Hi guys. I will be attending college soon and I need to make a decision.

My mind has faltered between multiple different options. I have decided I am not cut out for much more studying and while I like school, I don't want to have to stress myself out and kill myself over studying, because I'm sick of it after going to an intensely competitive high school.

I was wondering. I play an instrument and have recently been really getting into it, and I consider myself pretty good at it. I was thinking... would it be viable to go for a business degree, and a music minor? I don't really know where I would go from there with that... I could be a music teacher or performer or something, or maybe do something with the business degree.

I just want a degree that's not extremely challenging (like biology or medicine which I originally planned), but will give me minimal financial security and time to spend on my musical passions.

I was thinking Political Science but I don't know any jobs that use that degree... I find current events pretty interesting for a kid my age and wouldn't mind going into something like that, but I just don't see the results for working that long for a degree if it doesn't even pay out at the end.

In my opinion, don't get a degree in anything that you don't think will land you a job. You mentioned that you would like to do political science but you don't know of any jobs that would use it. That's a good signal to stay away and choose something else.

If you want something that's not too hard but will give you some amount of financial security, business is probably the way to go. However I think the health field is probably wide open with opportunity. You don't have to go all the way and be a doctor or something, there are plenty of jobs in the field that only require a couple years of schooling.

And if you are truly stuck and dont know what to do, just go to community college and try out some stuff. You can start taking your general education classes, which you will need anyways, and you can try out other stuff too, just to see if it fits you.

Most degrees don't give you anything, sadly. All it really does it give you an equalizer.

You really have to find the jobs you want, and then work backwards from there. There are too many people who graduate (me included, engineering here) with a degree and expect to find a job, but in reality it's hard as hell without a good GPA, the right contacts, and work experience before graduating.

A lot of times you'll hit the job market and find out you need skills that you don't have because you didn't develop them in university.

So really, focus on the jobs you want first, then move backwards from there.

i agree... unless you have a real love of one subject and want to study it no matter what, the absolutely best thing you can do is take some time to decide your career before you start university. While you're at university, you'll also need to try to get internships and stuff, depending on your field.

i can totally understand not wanting to study something academic after you've been working hard at it at school for ages, but this could also be a sign of burnout. There's no harm in taking a year out after school if you wanted, to take the time to think properly about what you want to do with the rest of your life, and maybe do some volunteer work or travelling. If you're not sure, this is probably the best option, i think...

If it helps your decision,

I graduated with a degree during 2006, since then I have been in employment for only two years....as a cleaner. I would have been better off just leaving school at the minimum age and getting a job as a cleaner instead.

Do not get a degree unless you really need to do so, and even then as you can see it gurantees nothing. I have found the old boys club is far more usefull for those that are members. In comparison a friend did history for only 2 hours a week ( compared to my solid 45 hours a week and study every spare moment I had) and done nothing but get drunk and go to house parties. He left uni and walked striaght into a decent job simply because he knew the right people.

My brother left school at 14 with no qualifications or grades what so ever...he how has a middle management job again through people he got to know.

I have come to the conclusion an engineering degree was the one of the worst mistakes of my life, in fact I am covinceds that simply going to uni was a bad decision, so much time was wasted.

Of course I am not the slight bit angry about it, no not at all Just probably bitter, twisted and envious of those who knew the right people

PS I am now doing evening classes for accountancy many of the others there are company sponserd adn never went to uni and of course are also obvioulsy doing better than me, though the fact that my class is full of these people gives me some hope at least that I may one day do more that stick my hands down dirty toilets for a living.

Jesus Christ, everybody here is so job oriented. A jobs not your life. Get a degree in something that interests you, with a degree you'll always find a job if you want to. Also, if you are feeling burned out it might just be temporarily, and if you go on doing something you dont like (and even if it is not as challenging) you might soon find your whole life burned out.

it's not your life, but it's going to be a big big part of it. It's worth taking the time to think about what you want to do.

Of course, if there's a particular subject that you love, then do that. Just don't choose randomly and regret it later, that's all... what degree you take obviously limits your job possibilities to a specific area.

eggcluck... how come you can't get a job with an engineering degree?!? i always thought people were in high demand in stuff like that because it's a specific skill... is it just your area atm?

shaggadelyc Wrote:Jesus Christ, everybody here is so job oriented. A jobs not your life. Get a degree in something that interests you, with a degree you'll always find a job if you want to. Also, if you are feeling burned out it might just be temporarily, and if you go on doing something you dont like (and even if it is not as challenging) you might soon find your whole life burned out.

