Deciding a College Major?

[Bogardi]

I'm currently a freshmen in college and am having trouble deciding upon a college major. I have thought about many possibilites, and have done research on a lot of careers. Although if there is some nice career websites/ earning salaries/ career outlook whatever I will take a look.

I have though about psychology - too competitive to get into grad school, pseudoscience, have to get a Phd to do anything with it

Thought about computer science - too much math, career outlook is bad, dont want to sit in front of a computer my whole life

thought about political science - not sure what i would do with this

thought about english - travel the world and write about my adventures, dont need a degree to do this, don't want to be involved in acadamia

currently thinking about biochemistry - i want to do environmental science but my college does not offer an undergraduate degree for it, I want to do something with environmental science or hydrology, career outlook is really good, intresting subject, prepared to get a masters. my dad majored in environmental science, not sure if i want to follow in his footsteps or not

any suggestions are appreciated

 

[Cut]

Only way to go man is to be an Entrepreneur. I am also in college but I feel like im doing it just for fun. If you want to travel the world man then do it.

 

[Evander]

Psychology degrees are a joke and you could obtain the same amount of information reading wiki for a few months.

Don't do CS unless you enjoy taking classes with overweight unshowered fucking smelly kids for four years. It is also the one out of your options that is the most work.

Plsc can be fun if you are really interested in government but if not it will be the death of you.

If you going to do english you may as well just get a liberal arts degree.

If you really have an interest and you college does not offer it, just fucking transfer. It's not to much work and in the end will be better.

 

[gdubs12345]

skip college, i have a music degree, guess how far that got me.

 

[riddarhusetgal]

1. Study EXACTLY what you want. Don't listen to ANYONE who will tell you otherwise. If you like psychology, study that, if you like philosophy, study that.
2. Take some classes in accounting, economics, finance, and if you can stomach it, multivariable calculus, vector calculus or some other applied math.
3. Take a class on entrepreneurship or business. The purpose of 2)-3) will be to give you some quantitative skills that will help you monetize what you love to do from (1)
4. During your summers, get an internship in something business related to get gain some business exposure. (which will further help you monetize your talents)
Your goal is college should be to 1)learn what your talents are and 2)learn how to MONETIZE your talents (am I sounding redundant? good.....)3) build relationships that will pay for themselves 1000x over the years

Happy people learn that their INCOME SOURCE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THEIR LIFE'S WORK

Got that? it's one of the most important things you can learn in life, so I'll say it again.

YOUR INCOME SOURCE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE YOUR LIFE'S WORK!!

In other words your Job cannot and should not be your main source of Income...

Your goal in college should be to 1)discover your talents 2)build relationships with people that really matter (more on that later) 3)learn how to monetize your unique skills.

College was the most amazing experience of my life. Sometimes I wish I was back. The good times, the laughter, it's not just about "go study what everyone else says to so you can get a good job".

You are alot more informed than most people because you are reading WF. Here you can learn how to take the talents that you learn about yourself and monetize them.

Set some goals for yourself. Let's say you decide you want a 6 figure a year income. That breaks down to a mere $350/day (or so) online. What you will do is hone your talents in college, then you will use your skills from (above) your business/quantitative related studies and WF university to monetize them.

So if you like biochem, great, study it! You can set up a business-to-business directory for companies marketing biochemical products. Your inside knowledge into biochem will give you a leg up on everyone else online (or whatever) who might be doing something similar....

The bottom line of what I am saying is to take your experience in college to discover and hone your talents and unique skills, then take your non-academic experience (ex. reading WF, networking, etc) and learn how to monetize them. While your friends in class are just trying to study whatever they think will get them a good job, you'll be using school to hone your talents which you can monetize online. That way if you want to get a job in biochem, great, if not, you will have learned how to monetize your skillset in unique, entrepreneurial ways so you don't have to rely on a "job" as such to live well.....

Just my thoughts....

PS
The one thing many colleges don't teach people to do is monetize their talents. So everyone is rushing for the associate consultant job at McKinsey or BGC, or the analyst job at Citigroup or Goldman (if they'll even be around in a couple of years, who knows). When I get a free moment, I really want to do some volunteer work with my old school on this. If people were taught that they can have multiple streams of income (esp. via the internet) and that the internet provides an amazing way of building a business around doing what they love, boy would there be alot more fulfilled people online.

And not everyone has to be a coder. If you don't like coding, fine maybe you study psychology which helps you write sale content better. Because you know you're good at that, work like hell to make friends with some of the computer science majors at school. Form partnerships. That's the real payoff of college. I've paid for my education 10x over with the relationships - social currency - I was able to acquire. Make it a goal to not leave school without forming relationships with at least 50 people who have ambitious plans in the area of:
-politics
-the arts/entertainment
-business/commerce
-social policy
-international students (great for deals abroad..as an example, I want to get into investing into some .cn domains...and who am I getting to help me out? that's right, my chinese classmate....)

Whatever you may want to do in life, you'll need great contacts in the above areas. If you're going to a reasonably good school, rest assured some of your classmates who are ambitious will be moving and shaking years from now. Develop relationships with those people......


ps...typing fast here excuse any typos

 

[jdomaha]

Lot of crap

Jesus man. Edit that up a bit, put it on a poster and sell it to high schools.

Best advice I've heard for the high school crowd I've seen this week.

 

[ricdes]

1. Study EXACTLY ... yadda yadda

+ repped

 

[Mosleydeaf]

I'm currently a freshmen in college and am having trouble deciding upon a college major. I have thought about many possibilites, and have done research on a lot of careers. Although if there is some nice career websites/ earning salaries/ career outlook whatever I will take a look.

