<p>I am currently going into my second year of my undergraduate as an economics major at a prestigious university. It is a subject I am good at and that I find fairly interesting. Earlier in the year however, I took first year geology and fell in love with the subject, I however, did not do well enough in the course to change my program to a BSCH in geology. My economics major will get me where I want to go but it keeps bothering me how much I enjoyed that geology course and that as a kid I wanted to be a palaeontologist, that dream was lost when I decided not to take chemistry and biology in my final year of high school. I don’t know if its just my inner 8 year-old trying to get out or if I really made a life altering mistake. </p>
<p>Its gotten to the point now where I am actually considering dropping out of my current university and re-applying to a different university for an undergraduate degree in palaeontology while taking grade 12 chemistry and biology online to catch up. This has been bothering me for the past few weeks, its made me furious with myself for not taking chem and bio in grade 12 to at least open that option up to me. </p>
<p>Beating myself up over this obviously isn’t getting anywhere, so I decided to look for some advice. I’m not asking for someone to decide for me, I’m just looking for some advice to help me with my situation. </p>
<p>“Did not do well enough”? By which standards, yours or your school’s?</p>
<p>Regardless, you’re only in your second year. If you’ve only taken one Geology class, I’d recommend taking another at a community college and see if it floats your boat. </p>
<p>If so, and if you like it much more than Econ, I’d highly recommend rethinking your major. Nothing sucks more than the feeling of graduating with a degree in something you didn’t really want to do :/</p>
<p>My schools standards, the course assumed knowledge of chemistry at the grade 12 level, I had none. I needed a 70% in order to transfer into natural sciences with a focus in geological sciences, I got a 60%. That course hurt my GPA, but it was the one course during that semester that I can say I 100% enjoyed going to. </p>
<p>Part of my problem is how indecisive I am. I have so many different interests that seem to be stimulated every now and then, this one however is bugging the hell out of me. I love economics, I love understanding how markets work and how individual firms adopt different policies, but the whole mystery and discovery aspect that geology holds isn’t there. </p>
<p>I do not have a strong science background, my high school background was mostly business courses. I would have catching up to do at the high school level and then I would need to “restart” university, by the time I get back to where I am now my class (class of 2015) will be entering their senior year. I am regretting being one of those kids in high school who didn’t plan their courses with a career path in mind, I took my high school courses and based what university programs I applied to on what I have taken already. Most other kids knew that they wanted to do such and such and took all of the courses based on that, I limited myself to what I excelled at.</p>
<p>Some things to think about in paleontology, and geology in general:</p>
<p>A professional career as a paleontologist essentially requires a Ph.D. The vast majority of paleontologists end up as university professors, with a smattering in museums, and maybe a handful in government agencies. All of these options, though, require a doctorate, meaning you won’t just be getting an undergraduate degree in paleontology, you’ve got another 5-7 years of school lined up after that. (That being said, grad school in the sciences is traditionally paid for, so you wouldn’t be taking out more loans for that.)</p>
<p>That being said, there are ways to combine your interests in geology with your strengths on the business side. Have you looked into environmental public policy? Maybe water resources management? Then you’d spend your time figuring out how to help communities adapt to climate change, or deal with water shortages, or flooding, or wildfires. Fields like that rely heavily on earth sciences folks, but there aren’t many (or enough) geologists with an econ bent, so your strengths could be an advantage there. If you like land use planning, maybe look at being a landman for an oil company (a term that, weirdly, applies to both men and women).</p>
<p>So maybe, instead of switching majors, you could keep your econ major. However, spend a semester taking introductory biology and chemistry, then fill up any free classes with geology classes (especially try sedimentology and hydrology, as these would probably be the most practical for you; maybe steer clear of petrology/mineralogy/geophysics to start). Then reassess in a year, and see how you feel about your new path.</p>