What to Major in?

syntacticalbeing
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 15:19:48 +0000

Hello everyone,

I am a homeschooled junior in high school interested in several fields (physics, math, and theoretical CS), but am unsure which to major in. I will first provide you a little background as to my specific interests/studies. Below are some topics I am currently studying on my own outside of school.

Math:

1. Abstract Algebra

2. Category Theory (useful for my CS work)

3. Topology

Physics:

1. Classical Mechanics (phase space, Lagrangians, Hamiltonians, etc.)

2. Quantum Mechanics (just familiarizing myself with basic principles and working some problems at this stage)

CS:

1. Information Theory

2. Computability Theory

3. Computational Complexity

4. Quantum Computation (mostly from the perspective of computer science but I have been working on some of the theory behind physical implementations; I use "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" by Nielsen and Chuang)

In school I am taking Calculus II and University Physics I (a Calculus based course in physics), which are both completely review for me so far. In fact, I have never received less than an A in a course in high school and I haven’t been studying much at all. I know that my work outside of school may appear to be a ridiculous exaggeration but my parents never let me accelerate in school to match my abilities. But enough of the rant. I am here to try to decide what to major in, considering my rather (wide!) range of interests. I am interested in a research job where I have the opportunity to discover new ideas.

I was originally considering CS as my major, but when I saw many of the universities’ course selections for that major, I was disappointed by the lack of theory and the extreme emphasis on programming, which will surely leave me unprepared for serious work at the graduate level. These are my thoughts. I hope that my frustration does not offend you and that you will be able to give some guidance as to what I should do.

Thank you,
syntacticalbeing