Advice on switching majors
 

Hi all,
Right now i'm a sophomore (well...6 credits shy of being a junior) Biology Major. I really liked the idea of becoming a forensic scientist (like from CSI) but now that I think about it...that is not my passion anymore, and I really don't think I want to continue doing that. I've had some challenging classes, but i dont enjoy the subject anymore, so there really is no point in continuing if i dont enjoy it. So now i'm looking to switch majors.

I've always had ideas of doing other things, but I really don't know which major would really suit me.

--I've always wanted to be a band teacher..so i thought of music education

--I've always wanted to be a lawyer...so i thought of political science

--I also thought of radio/tv broadcasting.

But I really dont know what to do. Do you all have any advice on what I should do? What are y'alls majors? What classes do you have to take for your major?

I've tried to look at my university's webiste, btu there really is not really a lot of useful information. The useful information is from the university that is 45 minutes away (but in another state).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Do you want a degree that you can work with now or are you planning on furthering your education?

If you want a terminal bachelor's degree, I have NO idea what to tell ya!

However, if you want a general degree that will prepare you for lots of opportunities in the future, I would go with humanities of some sort: English, Foreign Language, History, etc.

In fact, numerous surveys have indicated that bosses prefer for people with excellent writing and speaking skills (more so, sometimes, than people with specialized bachelor's degrees -- they're seen as more trainable). These skills will also serve you in teaching, politics, law and broadcasting.

Personally, I changed my major 50 million times. The result is an A.A. in Business Administration and a B.A. in English. Now, I'm a graduate student in Theology and will go onto to a second master's in History. And, perhaps, a Ph.D. in English or History so I can be a professor.

You will ALWAYS be better off going after your passion even if people around you think it's silly. If you love something, you can make it work for you.

I changed my major three times.

preciousjeni's advice is good. Employers are looking for people with Arts degrees. You should major in something you enjoy. Liberal Arts degrees are good because they can get you access into numerous career fields.

Also, if all you want in the end is a job, look at Community College. They are highly underrated and will provide you with hands on marketable skills that employers look for.

Well...i had planned on going to graduate school, but as it is we (meaning my parents and I) can barely afford to keep me in our local university here, I doubt that i'd be able to go to grad school in the near future.

I like the fact that our neighboring university has a lot of "out-there" degrees...like one in fashion merchandising (where you can potentionally become a fashion buyer/designer..etc)..but the thing is teh cost issue (mainly for room and board). UGH!

Thank you guys for your advice...its all giving me something to really consider before this next semester starts!

Most of my classes have been general education. I have taken a few science courses that are general education but oriented for "science majors." So I dont think that transferring is going to be drastic...i might lose a few credits, but that is why i rather do it now, instead of a year down the road.

In that case, have you considered going the trade route? As Lady Pi Phi suggested, community colleges have excellent vocational programs that will get you out there in the world. If you can find something you enjoy, you can use it to help support you as you try to experiment with other educational opportunities.

It might slow you down a bit, but at least you will be able to really contribute to the funding of your education and you won't be quite as restricted. It is REALLY difficult to find a bachelor's degree program that will end up in a job that can support you. The only ones that have true potential to do that are professional ones and even those expect that you will go on to a higher degree.

ETA: EXCEPT if you want to teach. If you truly want to do that, you could either get the degree in the subject you want to teach and then go through the procedure to get certified. Or, you can get an education degree and concentrate/minor in the subject you want to teach. That way, the school will be able to assist you in gaining certification. I think the one downside (my mother was an education major) is that you don't have as solid a foundation in the subject you want to teach.

i feel like you are missing the most obvious answer...maybe its my old age...

If you chose something in forensic science, there is something that led you down that path. CSI is fun, exciting and cool for all of us that don't uderstand it! And you are in the know!

Maybe that isn't your passion, but you are so close to graduation that it makes sense to fulfill your credit hours. Then go to law school. You can graduate from law school and practice forensic science cases in trial. Seems like the best of both worlds to me.