-working 9-5 is the rule, not the exception. if you are going to spend 8 hours a day on something, it needs lot of consideration, especially if it shapes your future career beyond your starting job.
-i have many friends with degrees who cannot find a job, some even with masters degrees. it took me a year and a half to find my professional job. in some instances, people with degrees are disqualified from easier jobs because they will either leave early or demand more money.
-if you take out a student loan, they become a very dangerous thing to have over your head if you cannot pay it, hence the need to generate income after graduating.
-besides, why not find a job that interests you rather than a degree that interests you?

eggcluck Wrote:...

Learn German, come to Austria. Our newspapers are virtually full of articles, complaining how many high potentials, and professionals of every branch, are being sought after but cannot be found. Now this is a myth of course, because what the companies want are professionals who are:

1. Young, 2. have a good degree, 3. are willing to work overtime, 4. don't expect to get paid for it 5. willing to accept all-in contracts 6. only work as trainee for the first few months, 7. have 10 years of experience in their field of knowledge 8. don´t mind getting tricked and not paid, 9. do internships even though working fulltime etc.

The economic crisis in the EU is far from over. Some still are able to make something with a degree. But there are graduating so many people every year, and sometimes whats been taught in university, proofs worthless on the job market. But companies are arm-wrestling for those who except everything, just to have a job, and the market is full of those people.

In my opinion, and this is directed at zachandhobbes, study whatever you feel is right for you. The well paid, lifetime position in a company, is more and more vanishing. And nobody can tell what tomorrow will be needed, in terms of education, to get a job - even its a miserable one. And if you don't start networking, socializing and prostituting yourself on the job market, and on the internet, facebook etc. you will look in vain. That is if you don't know "the right people," or haven't been graduating from a college or university with a high renommee.

I think there are two prudent choices regarding higher education:
1. If you are passionate about a subject, study that subject
2. If you're not passionate about any viable subject, take a vocational course

If you are passionate about a subject, you can excel at university. If you excel, leaving with great grades and references, having done some internships (through interest, not necessity) and gained other experience, you'll be on top of the employable pile.

If you're not passionate enough about any university subject to drive you through, the safe option is to choose an undersubscribed or fundamentally necessary vocation, and train for that.

IceCream has hit the nail on the head - it sounds like you're burning out. Why not take a year out before college? Then you'll know whether you want to take a safe route and just earn enough to support your other passions, or whether you want to make a real go of university.

Blahah summed it well. I did three years of chemistry because it was the science I liked the most, and people told me "There will always be a need for scientists", but I had no passion for it. I ended up dropping out and did nothing for two years (well, I worked around and did my wanderjahr). If I had choosen the field that really interested me right away (like anthropology or linguistics), I might have been happier and I'd be settled by now (always a challenge to reinvent yourself as you grow older).

So go for political science if you want to be a diplomat or something, but in my country, it's a course you really have to commit to (lots of political philosophy). Basically there are two kinds of people: those with will power, and those with passion. Those with willpower can do anything they want, as long as they know what they want; but those with passion often only know what they don't want, so they end up doing their passion because it's the only thing they can do over a long period of time.

Anyway good luck, and don't be afraid to take some time to think things through, because you'll have to do it sooner or later.

shaggadelyc Wrote:Jesus Christ, everybody here is so job oriented. A jobs not your life. Get a degree in something that interests you, with a degree you'll always find a job if you want to. Also, if you are feeling burned out it might just be temporarily, and if you go on doing something you dont like (and even if it is not as challenging) you might soon find your whole life burned out.

Everyone needs to eat. Some people will need to support a family. I don't know what planet you're living on if you think all degree holders get well paying jobs upon graduation regardless of university or course. As others said, if you're going to be doing a job 9-5 for most of the rest of your life you really should find something you enjoy. Further, the more effort you put into your career the more enjoyable it will be.

