What should I major in?

[cherokeejew]

<p>I really have no leanings at the moment, although I do have some basic goals, and some things I want to avoid.</p>

<p>My basic purpose is to get a job that pays well without requiring too much work.
I don't want to end up doing anything in medicine.
I want a field that Berkeley is very good in.
I hate big projects, experiments and research papers (basically any work at all, but those especially), but I don't mind tests.
I don't like academic BS, like pretentious literary analysis and psychobabble.</p>

[sakky]

<p>I like your first requirement. If I may rephrase, you want easy money. </p>

<p>Hey, at least you're being honest.</p>

[hwtf]

<p>good luck finding one with those requirements</p>

[pookdogg]

<p>Try "Winning the Lottery Studies" or "Waiting for Your Parents To Die So You Can Collect Inheritance Studies".</p>

[cherokeejew]

<p>Well, nothing will be perfect, but the question is what is closest. For example, math is good because it is mostly tests instead of project type stuff, but I don't know if its worth anything for jobs. Pre-law stuff would be good for reaping the easy money but the majors for that, like history, are kind of intensive on research papers. </p>

<p>My parents are getting pretty old though, so Pookdogg makes a good point, but I don't know if there is a major for that. </p>

<p>Probably a life of crime would provide that easiest money, but there are certain risks involved.</p>

[shyboy13]

<p>Economics is no walk in the park but it is much than math. The job prospects are tremendous. I really liked it because at the undergrad level, there are few papers and mostly problem sets for homework and exams. I really hate writing "creative" papers in classes where your grade is in the hands of some TA and has almost no correlation with your intelligence level or the amount of effort you put in. Berkeley has one of the best Econ departments in the world too. Just one comment though: you said you wanted an easy major but math is one of the hardest majors out there.</p>

<p>A life of crime can be good too if you are good at it. ;)</p>

[cherokeejew]

<p>I don't have a problem with complex or difficult material, I just don't like classes with a lot of projects and big papers. I may be wrong, but I would think that math would be a lot more test-oriented. Economics sounds even better, though, if there aren't a lot of papers, as you say. I have always had some interest in it, and the job prospects should be good.</p>

[socalnick]

<p>oh you could mabe major in satistics. its somewhat like ecomomics</p>

[mruncleramos]

<p>Pure Mathematics</p>

[sakky]

<p>In general, the more subjective the grading, the lower the likelihood that you're going to fail the class. It was mentioned here that classes that rely on big projects and big papers that are graded at the whim of a TA are bad because your grade is subjective. Well, on the bright side (if you want to call it that), as long as you actually do those projects and papers, you're pretty much guaranteed to pass the class. Maybe you won't pass the class with a great grade, but as long as you do all the work, you will pass. This is a far cry from majors like math or economics, in which you either understand the material or you don't. If you understand the material, great, you're going to get a good grade. If you don't, then you're going to flunk out. It doesn't matter if you put in a lot of effort and it doesn't matter if you do all the work. If you don't understand the material, you will get an F, simple as that.</p>

<p>As a sidenote, this is why you rarely see football or basketball players majoring in math or economics. Many of those players aren't really majoring in any subject, rather, they're "majoring in eligibility' - doing whatever it takes to stay eligible to play. Let's face it - a lot of these athletes couldn't care less about academics, they think they're going to make it into the pros, so all they want out of classes that will let them stay eligible to play without much effort on their part. Rarely do they do that by taking a bunch of math or economics classes.</p>

[yidong]

<p>i think u should be a college instructor.</p>

[teal]

<p>I think Berkeley is good in many/most fields so..as an alternative to the above suggestions, you could apply undecided to test out what you like before you commit to a major</p>

[cherokeejew]

<p>Yes, that's good to take into consideration, Sakky. I certainly don't want to flunk out, or even have to worry about it. Pure math might be dangerous for that reason, since I couldn't even ace high school BC Calc. I am pretty confident for economics though, partly because I never got lower than 100% on a high school Econ test (not a very good reason, I know), but mostly just because I think I understand economic concepts well and I am a very good test taker. </p>

<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone, I'll probably go for some prereqs that work for both econ and statistics.</p>

<p>In response to teal, I am already attending Berkeley as undeclared, just deciding what major so I know what kinds of classes to take.</p>

[sleepisabliss]

<p>business major. i think you would lean, specifically, to finance.</p>

[avoidingwork]

<p>suggest you major in Math and become an Actuary. Mathematics curriculums are usually test-oriented and low on academic BS. Actuaries are paid very well. The work IMO is pretty boring, but you didn't mention interesting work in your requirements list.</p>

[irock1ce]

<p>finance is a bad idea if he wants a life. u dont make easy money with finance.. its more like "get beat with a stick by ur boss" money.... that just kinda grows exponentially as u have more experience. but FINANCE is definitely not a easy major or is investment banking or consulting and such easy money. </p>

<p>easy money = become a gigolo. I hear berkeley has a class on porn, take some notes.</p>

[saving.the.day]

<p>Business.</p>

<p>-saving.the.day</p>