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Fellow College Students: What is your Major and Why?
drinkwine732
Posts: 20,418 destroyer of motherfuckers
I kind of got into it in the Say Something Random thread, but I'm writing a paper tonight that's just enthralling me in a way I didn't think education could. It made me really happy with my major, and for the first time I feel like I'm not just setting up my future but I'm actually making it. It made me wonder.
Those of you who have been or are currently in college, what is your major and why did you choose it? What about it made you decide that was what field of education was best for you? What have your favorite classes been in your field?
If you haven't been to college yet or you haven't decided, what are you thinking? Have you made any decisions? What are your necessities for a degree?
I'll go into it briefly, but I am a double major in Finance and Business Economics, which I chose both for a few reasons. One, I love Finance as a system so much. It's incredibly complex and the repercussions of it not being used properly are disastrous. Most of the people I know think I chose it because I'm really interested in having a lucrative career, but it's just so much more than that. I've been doing finance for a small business here and it's opened so many doors and I know so much now that I just can't wait to apply it on a bigger scale. I decided to also pursue business economics because it was what I was really good at my first year of school. I think that the economy as a massive system of motion that is so fragile that one little domino can ruin the whole thing is just something that we need to understand. It came to me naturally, so I have been taking economic theory courses in addition to my finance coursework.
What about you guys?
Those of you who have been or are currently in college, what is your major and why did you choose it? What about it made you decide that was what field of education was best for you? What have your favorite classes been in your field?
If you haven't been to college yet or you haven't decided, what are you thinking? Have you made any decisions? What are your necessities for a degree?
I'll go into it briefly, but I am a double major in Finance and Business Economics, which I chose both for a few reasons. One, I love Finance as a system so much. It's incredibly complex and the repercussions of it not being used properly are disastrous. Most of the people I know think I chose it because I'm really interested in having a lucrative career, but it's just so much more than that. I've been doing finance for a small business here and it's opened so many doors and I know so much now that I just can't wait to apply it on a bigger scale. I decided to also pursue business economics because it was what I was really good at my first year of school. I think that the economy as a massive system of motion that is so fragile that one little domino can ruin the whole thing is just something that we need to understand. It came to me naturally, so I have been taking economic theory courses in addition to my finance coursework.
What about you guys?
Comments
Minor: English
Well, it was a slightly bumpy road before I discovered CompLit. I was an English major (getting my AA in English) but once I transferred into Rutgers, I found the course load and coursework in those coursed to be extremely limiting. I discovered CompLit by attending a Grad School fair. It was and is everything I was missing in English. It focuses more on cultures and how they relate to one another. It mixes literature, history, philosophy, language, film, music, performance, and art together into one giant pot of awesome. I'm taking courses in multiple departments with a very small staff and even smaller classes. Now, I want to be a writer, but I know that that is not financially feasible. And I DO NOT want to teach. So, I hope to pursue a career in the publishing world, reading through manuscripts, solicited or not, and work my way up the ladder while writing my own stuff. This major makes me feel more mentally and culturally alive than English. And I'm minoring in English because I didn't want to waste the credits I have already completed. Also, they didn't have Creative Writing as a major. Hopefully, I'll go to grad school for Creative Writing.
I picked this degree because my passion truly lies with music, but I know and understand how hard it is to make it in the area of performance and band type activities. By studying this, I can hopefully develop the tools to earn myself in the recording industry, and can therefore help other musicians achieve that dream of making it in their bands... and who knows, maybe as I go along this route I may eventually even get into some touring/ performing bands too. But this way I also would have a solid backup plan if I never made it in performance.
I'm a freshman so I only have one class pertaining to my major so far, and that is survey of music business. Its pretty interesting but so far we've just discussed copy right and how the music industry is affected by today's internet music culture.
Because I want to work retail.
Literature of the Apocalypse
20th Century Film, Art and Music in Eastern Europe
Polish Lit
Literature of the Russian Empire
Tolstoy
Literature Across Borders: Sex
Advanced Creative Writing
Anyways I'm a Sociology major. I know it's not exactly seen as a high tier degree, but the subject is something that I'm really interested in. I really enjoy being able to look at things from different perspectives. Why does society function the way it does, what is the cause of conflict, what does the definition of gender/race really mean? I want to go into Human Resources when I'm done because I honestly do like working with people, regardless of how rude they can be at times. Best class I have taken so far has been Social Theory, and I can thank my professor for making that class as interesting as it was. The guy knew his stuff, and he genuinely seemed to enjoy what he did. I also learned a lot in that class, which makes a big difference on how I look back at it.
