surprised to hear that it was a hard decision. I always knew that biology was my passion (well, since high school, anyway), but there are so many biology majors! The number of choices I was faced with in the Life Science department stunned me. If you’re like I was, searching for a major within biology and unsure where you should turn, consider the Molecular Biology major.             Molecular Biology definitely has some perks. It is a great major for covering the intricacies of how our bodies work at a molecular level. Whether you’re going on to be a medical student or a scientist, it is a fantastic major for covering the basics. I would recommend it more to the scientist than to the med student, however. For a budding scientist wanting to research genetics, engineering, or anything to do with small molecules, really, this major is a perfect basis for any graduate program you’ll go into. For the student wishing to become a doctor, there may be a major that covers more anatomy and physiology than this one does, and that may be a better choice for you. However, if molecules are what you’re into, never fear! This major will more than adequately prepare the blooming doctor or researcher, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to either. 

When I started college, I very stupidly decided on a whim to major in photography. I was a writer by nature, but I thought, "Pfft, I can't do anything with an English degree. I know! I'll be a photographer!" This was after taking exactly one photography class my senior year of high school. Truthfully, I was only adequate at best, certainly nothing to brag about, but I decided to try it out anyway. Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned there's a lot of other things you have to do as an art major. Like take drawing classes. I'm lucky if I can draw a straight line with a ruler. My instructor was a grad student himself and very friendly and supportive, but there was only so much he could do with someone who has all the artistic ability of a blind chimp, you know? Then there was my graphic design class. My professor was a terrible jerk who would ridicule and belittle students in front of their peers, even rip up their work in front of the class and tell them to drop out and go work at McDonald's. Just not a nice man. You can probably guess how I did in that class, too.  So I ended up getting not one, but two Cs that semester. The first Cs I'd ever gotten in any class, and that's how I began my college career. I cried for a long time, did a lot of hand-wringing, but finally decided that I wasn't happy and I wasn't going to be happy as long as I stuck with a major I knew I wasn't any good at. During the winter break between first and second semester, then, I officially changed majors from art to English, and it was surprisingly painless and much less complicated than I feared it would be.  Fast forward about three and a half years. I went to meet a counselor for my senior evaluation, essentially just a meeting to make sure I'm on schedule to graduate. I'd been very happy as an English major and had been doing very well, and I'd also been steadily working through my university's general requirements, so I thought everything was cool. No. Surprise! I found out in that meeting that I had somehow come up about 20 credit hours short of the minimum required for graduation the following spring. Excuse me? I'd taken full course loads every single semester; how was this possible? The biggest insult was that she explained that it didn't even matter what I took -- I could take swimming lessons if I wanted, as long as I got credit for them -- I just needed the hours on paper.  I was crushed. I'd fully planned on graduating the following semester because I'd already signed up to take the last couple classes I needed to complete my English major. As I'm wont to do, I went home, cried a while, went through the hand-wringing phase again, and then decided to fight back. So my school wanted to keep me on for another year. Fine. But they were going to make it worth my while. I checked out the requirements in the history department and found much to my amazement that I only needed a couple major-specific classes and a couple general history requirements to attain a major, due to how many history courses I'd already completed for my minor (and just because I wanted to take the classes). I needed random credit hours, and I was going to be stuck at school for an extra year no matter what, so I thought, "Why not?" That's how I ended up double majoring. That, too, was a very painless process. I simply went to the College of Liberal Arts office and asked to turn my minor into a second major. The process took all of about five minutes and that was that.  Looking back, I'm glad all this happened. History has been my passion ever since, and it gives me a very practical application of the writing skills I originally signed up as an English major to explore in the first place. Plus, I've learned all sorts of random trivia that's great conversation fodder.

 Hi Bandella,  It sounds like you got stuck with some pretty terrible professors and advisors. I don't think it's ever acceptable to belittle or insult students, even if you privately think their work is subpar. Maybe your assessment of your artistic ability has been negatively influenced by that experience.  As for the late graduation, I can't believe an advisor would let you get into that situation! My advisors weren't always right, but they at least provided check sheets and other guides early on in the process so I could tell where I was in terms of graduation time.  Well, it sounds like it all worked out for you in the end, but you shouldn't have had to go through all that.

Oh man that wasn't a great experience. I am also a to be 3 times change of major (air hi5). Well, lets see. I started out in bio-medical engineering because I fell prey to the sales pitch, which basically said bio-medical is concerning biology. So I got. After a year and half, I was still waiting for biology classes to show up. One bio-chemistry class showed up and then that's it. Everything else was electronics and electricity. I wanted to change to bio-technology but that would changing from engineering to science which would extend by graduation. So, I took chemical engineering. I did like chemistry and math. The theory was great and I was acing the subjects. Then came MATLAB. I realised I don't like computing programs. One of the reasons why I dint choose computer engineering. But anyway, I did obtain some computing skills. Now, I am actually on a break from my academics. I am not sure I want to get back into chemical engineering. It just doesnt feel right. So, I probably end up taking some other major. Oh well, that's that.