If you switch majors, you run the risk of having to take another year, depending on how many credits transfer. I agree with jaime though. If you want to be a lawyer, you don't really need a BA in political science. In fact, I think law schools would appreciate your biology minor, since so many applicants are political science or philosophy majors (I heard somewhere that philosophy majors tend to have higher LSAT scores than others).

I would say... Go for Political Science... j/k I am a little biased b/c that is my major. At my school, though a major is only 30 hours (ish) so if you have been taking gen eds, then transferring to another major should be no problem. I am almost finished w/ my major and I just started it a year ago. Then again, I don't know your school's requirements. Do what makes you HAPPY. If it does take another year, then it does. I understand how tight money can be but if your being happy relies on it, it is worth it. I'm sure that if you are determined enough, you will be successful and will be able to pay back any loans. They give you a pretty long time to pay them back.

keep in mind that you can be any major and go to law school. Being a poli sci major doesn't really prepare you at all for law school (besides maybe a con law class, but even then no big advantage). This is coming from someone who one of her majors was poli sci ;) I had 3 majors b/c I couldn't make up my mind- history, poli sci, and communications. It's not that hard to multiple major or switch majors if you plan it well

Keep your major and don't be foolish.

How does political science even prepare you for being a lawyer?

-Rudey

The problem w/ poli sci as a major is that if you don't get into law school, what can you fall back on for a job?

I majored in Political Science and didn't go to law school. doing fine with my job. It's the analytical skills that you pick up that is the key.

I also have MA in International Relations (thesis in Political Economy)

Did you go straight through to get your Master's?

edited 'cause i can't type today

Yup

That's the thing. All the poli sci majors I knew who weren't planning on going to grad/law school (or who couldn't get in) couldn't find jobs. One of them became a substitute teacher until he could find something better. Another one married somebody rich. :)

The OP is trying to find a terminal bachelor's degree that will put her in a position to enter the workforce upon graduation. :) Thus, the issue with getting a "workable" degree and then heading off to grad school. It's not an option.

I'd say go for either an engineering or an accounting degree. Computer science is another one.

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. I am so sick of hearing this. Sorry.

It does not matter what your degree is in. A liberal arts degree, even on in political science can open many doors for you.

I know so many people that have degrees in political science. Some work for the government, some work in the private sector in communications, HR, markerting, you name it. Your major means nothing. Employers are looking for well rounded, educated employees.

As mentioned above, do not bother changing your major to political science if you want to someday go to law school. It is absolutely not necessary. My undergraduate degree is in English and psychology, which I think is much more on point for law school success than political science -- I learned how to really figure out people and what they wanted to hear (professors) and how to say it really well. That is key. You'll learn all the substance you need to know in law school, but you have to already know how to write well.

Also, if you're not CERTAIN you want to be a lawyer, don't think about law school yet. I know you mention being a band teacher, but have you ever thought about being a science teacher? At least where I am, they can't get enough science and math teachers. You might be able to advise band on the side or do something with a music-related club, but anyway I don't think band teacher jobs are that plentiful right now since arts/music/drama programs are the ones getting cut when school districts are short on money.

YES, YES, YES, YES.

-Rudey
--The truth hurts

kind of have to agree with Rudey here. Liberal arts degrees mean crap and are a dime a dozen. Liberal arts degrees are all about reading and writing. Which aren't bad skills to have. But if you have a degree in something more specialized- such as computers, math, accounting, science, nursing, even business etc. you are much more marketable because you have that more specialized knowledge. Most people with liberal arts degrees either go to grad school or get some random job that they hate, that doesn't pay that much, and that there's not a whole lot of opportunity to advance. Eventually they may get sick of that and get a graduate degree.

If you know for certain that you want to go to grad school, a liberal arts kind of degree isn't bad for a lot of fields. For law, it's pretty good because reading and writing skills are important. But then again, if you do something science related, you pair that with a law or business degree and you can do something more specialized that other people can't

What about General Communication majors? Same thing?