Hopefully will be graduating in May, I'm gonna miss college for sure.
I've always loved reading, writing, grammar, and everything English related. It's always just clicked for me. What finally made me realize that I wanted to teach English was when I realized that over 3/4 of my graduating class couldn't write a complete, grammatically correct sentence. Although this can easily be blamed on the students, I feel like the teachers are to blame, simply because most of them weren't good teachers and didn't care whether or not the students learned anything in their classes. Almost all of the students in my graduating class who went to college are struggling with their college English classes because they don't even know the basics of grammar.
English, in my opinion, is THE MOST IMPORTANT subject in school. Maybe not the literature part so much as the writing and grammar, but I still feel like this is the most important thing a student can learn in school because these skills are used pretty much every day.
I was also inspired by a few of my high school teachers. Although a lot of the teachers at my high school were jokes, there were 4-5 that had an enormous impact on my education, as well as me personally. These teachers were teachers that actually cared about their students and wanted them to learn, something which makes a huge difference in whether the students learn or not. Teachers HAVE to be interested in their students and set expectations in the classroom if they want their students to learn. Plain and simple.
I'm constantly being nagged at by family seems like because I chose a lower-income profession. I always get the "but you're so smart! you could be a doctor!" thing, and it annoys the hell out of me. I have always had a passion for learning, and I feel like I've basically "been called" to teach. Obviously I'm not in it for the money, but I want to make an impact on the lives of my future students. My teachers believed in me and my classmates, and if it weren't for some of them, I wouldn't be who I am today.
I've taken several college level English classes, and absolutely LOVE them. I have some of the most fantastic professors. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite right now. Also, I'm taking my second Education class this semester and I have already fallen in love. I get to start my classroom observations next Monday, and I'm super excited about it!
TL:DR version: I am going to teach high school English because it's important and I want to make a difference.
Fortunately, I've been blessed with the gift of ultra-patience, so I'm hoping I'll be a good teacher.
So I said fuck the police and went interdisciplinary. I'm a Music Business (primarily marketing) major with an unofficial communications minor.
The reason I chose this is because I didn't have the patience as a musician and I realized how ridiculous it would be, given that, to hope to make a career out of performing. I want to work behind the scenes, be it at a record label or associated promotions company, so that I can still work with what I love (music) while doing what I love (marketing/PR).
I had pretty much no idea what I wanted to do with myself for the first couple years of high school. I had ideas, but nothing ever really clicked as something I was really interested in. I love playing in band and have a great passion for that, but I was simply not good enough to make a career out of music performance or education.
The turning point for me was when I finally decided to get involved in the robotics team at my high school. We participate in FIRST competitions every year where we build a robot to play a game or complete a task, and we have 6 weeks to do it. Over the three years that I was heavily involved with the team, it became pretty clear to me that I wanted to do something like this. Take a problem, figure out how to solve it, and work with a team to actually do it. In school, I enjoyed calculus and physics the most, even though they were probably my toughest subjects. So by my junior year, I had pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to be an engineer.
When I got to U of M, I had a couple years to decide which engineering field to go into. I quickly realized that programming was neither enjoyable nor a strong suit for me, so that eliminated electrical and computer engineering. Both my college chemistry and college physics classes were tough on me, but even though the physics one was a bit harder, I found it more enjoyable and a bit easier to grasp, so I decided my major would be a more physics-based one. Eventually, it came down to mechanical engineering vs. aerospace engineering. Both have a lot in common, but I found the aerospace industry to be the most interesting and with the most room to grow and discover and make some new and really cool things. So I declared as an aero major in 2010 and haven't looked back.
My favorite classes in my field has been my propulsion class and my orbital mechanics class. I want to concentrate in propulsion and I favor the space industry over the aircraft industry at this point, though I would enjoy working in either. I also enjoyed my flight dynamics and control class and aerodynamics class and wouldn't mind working in that area either. The only part of aero that I don't care for is the structures aspect.
self explanatory; i wanna be a vet
I am taking a psych class now though and its really cool i can honestly say i've never been ready to go to a class but i love it. the teacher makes it good too but honestly i'm thinking about that