Changing Majors. What to?

[ckissick]

Never mind the chem classes. That's the easy part. The question is, do you want to spend the rest of your life behind a counter at Longs dispensing heartburn medication to ladies with blue hair? If you hate dealing with people, this could be a problem.

Engineering is good; you won't be expected to get along with people. Or maybe chemistry research in a lab.

[porsche4life]

And Charlie just hit on my other major problem with Pharm.

[Moses]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Well, either change or fail. Or change to an "easy" major, skim through, then be bitter when you have a degree and no job.

When I got my act together at went back to college I entered as a music major but ended up in chemistry. I learned my lesson in Calc 1. If I waited until the night before assignments were done, I struggled. If I did problems every day, it was easy.

It is very simple. At some point brains alone are useless. Work ethic is what separates winners from losers. I did chem problems every single day. Including weekends. I would do the same worksheets in o-chem multiple times, and asked the prof for extra problem sets. I crushed curves.

Serious wisdom here.

Also, I think psych and communications are "subjects" while math and chemistry are "disciplines". I cruised through psych classes effortlessly. I studied so intensely in chemistry and math I had smoke coming out of my ears. I found no great satisfaction in getting an easy "A" in psych.

Find a serious course of study that challenges you. Take it on. Grind it out. The habits you learn will serve you well forever; diligence, perseverance and organization.

[vash]

if i was a chem major, i would work for the FBI.

lots of aspects of pharmacy. drugs and sickness will be around forever.

[Tobra]

Lot of standing around doing paperwork and chatting with old folks as a pharmacist.

Psych is not so great for job opportunities.

You will need discipline if you wish to be successful in life, as Todd and Moses say. Chem was always easy for me, but I liked it and studied. Accounting was a totally different story. Got an A, was not hard, but sucked pretty badly.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

And Charlie just hit on my other major problem with Pharm.

I think that "pre-xxx" degrees are the wrong way to go. You can get into any professional school with *any* degree as long as you have the basic pre-reqs covered and take the right GREs. In fact, there are excellent arguments for med school students actually having a major in something other than the sciences (breadth of experience/knowledge, differentiation in the interview process, etc).

imho ditch "pre-whatever" and pick a discipline that interests you. The reality is that you can make a living with most any degree - it is your work ethic and attitude that determine your success. I entered as a music major, thought about english, then went chemistry. To this day I actually wish I'd double majored in music and chemistry.

And realize that you will likely change careers many times in your life. Just because you went to school for x doesn't mean you'll work in x. Hell, I have a ph.d. in chemistry and I make digital media and design training systems. The path is rarely straight. But it does require discipline.

[vash]

just a second...didnt you just start college? i seem to remember at least a year of general studies, before you need to declare a major.

good luck, kid. college was the best time...EVER!

[porsche4life]

I just started but if you want to get into Pharm school there are certain pre-reqs you must have.

[vash]

gotcha!

[porsche4life]

How so?

[ckissick]

Originally Posted by vash

if i was a chem major, i would work for the FBI.

lots of aspects of pharmacy. drugs and sickness will be around forever.

That reminds me. I always thought a career in forensics would be cool. You get to use science, with a lot of chemistry, to solve crime puzzles. It might be dull a lot of the time, but it's worth checking out.

As an engineering geologist, my favorite jobs are those in which I am hired as an expert witness and I get to investigate and then present the cause of an engineering failure.

[Schumi]

Sid, I've been there. Did those classes.

You're going to hit those kinda classes no matter your major; the ones that you aren't getting anything out of, aren't clicking, and are more work than anything else.

You drop out of them now, switch to some 'easy' major... sure, fine.. whatever..

but it's not hard, in the long run, to just get through them. You're smart, you won't fail them... just bust ass through them and before you know it, you'll be done.


If you don't like pharm, and I can see where you are coming from... now's the time to make a decision. But don't think that by switching to something else it will be easier. Pick something you think you can have a future in and will enjoy while you are in it- not for how hard it is but weather or not, down the line, you will be at all interested or proud of what you'll be doing.


I do a lot a crap work, stacking on crap courses with teaching undergrads and drowning it all with lots and lots of alcohol. But at the end of the day, I have several perk of the jobs that make it worth it. One is the fact I get to play with Formula racing cars for 'research' purposes, and travel all over the country doing some really neat things (neat to me at least..)

All I have to do is keep myself from thinking about how much other people in industry make a year doing what I do (for pennies), and I'm happy.

[vash]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

How so?

sorry. gotcha! = "i understand!"

[vash]

my friend. a chemist, worked for LEVI jeans, and now does forensic for the FBI. cool gig.

[Tobra]

Lot of jobs you can do with a chem or bio major. It matters what classes you took, not what your major was. I had a friend in Podiatry school who was an freakin' Art History major, but he took his Chem, Bio, Physics and Math requirements.

[Hugh R]

My Bachelors is in Environmental Engineering, and I have an MBA. I do safety in the motion picture and television industry and get involved in blowing crap up, wrecking cars at high speed, working on off-shore drilling rigs, and just about everything imaginable, all around the world. I still use my chemistry, ventilation and fan engineering, and a bunch of other "science" stuff. Todd, (Nostatic) is dead nuts correct. You can't "catch up" in the hard sciences by cramming. You have to live it daily, calculus, chemistry, physics, whatever, if you get behind, you get left behind really fast.

[LWJ]

Ok, here is a word from someone who was a liberal arts major. First, I believe that your college education is just that - an education to prepare you for life. Most of the conversation in this thread is about majors that are very specific training for technical fields. This is fine. Understand that there is a whole world out there (like psych) that you could explore. It is fun. It is mind expanding. It WILL NOT train you or specifically prepare you for a career. There is a catch. Given that you are not a people person, I think you could be a little limited. There are a number of fields that are not uber technical that don't require people skills. Accounting comes to mind.

I will say that most of the comments above are spot on. A significant part of a college education is simply proving that you have the "can do" aptitude to graduate. Really. My advice for careers is simple: do what you are good at. Save your passion for your free time. Good luck. Good question.

Larry

[porsche4life]

Technical doesnt bother me larry.

[McLovin]

Start out college pre-med/biology/etc., hit things like organic chemistry, graduate sociology/psychology/history.

That's what I remember everyone in college doing.

It amazes me that there even are new doctors anymore!

[JAPPY]

"Oh also I hate dealing with people"

That's a fair bit of being a pharmacist!!! unless you get into industrial stuff & that's uaually a lot of chemistry, catch 22.

To be a good pharmacist you need to be able to relate to all types, when they are often at their worst, good luck with your choices.

PS I didn't like chemistry much either, but got through it.

Michael
(pharmacist)