Unlike the Journalism specific major like myself :D

i have to agree with rudey and danielle. general liberal arts degrees and $4 will buy you a latte at starbucks(and that's about all it will get you) i was in banking and many clerks, loan processors, lower level loan officers were people with liberal arts degrees. one young woman had a masters in education but was only a credit department clerk, while others with accounting, finance or business bachelors degrees were starting as credit analysts(higher pay). if you are not sure what you want to major in, have you considered taking some time off from school-perhaps you could get a job in one of the fields you are considering as your new major, before you make the time and credit commitment investment in the new major?

you might be working in starbucks, actually.

And one of my sisters was a Communications- Journalism major. She was working at Blockbuster and making peanuts freelancing on the side last I talked to her.

I absolutely will still disagree with all of you. But perhaps things are different in the US.

Here, employers do want people with liberal arts degrees. So many people at my company who work in marketing, and communications have liberal arts degree. Many only have college diplomas. They are highly saught after people. In fact, the only people in my company that have sepcialized degrees are Counsel and those that work in the labs.

I don't think telling her to major in something she has absolutely no interest in just so she can get a job is bad advice. There are so many computer science major and engineering majors and business majors that do not have jobs. Those degrees are quite meaningless too.

To the OP, you need to do something that you are interested in. No matter what your major is, you will find a job. If you want a skill. Go to community college. If you want a degree, stay in university. It's quite simple. We need people with liberal arts degrees, because if everyone had a specialized degree like CS or engineering, or what have you, there wouldn't be any jobs left in those fields.

Things must be different up there. Like has been said, liberal arts degrees are a dime a dozen. Maybe even 2 dozen.

Maybe once you establish yourself in a particular field you'd be more sought after, but there's no one rushing to hire liberal arts degree students out of college or even for the first few years.

No one told her to major in something she has no desire to major in. But she doesn't seem to have a clue so we're all giving helpful suggestions, probably more realistic than any school academic advisor or career counselor is going to give her.

Liberal arts degrees here are the ones scraping after random low level office jobs at a random business, making pretty low wages. These are general trends, of course there are always those who end up doing something great that they want.

Whereas engineering, nursing/medicine, and business degree students, just to name a few examples, have a much easier time getting jobs.

My brother just graduated with a business degree from Pitt, which is an okay school for business, and he had fair grades, an not too much in the way of extracirriculars or leadership experience. He got a pretty good job with MVR as a project manager and is getting great pay for entry level and tons of perks, and will have a lot of room to advance, and after he's done with their training program will have headhunters calling him right and left.

Even if you're not sure what to do, i'd probably recommend a fairly general business degree over a liberal arts degree. You still know how to read and write, but you have business skills added to it that are useful in pretty much any market and most job fields. I'm actually having some regret right now for not doing a joint JD-MBA.

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/custom/..._june05_advice

I think the best thing to do is 1. Figure out what you want to do after you graduate and THEN 2. Choose a major. You definitely won't be able to teach band with a liberal arts degree. You won't get a job in health care with a liberal arts degree (maybe in Human Resources, but nowhere else). You have to figure out what you want to do. Seeing a career counselor wouldn't be a bad idea because there are aptitute/interest tests you can take which may help guide you in figuring out what you really want to do. The job market is very very tight these days (especially in this area) and employers are looking for very specific things. I can't see a liberal arts major getting a marketing job in Michigan. There are too many people with marketing degrees. My dad had a degree in Sociology and ended up the Administrator of Marketing for the GM Parts Division, but he admits, 35 years later, that in this day and age, he would NEVER hire someone who came in with the credentials he started with. There are too many people with degrees out there. Times are changing. And, I think if you're really not sure, then a double major could be a good idea. An education degree with major concentrations in poly sci and music, so you can teach any of the above, or move into other arenas if you want to.

My presentation skills instructor gave us that article in class the other day. Liberal arts majors have the advantage of knowing how to write properly. Many math and science majors haven't written a proper essay since their generalized courses in first or second year, or even since high school!