There's no point in paying tens of thousands to a university just for the privilege of studying. Anyone can do that on their own.

kainzero Wrote:-if you take out a student loan, they become a very dangerous thing to have over your head if you cannot pay it, hence the need to generate income after graduating.

Loads of students I know seem to have given no thought to career and consider it unimportant... I don't understand how other people take out these massive loans without considering how they're going to pay them back. :S I guess in England there's no real drawback though, since the current system (especially after the fees increase) is basically a veiled graduate tax instead of a proper loan.

OP, do think about your future beyond graduation. University isn't the end of the road and you don't want to end up regretting any short sighted plans later on. Now is the best time to decide on a dream career.

Not finding a job after graduation is one thing that I'm glad I don't have to worry about . Glad I'm in Army ROTC... Being a Japanese major is pretty sweet as well. You could always get a Political Science degree and still get a job in the military if u wanted.

You could do what I ddi. Start your own business.

The purpose of university is to get a job. Any learning for the sake of learning can be better accomplished on your own unless your particular interests require more than $125,000 of equipment (or whatever your tuition would otherwise be) and note most things can just be rented temporarily. So basically computer engineers that want to use an actual fab plant and stuff like that. The various exceptions can almost all be dealt with by just living near a university and becoming friends with some professors.

The biggest benefit from university comes from meeting people with similar interests, as that leads to friends, people to work on cool projects with, and contacts to help each other get jobs.

overture2112 Wrote:...require more than $125,000 of equipment..

Holy crap, I'm glad I live in Europe now.

Thanks for all the interesting input everyone.

I'm going to keep looking into things when I get into college and choose my major. I'll try to take a variety of courses to see what is most 'passionate' for me.

Recently my spiked interest in music has really felt like 'passion' - that's why I was surprised because compared to my 'interest' in some things like biology, it's way more of something I love to do and less of something I'm just decent at. I haven't found an academic thing that I 'love to do' as much as things like, trumpet or video games. It jsut turns out that trumpet has a few more job options than video games does, and I'm not nearly good enough or ever will be to be a japanese translator (nor do I even want to be that).

Hopefully when I get to college I will find something I 'love', but I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't find it so I'm going to try to research financially viable options so that I can have a steady job and life while I can focus on things I like to do for real in my free time like music, japanese, and gaming.

I think a PolySci degree might still be potentially something I would want to do... I need to do more research and see exactly what it entails in terms of post-graduate job outlook and stuff, but it doesn't seem too bad. Business is of course the alternative.

zachandhobbes Wrote:I'm going to keep looking into things when I get into college and choose my major. I'll try to take a variety of courses to see what is most 'passionate' for me.

I'd really try not to look at courses to see where your interest lies.

I took Aerospace Engineering and several courses interested me but only much later, in the 3rd and 4th year (fluid dynamics and aerodynamics).

College is filled with lots of crappy boring classes that only exist to make you "well-rounded." There are also many classes that you may have to take that you just don't like. I really hated circuits.

On top of that, your professor is very key in determining whether or not you'll be interested in something. I don't know anybody who loved the material they were learning but hated the professor, and if you're going for breadth in your first year, you might miss out on stuff you would've enjoyed because you had a crappy professor or because the intro classes sucked.

I'd highly highly highly highly recommend community college over university if you don't know what you want to do. It's cheaper, it's more relaxed, you have much more time, and you'll be much more prepared for university (and you'll probably get into a better one through the cc system) than if you went straight from HS.

Also, taking a year break is an excellent idea as well. You should do it if you can, because if you do it during school you'll struggle when you come back, and if you do it after school you have loans breathing down your neck.

Unfortunately my options are limited... don't think I'd ever say this, but I'm not allowed to go to community college. My parents are both 'seasoned graduates' of decent universities and wont let me do anything but the traditional way of college right after high school. they also want me to do pre-med but I told them to screw off.

So I'm pretty much stuck with going to whatever college I get accepted at and figuring it out from there, and my parents judge colleges by those loathsome "US news Top ranked Colleges REPORT!!" lists

hahah of course.

well in that case, do what you can.

in my case, my older brother and i went to universities because our parents were into that trend and were very go go go university is who you are, etc. my younger brother went to community college without a complaint because they learned from our experience.

