<p>To Helvetica: What usually happens is that someone asks a very simple question and it turns into five pages of rants by other members. Sorry to do this to your thread :)</p>
<p>I would agree with Strangelight: relax, and once you get started on your undergrad, you will be able to form a more intelligent (perhaps “reasoned” is the word) decision of what to do with your future.</p>
<p>I’m actually REALLY good @ math. I just find it prosaic at best. I guess you just thought it was implied?? Perhaps? LOL I recognize the fact that math is important in many sectors. Am I taking AP Calculus just to tickle my fancy? Definitely not! My uncle loathed physics, but he worked his ass off for the class so that he could attain the career in medicine that he wanted. I think any career I pick will have requirements that will be met with my chagrin. Also, I inderstand what you are trying to convey by the whole “explore yourself in college” but sometimes that aimless path can make things pretty difficult later on. An open mind is great, but just relying on finding oneself at college…kind of dumb. (In my opinion) Hence, I was trying to get a rough idea for college. It makes selecting colleges easier.</p>
<p>i think what strangelight mentions may tie everything that has been said here together. as you get older, and you have more experience in what a given profession actually entails, your idea about what a dream job is will change. certainly it changes a lot from when you are 5 years old but that doesn’t mean you have given up on your dream job- your perspective just evolved.
it sounds like you love to learn, helvetica. i am sure you will do well in college. it will also be a nice opportunity for you to continue to explore your options and see the dark underbelly of any given path you choose to take.</p>
<p>oh- and go for the hardest one. if you have a background in the sciences it will be easier to change your mind and go into the humanities than vice versa.</p>
<p>I entirely understand your frustrations about not “having a plan.” Honestly, just go to a good liberal arts college, and you’ll be good. Personally, I would go to the most cost-effective school you can go to (ie the best school for the least amount of money). It will save you headaches later, and you will have a good time. To put it bluntly, undergrads are all the same for the most part. I mean: anything in the “top 75” is a good education and will prepare you for whatever you want to do. To be honest, you will most likely have many hesitations throughout the beginning of your undergrad, but once you start taking “real” classes in the field, you will have a better understanding of what you’re dealing with. </p>
<p>To sum up: Aim for a good liberal arts/university with liberal arts requirements (which is most nowadays) school that has the low cost. Plan on a general path of study, but have the flexibility once you’re there. Save money for grad school (whatever that may be). Do well, and do whatever you want!</p>
<p>i just understood your expressed disdain for math as you saying you didn’t like it or weren’t good at it. if you can slog through all the math required of a science (or political science) degree, then good on you.</p>
<p>i would caution you against mutation’s advice that starting in the sciences and changing to humanities later will be an easier path. for law, that may be true, but for any social sciences/humanities degree, you will need a minimum of 2 years of language in at least 2 different foreign languages to be considered for most PhD programs. it’s certainly possible to make the switch to an arts degree, but it may add a year onto your time in undergrad to get enough language prep under your belt.</p>
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<p>And how do you get experience without a job? We return back to the old paradox: can’t get a job without experience, can’t get experience without a job. A college degree, especially a prestigious one, is one proven way to break that cycle. </p>
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<p>I am quite sure that he doesn’t want to work for a Major League baseball team. Neither do I. We want to be Major League players. Surely you would agree that there is a gigantic difference between actually playing Major League ball and just working a team back-office job. </p>
<p>Furthermore, even if he did want a backoffice team job, who’s to say that he would have gotten it? After all, minor league players don’t really have opportunities to learn how the office works. That’s not their job. Their time is better spent honing their playing skills to try to be promoted to the Majors, or at least to maintain their roster spot in the minors. If and when they’re cut from the team, they’re left to their own wiles. </p>
<p>And that returns us back to my basic point: most people don’t get the job that they really want. As shown before, even those with PhD’s from Harvard are not guaranteed professorships. There are no guarantees in life - nobody knows exactly what sorts of jobs will be available to them. That’s why flexibility is paramount. </p>
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<p>Really? Exactly how was Rubin going to get into Goldman without a top degree? Goldman is arguably the most elitist of firms in an industry that is already noted for elitism - and has become even more elitist since the days of Rubin. You can’t get a job in investment banking if you can’t access a recruiter, yet Ibanks only recruit at a certain subset of schools. Like it or not, that’s how they work.</p>
<p>To save space, I’ll stop discussing the topic, but I’ve already answered all those questions so I’m not going to repeat myself. We disagree, and that’s fine :)</p>
<p>To the OP, every career comes with complaints. Physicians whine about the tedium of dealing with paperwork, attorneys whine about the lack of opportunities, CEO’s whine about something, probably everything. But the fact is, our field offers paid graduate training, prestige, intellectual atmosphere and a stimulating environment. As much as academics complain about job security, aside from federal judges, who else has assured jobs for life? We bellyache about competition- why do you think that the competition exists, is it perhaps because the lifestyle and esteem of these faculty positions are so desirable? We also get really caught up in talking about how our current system with its ‘up or out’ mentality produces a glut of postdocs with no permanent jobs for them. This ignores the facts that baby boomers (some 40% of academia) will be retiring in droves and that the hierarchy of universities are shifting to less of a pyramid model. </p>
<p>If you want to become a professor, it won’t be easy but there are professor jobs out there. They go to the best and brightest because everybody would love to have them. You will have to face serious competition to get one, but it is not the only thing that Phds do after graduate school.</p>
<p>Kudos to you for thinking so far ahead. Just that you are on a board like this puts you ahead of most of your peers. I have worked with your peers. Trust me, they are not doing this. :)</p>
<p>Next, focus on your UG experience. I have a few years on you and it took all that time to understand the differences between what I am capable of versus what I want to do. There can be contentment in the former, but there is a real life in doing the latter. And, I’m not talking classwork, although that is a part of it. I am talking about knowing if you like making small talk with Wall Street types, or, if you prefer autonomy to work at your own pace. Do you want to have a family? Do you prefer men or women, romantically? Don’t laugh. These kinds of questions change, dramatically, what you are willing to do to get where you want to be.</p>
<p>But, enough mystical voodoo talk. </p>
<p>Go to a solid liberal arts college with a strong research focus. Look for schools where the occassional undergrad gets a chance to publish. Read at least a few of the “great books” and take a challenging math and science course. That will help you decide if the theory of these respective fields do anything for you. </p>
<p>Build relationships with your professors from day one! People invested in your success help you succeed and almost none of your peers will figure that out until it is too late. Take the hard prof. Trust me. Go to office hours. All of the things you are saying here? Mention it to your professors. There are careers and fields you have yet to imagine because there is a big world out there and it is changing all the time. I wanted to be a lawyer…until I found out I could do what I do for free – people watch! – for a living (cultural anthro). </p>
<p>Use your summers to do research. I cannot stress that enough. </p>
<p>And, finally, keep an open mind. There are more than three jobs in the world. Somewhere, right now, there’s a guy or a chick with a job no one has ever heard of who wouldn’t trade their life for the world.</p>
<p>OP, Once you get to college and take a few classes you will figure out which major appeals to you most. Ignore those who perpetuate the myth that the name of the school you attend will define your future. Reread the remarks posted by ThePhilosopher, as there is a lot of useful information contained therein. Good Luck!</p>