EE or ME or CS? Econ?

Kharatos
Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:47:48 +0000

OK this debate has been bothering me for half a year already and I can’t seem to settle on a major. I’d really appreciate some help.

I have no idea whether I should major in EE or ME or CS, or perhaps even Business/Econ. To help you guys help me figure it out, here’s some information about myself:

I disassembled an IBM 286 when I was 6 years old, because I wanted to find out why it worked and how I can make it run my games faster. That sparked my passion in all things electronic. Since then I’ve built many different rigs for myself and for friends/family, almost electrocuting myself at one time. At 11 years old I went to the local bookstore and bought a 700 page HTML tutorial. Sat down, read it and built a fansite dedicated to a singer I liked.

The site was abandoned by me 2 years later. My mother thought I was too shy around people that it won’t be good for my future, so she encouraged me to socialize as much as possible. I did, and spent a lot of time with people from that point forward. The time proved to be valuable since I learned a lot about human nature and the soft sciences in life aka sociology, political science, and psychology through human interactions.

My grades in hard sciences naturally did slip but not too much, I kept up but was definitely not a 4.0 student anymore. Worked for a close friend’s family business and quickly went into management due to good performance. I did that for a couple years but was ultimately tortured since I did not care the least bit about the product and service of the company. In the end, some disagreements surfaced from me regarding unethical corporate practices within the company, but I eventually saw the dispute as a sign for me to pursue something else in life.

I came back to college, thanks to the excellent transfer system of California, and started taking many different classes. I’ve already finished Macroeconomics and am doing Microeconomics right now. Did Intro to Business; finishing English R1A R1B requirement this semester and also CS 61a, and other math/science classes. Once again I’m getting a 4.0. Albeit it’s easier than 4-year institutions.

My hesitation on deciding on a major is that I don’t want to become just a tool, a machine for the manufacture of greater ideas/creations. I know I have what it takes to be a leader figure since I have good people skills and great skills in motivating, inspiring people and public speaking. But through my involvement in business practices, I’ve come to learn that I have to care about what the company is doing, otherwise it’s impossible for me to be happy. That the little kid within taking things apart, putting them back together and building websites still needs to be satisfied. Problem is most schools separate them, either CS or EE, except for Cal. I know my own capabilities enough to know that I can’t leave myself only that one option, not at 22 years old.

ME is in there because I’ve been a big automotive enthusiast since about 15 years of age, plus aircrafts and space engineering looks mighty interesting.

Business/Econ is in there because ultimately I’m very good at it, all the stuff in my econ classes and business class were common sense to me. My own analysis and observations of the human nature of people around me has really paid off for these classes.

What do I do? I haven’t been able to take an engineering course since I don’t think my college’s engineering department is quite up to par, but I’m pretty sure I’ll like it a lot.

It’s a long post yes, but I felt that without sufficient information regarding my background it’s too hard for another person to tell me something I haven’t already analyzed and answered for myself.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you guys a ton in advance!