<p>I want to know what you all think about a double major in anthropology and chemical engineering? I really love the idea of majoring in anthropology there is just something about the major that speaks to me however my mom is so traditional she wants me to do something that will more or less guarantee me a job. So I chose chemical engineering because it is something I am capabale of doing and I won’t totally die of boredom, it’s something I could get into. What do you all think? I just love anthropology so much though…Help</p>
<p>Do you mean to say that majoring in something with good job and career prospects is necessary for them to contribute toward your college costs?</p>
<p>Chemical engineering is usually a pretty heavy major in terms of requirements; while some anthropology courses would fill in the social studies breadth requirements for engineering majors, there may not be enough free electives to complete the rest of the anthropology major. You may want to look at web sites of schools like Clemson and USC to count up requirements for the two majors to see if all of the courses can be fit into a four year schedule.</p>
<p>You may want to look at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys.html</a> to see how different majors’ job and career prospects are. If you like math, you may want to consider applied math, statistics, or computer science instead of chemical engineering, since they tend to have fewer course requirements to leave more room for anthropology courses. And you might later find a job where statistics and/or computer science are applied to anthropology research or something like that.</p>
<p>I attend UVA, and while all schools are different, I know that here it would be nearly impossible to double major in these two fields. The engineering requirements are just too heavy to double major, especially across another school. It just wouldn’t work. I agree with the above in that if you know anthropology is for you but want to double major (for job prospects or whatever) then find something non-engineering like math, statistics, computer science (sometimes offered in BA form), etc. that’s in the same school and seems doable.</p>
<p>It is not likely you can major in both of those and graduate in four years unless you enter college with about 30 semester credit hours from AP courses. Chem E requirements can consume almost all your available course time. Moreover, those majors do not really have overlapping courses that can apply to completing both and you will likely need at least an extra year and potentially two to actually complete all the requirements for both majors even if the school allows you to pursue both (you usually have to apply for one major as a freshman and then after being in college for some time, often two years, you apply for the second for which you will need permission). You should also be aware of a generally applicable truism: most freshman who start college firmly believing they will double major in unrelated subjects come to their senses by second year and abandon any such nonsense.</p>
<p>I think I kind of knew all of this, I just needed some validation to tell my parents. Thanks!</p>
<p>Awwe, Its okay H.E. You will be successful in whatever you do. Just make sure you stop falling asleep in Econ!!</p>
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I can almost promise you that you won’t graduate with a degree in ChemE. Not because you aren’t capable of doing it. But because you don’t want to do it. Engineering in college is tough. Nationwide between 1/2 and 2/3rds of those that start in engineering end up changing majors. You’ll see friends around you have fun in college and taking classes they enjoy (the way you talk about Anthro). Just to pass engineering classes is going to take much more work than most other college students are putting in, especially those in liberal-arts majors. I’ll probably get flack for saying it, but its true. Without the motivation to succeed no matter what, your prospects of getting thru aren’t great. Nor, should by some measure you succeed in getting a degree in ChemE, is there any indication you’d like the career. Or indeed that you know right now what the day-to-day life of a ChemE major is like after college, what the career path is like, etc.</p>
<p>This is an advice forum, so here’s my advice. Mom wants you to have a vocational major (accounting, engineering, etc) so there is something well-paying you can do after college. That’s one approach, and has much to recommend it. But it has to be a field that you want to enter, and I don’t get that sense about ChemE from what you’ve written. </p>
<p>Liberal Arts majors often find jobs a different way. In a sense the degree is a qualification, but to find a job you have to do things in college in addition to simply earning the degree. This means identifying area(s) that are of interest to you well before graduation (as in years before) & learning how people get started in the field. A key in most would be things like internships. You can identify areas you like and learn how to enter them by working with your college career center from the start of your college career. One good book, written several years ago, is called “Major in Success”. You can find many others by looking on Amazon, at suggested books given by the career centers at some of the colleges you are considering, etc.</p>
<p>Your mom means well, and what she is saying echoes the advice many kids are hearing. If there is a field such as engineering or accounting or nursing or teaching or whatever in which a degree from college typically leads to a job and it is something you could see yourself doing for years to come, then by all means pursue it and keep her happy. But otherwise you’ll need to start talking now with her about your future. Not that you need to pick what you’re going to do now if its down that road, but a discussion to reassure her that you have (or are in the process of coming up with) a roadmap of how you’re going to get there.</p>