Yeah you just gotta do what you can. I still think university is important to limit the amount of idle time at school. At least here community college means nothing but wasted two years once you get to University. So the school is important and definitely can play a role in getting jobs later on you can't ignore that. But of the schools you get accepted make a decision based on the school. You can always decide what to do later. Also the internet isn't good for life decisions so take what i said however you want.

Why not go to school in Japan?

I appreciate all the input.

I'm going to keep researching things. Unfortunately my parents are quite traditional. They try to hide it by acting 'american' and saying 'try your best' and 'you don't have to be a doctor, but you'd be a great doctor'.

It works well until I disagree with them or do poorly... then suddenly, the cat is out of the bag lol.

I told my mom I don't really want to go to med school and she called me naive, that I would end up as a hobo, and that in 10 years i'll have wished to follow what she said. god damn passive aggressive parents hahahaha jesus

right now my true interests are in current events and politics. I don't know what jobs there are for that, but I think it's possible.

The world apparently consists of only hobos and the doctors who treat them...
It sounds like your parents are the naive ones

zachandhobbes Wrote:I appreciate all the input.

I'm going to keep researching things. Unfortunately my parents are quite traditional. They try to hide it by acting 'american' and saying 'try your best' and 'you don't have to be a doctor, but you'd be a great doctor'.

And maybe you could be a good doctor, but you will never find out, unless you follow the route to that profession. You could also be the next Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Dizzy Gillespie, if you follow your dream to become a trumpet player. Or a great writer, or philosopher, you name it. But all require the same thing from you, devotion. Either you love it, or you will fail, no matter what you try.

I guess what your parents want, and why you are objecting and arguing against is, that you think you have no more time, for all the other things you love. Or that it might burn you out, for it is not easy to attend courses, write term papers, and so on. Agreed, many degrees you can get, don't get you anywhere, still people are studying it. And some follow an academic career after that at a college or university. Or they start writing books and thesis about Socrates and what not.

Right now, you are intrigued by politics, and if you go to college and find out that this is also not for you? Because you could just have become an activist in a political group, or you could have done other things, that are more to your liking. What then? Will you then give up, or don't even try to get a foothold in the profession, for which you have been studying for?

What I suggest is that you trust your feelings. Do what you feel is right for you, as long as the outcome promises, to make you happy. But happiness doesn't necessarily follow to earn a high income. So, this too, might be what you should consider, before deciding for a path that opens up or closes the door to a bright future. Half-ass attempts will not make you happy, i think, and i guess you have higher goals. Maybe you are just a little worn out, and need some rest to think clearly about your future, instead of making a decision right now.

Yes, it is a good idea, if you take a year off before you follow any career path. Tell your parents that you are not yet ready, to make such a decision, because it is not easy. I guess they will understand you very well, and will support you, in all you are trying to do or become in life. Just don't waste your life, not acquiring as much knowledge, as you possibly can. Because only knowledgable people can take control and shift their life in a direction, that makes them happy, and guarantees a good life.

In the end it comes down to what you want, and what you think is right, and not what anyone tells you is right or wrong. Make the best of it, and go, find your way.

Wrote something 3 times now but every time its simply been a mess of haphazard thoughts so here are the few points I want to make.

1) Enter college as "Undeclared" as your major. Most universities will let you do this. You have up til either the end of your Freshman year or the end of your Sophomore year to decide. You can take a lot of the General Ed. classes that most majors will require during this time. Don't pack your schedule full with Gen Ed. classes though, pick other classes in fields that interest you and try classes out in them.
1-a) Don't let your advisor or who ever, push you around with class choices in orientation. Throughout my college I would tell my advisor one thing on my class choices and then turn around and edit my choices online at a later point. Remember you need certain reqs to graduate though.

2) Following #1 and what kainzero said on professors. Abuse the SHIT out of http://www.ratemyprofessors.com, realize though that not all professors are as bad as their ratings, but never pass up a professor's class that gets high marks.

3) Unless you have some concrete proof that a humanities degree will provide you with a job (ie: A guarantee of a job via said degree). Think twice and then thrice about it. If you don't want a STEM degree, then get a business/finance degree. Humanities do NOT provide enough job opportunity outside of the academia.

4) Don't go med route unless you are committed to losing 10 years of your life. I'm not sure, but I think law might be the same?

Guess that was more concise than my past posts.