As someone that loves math and chemistry, as well, I can certainly say I feel for you. Have you considered being a teacher for either one? Granted, the coolest science teacher I ever had was my physics teacher (who also taught forensics at my school, but moved on to teach in Florida), and my coolest math teacher taught my least favorite of all maths (CPCTC, anyone?), but all in all, my favorite teachers have always been my math and science teachers. (especially CS teacher; he was snarky enough to keep up with a room full of teenagers, after all :D)

I decided to major in nursing first, then continue on to study anesthia. I chose this path because I was born at six months, and was a very premature baby with many difficulties. Because of my prematurity, I faced many grueling surgeries growing up. I grew to consider most of the local hospital staff family in many ways. The anesthesiologist who helped me to choose my "flavor" of anesthesia, and calmly explained procedures and what to expect, was my reason for becoming an anesthetist. She was kind, and gentle, and because of her selflessness, I remember more of those positive moments instead of fear and anxiety.

I think that instructors who have knowledge of a subject that is very difficult for most to grasp, and can also teach the subject with skill. They must have a bigger joy for their work and accomplishments. I know I would. It is hard enough to learn some of the things that are taught in classes like physics and trig, and chemistry. It would make me walk with my head high, proud of myself for being able to make it"click" for others.

So I switched to public relations.  But at that same time, I started realizing my incredible passion was in horsemanship and in acting (weird mix, I know). I wasn’t going to pursue horsemanship as a career nor acting, but a few things changed that. First, I won (yes, won—in an essay contest) a horse of my dreams, the same breed as Shadowfax in the Lord of the Rings. Getting her was one of the most incredible experiences in my life, and I decided to stay in horses. (I had been riding since I was five years old—in fact, my favorite color when I was little was brown, because I was convinced all horses were brown. :) ).

  So I joined the Interdisciplinary Studies program at Northwestern and started designing my own major to do that (because, well, they didn’t offer anything in Film Horse Training!!).   So my first major was then called something like, “Equine Business and Film Studies.” However, after weeks of work on that, I found it started to fall through. First, my equine business studies had to be through distance ed, as Northwestern didn’t offer any equine business. So I started taking distance classes through Purdue University, but found that I didn’t want to continue—I wasn’t learning much and I did not care for the courses at all. So I had to drop that.

This has prepared me in a great way for my future business. And because it was a smaller major, I was able to take some great electives, too, including Acting. So, I did get some theatre in there! Northwestern has been so supportive throughout the process, and it has been a great experience. I was home-schooled my entire life, and so in a sense, it was just a continuance of what I knew about being self-motivated about driving my education. And now, it’s just going from there! Next semester I’ll be making my business plan, marketing plan, public relations campaign, and more—so exciting!

My personal and professional goal is to obtain a Master’s Degree in Management with a focus on Project Management in preparation for passing the Project Management Professional exam and pursuing a Ph.D. in Management. My choice to major and specialize in Management and Project Management originates from an innate desire to organize and provide structure to any given situation. I am most satisfied in my profession when I am provided the opportunity to take on a project that allows me to work with and through a team to reach a common goal. Enrollment in a graduate program focusing on Project Management is helping refine my skills and gives me an edge in the job market that will enhance my ability to reach my goals. My Bachelors is in Business Management, so Project Management is fairly closely related. I have also toyed with the idea of enrolling in a Journalism program once I complete my current M.S. to give myself an added edge in the marketplace.

As a freshman, I had an ambition to be a fine arts major. Before I could take my first art class the adult figure in my life strongly was against it.  So, after that I decided to try my hand at being a secondary education history/ social studies double major with a minor in geography and for a good 2.5 years I stuck with that until I found that I was good at geography but not REALLY wanting it as a minor, so I changed my geography minor to Japanese and studied abroad to Japan. After that experience I ultimately dropped my secondary education social studies degree and landed to where I am now, and that is a History major with a minor in Japanese. I couldn't be happier. IF I HAD my full on choice with no outside influence from adults, I probably would have been a fine arts major with a minor in Japanese. But since I've had so many influences in my life from outside folks, this is what I ultimately chose to make my real major and minor. 

After seeing so many posts about choosing and changing majors, I decided post my thoughts. I havn't decided on my major yet, but I know it will be in the technological/engineering field. My passion is in chemistry while my hobbie is programming. My parents are engineers, and ever since I was young I had wanted to follow their footsteps and go into the semiconductor industry. However, in high school I discovered that I enjoy chemistry much more than physic, which seemed rather dull. However, the job opportunities open to those with a chemical degree is not what I want, resulting in a dilemma. Fortunately, I discovered Computer Science, which is basically a programming class. I enjoy programming, and there are countless job opportunities available to those with a degree in CS. My major will probably be in CS while I might minor in Chemistry. To me, it is more important than anything to choose a degree that will help you in your envisioned career. After all, there is a world outside of college.