Most of you seem to have missed this section:

Starting Small
With all of the benefits of a liberal arts major, there's little wonder why these degrees are so popular. Students earning associate's and bachelor's degrees in liberal arts disciplines far outnumber students studying in mathematic or scientific fields, according to data from the U.S. Center for Education Statistics.

And this large supply often means entry-level salaries for liberal arts majors plummet far below those offered to their quantitatively-focused classmates.

Starting salaries for this year's liberal arts graduates average around $30,300 – well below the $52,000 offered to electrical engineering grads and the $43,800 for accounting majors, according to a spring 2005 salary survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

McLeod says the nature of liberal arts majors' skills also prevent them from earning immediate career success. "Everybody can read and write, and everybody can talk," she says. "That's why it takes so long for the people who do that to differentiate themselves."

Dee

It also says that LA degrees take you further in time whereas specialized degrees don't provide as much upward mobility. Anyway, starting out with a humble salary is better than starting out with nothing at all!

By the way -- 2005 is a better job year for new graduates than MANY years thus far!!!

Wow! Thank you everyone for all your advice. I really do have a lot to think about this summer.

Just a couple things to clear up:

--I was only considering being a lawyer mainly for the fact that I like to argue :D

--I do well in English and History classes, but to me they are boring and something that I probably wouldn't choose as a major.

I'm not too much into liberal arts major (which at my college is Englihs/History/Criminal Justice/Political Science/Psychology/etc)

I have talked to my mom (since she is a teacher) and she has told me that if I chose an education major to do something in general fields because they are more sought after...and like someone said I might like to teach band...but they are the first to get cut from schools.

Since I really want to move from my city once I graduate I should look at places that I would like to live and see what jobs are needed.

Again, thank you all for your advice....keep it coming! lol :D :p

Lol, not for most people I know, myself included!

Also, while engineers/sciency people may not have the writing skills (though in general those people are smarter than your average college student, as those are very demanding majors)- they also have better analytical and problem solving skills. These are invaluable skills in the real world. A lot of student with a science/engineering background really do well in law school and elsewhere because of those skills

Lol, that's pretty much the worst reason to want to be a lawyer!

Oh yeah..i've known that for a long time! lol. Its just funny because when I argue with someone they'll usually end up saying wow...you really like to argue, have you ever thought of being a lawyer? lmao.

I believe this varies greatly by region. In Michigan, with an unemployment rate of 7% + and companies announcing more salaried layoffs daily, I'd say almost all new grads will have a tough time here. Except RNs. RNs are in such demand they can pretty much name their price as well as get sign on bonuses.

Note I said "better" not "good."

This is why I think there's an advantage to going to a school like mine where there was a strong core curriculum - I have an economics degree that I can get a job with if I hate law school, but I have tons of philosophy and theology and english credits that built up reading/writing/analytical skills as well.

I think economics was a great major for me but you have to do what you're good at. I started as an engineer and switched to econ.

I have to completely disagree with this statement as a chemistry major. I am required to write several, detailed research papers each term. These include papers about the research/lab work I am currently working on as well as about topics that I have to do formal research papers on. In several of my classes we are required to give formal presentations, something I never have had to do with my music major. Last semester I had to give an hour long presentation on Mycobacterium tuberculosis. That was no easy task. I will have to give several more presentations in my upcoming classes. So to generalize that science majors do not have to worry about "measly" things such as English, grammar, papers, and presentations is not a good idea (calling these things measly is sarcasm because clearly they are important to any college graduate). Every single science class offered at my school has a large writing component to it. There are a few classes required for all science majors that are only based on writing papers and giving presentations.

Majoring in the sciences allows students to graduate with marketable skills for obtaining well-paying jobs after graduation with merely a bachelor's degree. We are extremely disciplined from the result of studying so much. We have marketable lab skills as well as writing and public speaking skills. There are plenty of ways to move up within companies once science majors have obtained jobs. Students can attend graduate programs, move into teaching jobs, or work their way through the company ladder. I feel like there are so many more things I might be able to do with my chemistry degree than I will ever be able to do with my music degree.