Need Help Regarding Major Selection -- Long Post Alert

Yeeyeeyee
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 02:59:52 +0000

(Long post alert. It’s so long that I have to separate this into two posts. TL;DR, I want to create something and I don’t want to be in a soul-wrenching career. High school was enough. I know I have time to decide; I just want to narrow down some options. This should, hopefully, be coherent enough to be readable.)

Hello, everyone.

I’ve been able to manage my school search and applications pretty well on my own, but I think it’s about time that I ask for some help. On the table today is the dreaded question that every college student has to answer at one point or another: “What are you going to major in?” At the end of the day, I’m stuck between passion and practicality, but even then, I’ve got a thousand different paths. Point is, I’m trying to at least narrow down my options so I’m not that guy who changes his major every week. Everyone I talk to – parents, neighbors, friends – give me the same run around. Either “You’ll figure it out” or “Follow your passion.” When I ask for their advice, I want something to chew on, not the same garbage I’ve been fed from day one.

I had a rather lengthy discussion of individual majors that I was going to post, but I decided that that didn’t really capture what I’m really looking for in one. I do still have the post saved, though, so if anyone wants to email with me – I would genuinely appreciate the help. Anyway, I’ll start in what I figured to be the logical place when I first started my major/career considerations and work off of that.

For the longest time, I had thought I was going to go to med school and be a doctor. If I had to, I’d probably go forensics, neurology, or gastroenterology. After anatomy, though, I decided that such things just weren’t for me. I was more partial to the anatomy (Namely, slicing stuff up) than I was to the physiology, so I think that it’s best that I avoid med school. As of right now, I’m sitting at becoming a professor (Either community college or real university would be fine – I’m not too concerned about tenure). I like teaching, I’d appreciate the scholarly environment, and I really fancy being able to call myself “Doctor.” I did briefly consider going into the fashion industry, as well, even if it is a bit of an uncommon choice for a man. I’m notorious for being a rather well-dressed fellow and coupled with my interest in clothing, it seemed like a good choice. I’m not the handiest person when it comes to operating machinery, so working with sewing machines might not be a great fit

I’ve had a problem which I’ve started to take notice off in the recent months – I feel no connection to my work. All it is is meaningless facts and figures regurgitated onto a page to appease some faceless government bureaucrat who decides that since I’m doing so well, my school needs more funding. The projects I’ve managed to stick with most in school are those that I’ve been able to inject some of my personality into; there’s actually a level of personal investment there.

I’m an artist and a storyteller without a medium, I suppose, in some strange manner of speaking. I can express myself pretty well when I write school papers, but I hate having to cite other sources. (I don’t mind researching, per se, but I do a bit better by osmosis than by writing everything down. This also adds in to my reservations about becoming a professor – not only would I have to read research, I’d also have to produce it!) That led me to turn to creative writing. My rhyme is okay, though I still feel discouraged, while my prose is passable, if sparse. (An artist is his worst critic, though.) That led me to think that filmmaking might be a better choice, but as I looked into it, I kind of got overwhelmed by the whole process of making a film and, based on my experience with group projects in the past, I don’t think I’d be very comfortable risking my grades by relying on my group in college. It’s a place full of distractions and I don’t have much luck finding good groups in large classes where I know few people, seeing that I tend to be on the reserved side. I do have a background in theatre – I worked on several school and independent musicals, since I was, unfortunately, cast to the side for lack of singing ability. For the brief spot that I did do some acting, I enjoyed becoming the character. I’m told I do accents well. Regardless, I’m not content to just consume. I want to create. My big fear with taking the theatre or film route, though, is that I’m going to be stuck making commercials for some fortune 500 company.

I’ve got a knack for pointing out problems, so that’s something. One of my college essays had me discuss a problem in our world. As I was looking over it again, though, I noticed that my evaluation did not take a clear side on the issue: I presented the issue from both perspectives and threw in the insinuation that I neither took one particular position nor did I say that one side was correct. I left the admissions committee to make that call. If I had to generalize my style, I’d probably say “food for thought.”

Will I need to pick a major to go that way? Perhaps not – we have off-hours for a reason. The main logic that I’ve been following for some time is to get a high-paying job with nice stock options so I can afford to do what I wanted. Of course, that job would probably be something I hated and I’d wind up back at square one – no connection with my work. And there lies the problem. I’m no daydreamer – I know that my chances of making it in the literature/film world are pretty slim and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take, unless I’m absolutely certain. Thus, we’ve come full circle. Either pick a career for your major or pick a major for your career. Seeing that I don’t really have an idea of what I want to major in, the first method isn’t going to work, so I’ll have to pick a career and work off of that. As I mentioned, professor is my end-all goal, but there are a thousand ways to get there and I want to do something else before I settle down and start teaching. Let me point out one thing, first: I do not want to major in something that I consider to be a hobby (namely, writing, as I hinted at above), for fear of making it into a chore. By the same token, I would consider film, though I am put off by the more technical aspects of the filmmaking process.

Anyway, let’s get some information out there: 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.5 (on 5 point scale) weighted GPA, top 5% of a bit more than 600 students. A’s all across the board in high school. (Admittedly, I might break the trend with statistics this year, but oh well.) I particularly enjoyed my English and social science classes (Psychology, sociology, history, government). Couldn’t stand biology, chemistry was all right, anatomy was interesting, but I wouldn’t want to be tested over it. Math is a bit of a love-hate relationship. I can do it; I’m just not too fond of it.
Doing the due diligence, I figured I might be able to find a magic personality test on the Internet, but much to my expectations, I did not. Since I’m a rather frugal person, I just stuck with what was free on the Internet. My Holland Code is ACE and the MBTI scores me as an INTJ (Although I’m borderline S/N). Take it for what it is – it’ll be a guideline, if nothing else. I realize those aren’t the most accurate things.

Here’s what I’ve got so far: