Hi, I’m a junior in high school, and I’ve been struggling to choose my classes for senior year because I’m unsure about my college major. I’ve been in an engineering program since freshman year, and early on, I realized I’m not that interested in the subject. I couldn’t drop the program, or I’d have to attend my district’s high school instead. I feel like I’ve set myself up to major in engineering, but I don’t have any passion for it. I’ve always found myself more interested in my English and history classes. The dream would be to be a published author, but it’s really unrealistic, and a stable income does matter to me. I also haven’t participated in anything like robotics or Mesa because I play sports every season, so I don’t have the time, and I don’t know if that would reflect badly on my college applications if I do decide to go for engineering. I did a summer internship, but it was as an inventory intern, so I’m not sure that really helps in narrowing down possible majors. For the engineering program next year, I’m required to take AP CALC, ADVANCED ENGINEERING, AP STATS OR AP PHYSICS C, and an AP SCIENCE or O-CHEM. Other than that, I have 4 open spots, one must be an English class, and the rest are electives.
(I also want to clarify I do struggle more in science and math classes, but I’ve had all A’s in everything until taking AP Pre-Calc this year, and I’ve maintained a high B so far.)
For reference, here’s a table of the classes I’ve taken and am currently taking, as well as a list of clubs/activities I’m involved in:
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
FRESHMAN
SOPHOMORE
JUNIOR
ENGLISH I-H
ENGLISH II-H
AP LANG and COMP
AP US HISTORY
AP US GOVT
AP WORLD HISTORY
GEOMETRY-H
ALGEBRA II-H
AP PRE-CALCULUS
EARTH SYSTEMS-H
BIOLOGY-H
AP PHYSICS 2
SPANISH II
AP PHYSICS 1
SPANISH IV-H
ART I
SPANISH III-H
PER FIN LIT/HEALTH II
PE/HEALTH I
COMP APPL ENGIN-H
ENGIN MAT SCI
INTR ENGINEERING-H
ENGINEERING FUND-H
ENGIN MAT LAB
Clubs/activities:
- WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP (only freshman year)
-MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS (sophomore-now)
-KEY CLUB (only sophomore year)
-NATIONAL TECHNICAL HONORS SOCIETY (sophomore-now)
Just make sure you are completing the courses required for high school graduation in your state.
If you have some colleges in mind, that you wish to apply to, you can check the required courses they want HS students to take.
I would suggest that minimally , you take four years each of English, Social Studies, Science, Math, Foreign language at least through level 3 in the same language, and an arts course.
I don’t see chemistry in your science line up. You might want to take that.
WRT high school “major”…my opinion is it doesn’t matter one bit. Just do the best you can in whatever you choose for your coursework.
A few things - you are 16 and know you don’t want engineering. That’s a great start.
Secondly, why can’t you write a book and get published ? Why write yourself off at 16. It will take a lot of hard work.
Most schools allow you to start undecided - so you explore in your first and sometime second year.
Maybe you take a Classics class and love it. Or Philosophy. Or creative writing. Maybe you discover Criminology or Hispanic Studies or environmental policy ?
Or maybe you go to a liberal arts college where they don’t even allow you to select majors til later.
Surely not everyone in your hs goes to college for engineering.
If you have strength in English (y years), math (4 years), lab science (3 years), foreign language (3 years) and social science (3 years), you’ll have lots of options.
What you’ll need to find out from your parents is a budget - how much can you afford ? And take the SAT or ACT.
So no need to decide your life at 16 - and I think you are in great shape ahead of the college search.
Have your family take you to visit some local schools so you can get a feel for size (small, mid, large), environment (urban, rural), and more - figure out which kind of school you’d feel comfortable at - and then look at budget, your stats, and help you build a list.
In answer to your question, “What should I major in?”, the answer is that you should major in what you love. My father was an engineer and eventually quit because he didn’t love it. He became a teacher instead. He also loved to sing and did that on the side.
If you love English and History, then you should major in one of them, or both (a dual majir). Maybe you could write historical novels. There are people who do. Maybe if you read biographies of authors, you could learn how they became able to do what they do for a living. I know that it seems so impossible, but it actually is possible. There are people who do it. By reading biographies, I don’t mean necessarily published biographies, but to find out the life stories of people who have become writers and authors.
Looking at the usual expected high school subjects:
English – you will have four years, all at honors/AP level.
History / social studies – you have completed three years at AP level; if you take another as one of your electives, you will have four.
Math – you will have up to calculus.
Science – you will have four or more years at the honors/AP level, but no chemistry.
Foreign language – you have completed to level 4 at honors level.
Art – you have completed one year.
Academic electives – you will have six years of engineering-related electives.
So, assuming that you take at least one history or social studies course and a chemistry course (not organic chemistry if you have not had AP chemistry or equivalent), you will have met the expectations of high school course work for any major in any US college or university. So do not worry about being “deficient” in any high school subject for either any major you may choose or any US college or university.
As to what major to choose, choose something you like, but keep an eye on what you want to do after graduation and how various majors relate to and prepare for it. But note that there is a much wider range of college majors than there are typical high school subjects. For example, in humanities, there are subjects like philosophy and area or ethnic studies, while social studies includes subjects like anthropology, economics, psychology, and sociology.
Also, a strong background knowledge in math, science, and engineering can be beneficial to someone focusing on writing and other humanities or social studies subjects. Some writers write about science and engineering, or topics that at least peripherally involve science or engineering. A knowledge of statistics is useful in many areas, although you may want to take statistics with calculus in college given your relatively strong math background.
I’ve never heard of a high school major. Obviously there are different tracks and there are course selections, but I don’t see any course options other than that she can choose among some unspecified electives. Given that presentation, my advice wouldn’t change. I agree with you that it doesn’t matter.
This student reminds me of my youngest daughter who was top 3 in her high school class and was being encouraged toward an extra science class in her senior year because it would make her college applications stronger and because she was a top student. Her preference was for an Art class. We supported her choice and that proved to be the better experience for her because of who she is and was at the time. Just like this student. Our daughter has gone on to a very successful career.
Other than that, you are actually in great shape to be applying to what are sometimes known as exploratory Arts and Sciences programs. There are entire colleges that are on that exploratory Arts & Sciences model, and then there are often exploratory Arts and Sciences schools within other larger undergrad programs (the kind that might also have an engineering school, business school, maybe nursing school, and so on).
A&S programs typically cover most of the “classic” majors–everything from the academic study of arts (unless it is in a separate art school), humanities like English, social sciences like Political Science, natural sciences like Biology, and mathematics. In the exploratory version–which is the most common version–basically everyone goes in undecided, and you just start taking classes that fill general graduation requirements plus some electives for interest. Eventually you declare a major, but only after that exploration period. And people sometimes switch again later, or add second majors or minors or such, as interests evolve.
When applying to such programs, you are not applying for any given major. At most, they might ask if you have some ideas about academic areas that might interest you. You are not in any way bound to those ideas, they just are an opportunity for you to talk a bit about what current interests you have, and why you find those topics to be interesting.
Seeking out such programs is not very limiting. Many of the most famous private research universities, public research universities, and undergrad-focused colleges have such a program, again sometimes the whole undergrad program, or sometimes one of their undergrad schools (and indeed often the largest undergrad school in terms of students).