the "real world"

[jeem]

okay so i am getting my act together, thinking of going back to university full-time. i was an english major before i dropped out and i am pretty good at it but well, you know... english majors... they don't do so well (speaking from my experience, of course). they say it's important to get your undergrad in something you like but something tells me i will be reading similar advice after i get that music degree. i just don't want to be where i am right now (again), and while i probably wouldn't be in the same exact place with some framed paper, something tells me i would be like oh maybe five feet over. i'm not really sure what i like besides art but i'm positive there have to be other disciplines that would interest me. don't really want to do the business MBA thing but i really want to make some money. yes, don't we all, but i love travelling and girls and i would like to do a lot of both. so what do you recommend? speaking from experience (e.g. not cops, ward, pandagirl, money, or any other 5 yr old that will eventually post here anyway specifically because of this reference), what is worth getting the ol' undergrad in? i do not want the "follow your heart, do what you like, it'll all work out" humanist bs. give me raw, i can swing. what worked for you, what didn't, what you would have taken if there were a timetravelling jav that would allow you to do it over again, etc.

usually my threads get ignored but i'm hoping this one will be different

[Galleleo]

I just know that law was incredibly boring, with all their fancy languages and stuff. But I do like management science a lot. Its interesting stuff.

[Spider]

I'm in public administration. Just finishing my four year degree right now. Unfortunately I guess I can't tell you how that is going to work out job-wise yet, if you asked this question 12 months from now I could tell you. I've been looking a little, and there do seem to be jobs available for my type of education in the human resource type sector, or entry level government jobs where I can hopefully work up to what I want to do (policy analysis).

Something like comp sci (I dropped out of that) offer obvious career paths. I still know people doing relatively well in that field, and they actually have jobs (in some unlikely places even). But if that isn't your cup of tea, as it wasn't mine, you'll just end up wasting a few years before the math shit gets too complicated and you have to switch majors. Now that is speaking from experience. So it is important, whatever you decide to do, to make sure you are at least remotely interested in it and proficient at it. It's probably a good idea, I think, to say "english was cool, but it won't get me a job" but also make sure that what will get you a job is something you can stand and succeed at. If I didn't fuck around in comp sci for two years I'd have that much less student debt, and I'd be rockin a new car on the way to my comfortable government job already.

I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for but at least I didn't ignore you. Good choice to decide to try to get ahead in life. It'll be difficult at times but keep at 'er. Good on ya man.

[Saturn V]

Geology.

No, really.

The stereotype about excessive drinking is true. Every Friday the department takes us out for free drinks. All my classes have field trips, and several of them involve camping. You'll never look at rocks the same way again (and you'll learn a lot more than just rocks).

Where I'm at, everyone seems to be interested in oil. I'm not, really, but it does pay very well. Environmental science is taking off right now, especially dealing with ground water (or lack thereof). I'm involved in some digital geology projects (scanning outcrops with lidar equipment and building models) and planetary geology research (mainly lunar at this point).

It's a lot of fun, especially if you like the outdoors.

[Singularity]

A bachelors degree is something that makes it easier to get a job, but not necessarily in the field of you study. For a lot of companies the fact you have an academic standard of thinking will field you a job more easily than having done something vague in the general area of the position available.
What you want to avoid is having a degree that most people don't take seriously, like music or arts (no offense, I know they are not easy to obtain, but it just doesn't impress the people you want to work for if you don't want to get a specific job in that world).
For the rest it doesn't matter as long as you stick to it. As opposed to most people who claim their study is paradise, most people only like their study for the social activities and excessive drinking. The classes are just something you have to go through, as long as you don't hate them all. Try to figure out what kinds of job attract you (teaching, corporate management, etc) en pick something related you don't really hate as field of study.
If you already nearly finished your english, just bite the bullet and finish it. You will thank yourself later.

[Eric is God]

The general default for people in your situation is some kind of undergrad business degree because it's usually not hard to get and it can be applied to a lot of industries. If you want to go a little more specific, an accounting degree is pretty much guarenteed to get you a decent paying career, but only if you can stand the work. You mentioned travelling and girls; how about something in travel/tourism? Just a thought.

[D1st0rt]

jeem is the new revolution and as such will have no problems succeeding

[jeem]

thanks very much for all of your couretous replies, i appreciate it. i was actually thinking about comp sci since i'm not too bad in math. in fact, i took calculus my first semester (two years ago) and got a B: do you math guys think i'd be able to stay afloat in calc2 with such a big break? i feel like they would review the old stuff and i'd probably be able to catch on but i am not sure, i hear calc2's a bitch. i thought about astronomy or geology but i'm not so hot on science. how did you decide you liked rocks enough to major in it?

right now i'm thinking about a> finishing the english (easiest option) b> economics (potentially hard) or c> mathematics (hard). once again, thanks.

[Epinephrine]

It really depends what you want to do with your life, and how much you are willing to tolerate.

1) You don't mind working with geeks all day, in an environment of 90%+ men, and includes minor amounts of travelling. Don't really like to talk to people.

Go for computers or engineering. Engineering is in demand for sure, but is a lot of work. Computer science is easier in terms of work, but the pay is generally less unless you are very very good at what you do.

2) You want to travel a lot, live in different places, enjoy working with people, don't want a job that involves too much 'deep thinking' for complex problems.

Go for the travel industry. If you work in the hotel industry, the pay is pretty decent, you get to travel around a lot, and live in different places around the world. There are a few ways to get into this. You could either have a college degree in travel or hotel management, or you could just have a BA in SOMETHING and apply until you get in.

3) You like travelling, like talking to people, but like solving complex problems, but have a short attention span.

Go for consulting. There are many different aspects of consulting. Basically consulting involves helping other people solve problems using your particular expertise. IF you work for a firm, obviously it won't be only your personal expertise, but also your company's. To get into consulting, it frequently helps to have a degree in either business, commerce, or something 'useful' in business like computer science or engineering.

4) You have absolutely no idea.

Get a degree... any degree. Seriously, of my friends who just have degrees that aren't specific (i.e. engineering, computer science, a specific business discipline (such as accounting or actuary science), or professional school) they have jobs in every field not related to their degree. These jobs range from anything from working at starbucks to government, to office job.

5) You have a very specific goal

You didn't list any, but anything specific requires you to research the requirements and see how to get there. I'll leave that to you.


Just a final note. As a former computer science major myself, I can only say that the computer science major is a very math intensive degree. You need to be good at math, the object of computer science is not 'programming' it is using a computer to solve mathematical problems. Also keep in mind that unless you are very good at it, there's a good chance most lower level jobs will be shipped off to India and China (or given to Indian and Chinese Visa workers who work for 1/3 as much).