I have though about psychology - too competitive to get into grad school, pseudoscience, have to get a Phd to do anything with it

Thought about computer science - too much math, career outlook is bad, dont want to sit in front of a computer my whole life

thought about political science - not sure what i would do with this

thought about english - travel the world and write about my adventures, dont need a degree to do this, don't want to be involved in acadamia

currently thinking about biochemistry - i want to do environmental science but my college does not offer an undergraduate degree for it, I want to do something with environmental science or hydrology, career outlook is really good, intresting subject, prepared to get a masters. my dad majored in environmental science, not sure if i want to follow in his footsteps or not

any suggestions are appreciated

Well colleges will likely get much more expensive so unless you plan to go the entrepreneurial route you should get a degree to separate yourself from the masses as even a undergraduate degree should become more meaningful. Now while its true that most people don't use what they learned from their majors it does look bad to not have one when competing against candidates that do have one.

There will be tons of opportunity in the biofuel, renewable energy industry in the future, with the kind of funding they are looking at you should be gainfully employed for quite awhile.

Personally I recommend you chose a major you really find fascinating. Don't get concerned with whether it will help you get a future job, because the worst thing you could do is get a major for a field you hate, so you can get a job you hate and then ultimately realize (after wasting years of your life) you want a career change (and who knows, you might not have the financial flexibility to even make such a change). Making the tough choice now will save you a lot of hardship down the road.

 

[zombiezoo]

save your money

 

[riddarhusetgal]

like I said before, anyone who is telling you to 'save your money' is likely broke to begin with. If you spend your time the way that's outlined above you will look back with fondness:
1. Learn what you are good at. This is the only time in life you can hire professionals to help train you to cultivate your core skills
2. Take some business oriented classes which will help you monetize your talents from (1) along with an internship
3. Meet like minded people you will turn to again and again over the course of your life to help meet your goal. These should be people in:
-arts/entertainment
-politics
-business
-social activism
4. Have fun! People will forgive you for stuff you may do in college you'll never be forgiven for before, lol

If you are looking at college only as a way to get a job you are looking at the wrong way. As a college graduate you will have social currency as well. Does this mean you have to go to college - no! The bottom line is when you make your millions or want to sit across the table from a banker it will feel great to know that they can't "talk over you" as the piece of paper he has you have as well. That finance speak he is talking? Guess what you took that same class too...

End of story.....

 

[grim001]

riddar's view is a fantasy; save your money and put it into some affiliate marketing campaigns. once you're wealthy, go to college if it really seems that fun to you, and you want to "get away" with partying and so on. if you need a degree to feel that you're as much of a man as anyone else, you've got problems. anything you can learn in college can be learned 10x faster and better through diligent studying on your own, and for free.

 

[Isostar13]

if you need a degree to feel that you're as much of a man as anyone else, you've got problems. anything you can learn in college can be learned 10x faster and better through diligent studying on your own, and for free.

A very good point. The problem is, society places value on degrees and value on those who hold degrees. There is no doubt that you can learn a ton of information just by spending a few hours a day reading, but no one will ever even give you a chance to prove that. A degree gives you credibility, it proves to people that you can do the work and you can test well and you do actually know something. Its a shame but at the same time a brilliant way of weeding people out in the work world.

 

[grim001]

A very good point. The problem is, society places value on degrees and value on those who hold degrees. There is no doubt that you can learn a ton of information just by spending a few hours a day reading, but no one will ever even give you a chance to prove that. A degree gives you credibility, it proves to people that you can do the work and you can test well and you do actually know something. Its a shame but at the same time a brilliant way of weeding people out in the work world.

To whom do you need to prove something when you are independently wealthy from affiliate marketing?

To whom do you need to prove something when you're an entrepreneur?

The guys who hire college graduates often do not even have degrees.

I am surprised by the number of employee-minded individuals on this forum.

 

[vinny lingo]

riddarhusetgal makes some good points. The most important of which, to me, is:

1. Learn what you are good at. This is the only time in life you can hire professionals to help train you to cultivate your core skills.

I would like to clarify though, that college is not the only time, it is just the time to get the most for your money in this area. You can hire coaches and shit like that. But you won't have so many people competent in such widely varied fields as you find in college.

riddar's view is a fantasy; save your money and put it into some affiliate marketing campaigns. once you're wealthy, go to college if it really seems that fun to you, and you want to "get away" with partying and so on. if you need a degree to feel that you're as much of a man as anyone else, you've got problems. anything you can learn in college can be learned 10x faster and better through diligent studying on your own, and for free.

I didn't go to college. I decided to go out and make my fortune, then go to college if it suited me. The more time that passes, the more I look back on that with a growing twinge of regret. I had every opportunity to attend any college of my choice. I'm strongly considering rectifying that decision.

I agree that self-study is a viable option for learning new skills. I don't believe there's much of anything I would learn in a classroom that I couldn't learn as well or better on my own. But I don't regret choosing self-education. I regret the aspects riddarhusetgal pointed out.

Skipping college, I felt I had to choose something (and fast) in order to start making money. If I had gone to college, I could have dabbled in several areas before settling down into one thing. I have changed course many times, but there wasn't any cushion doing it on my own like there would have been in a college environment.

So yeah. For me, I would go to college if I were in your shoes. Don't fret too much about your major, because it will probably change before you're done.

 

[Isostar13]

To whom do you need to prove something when you are independently wealthy from affiliate marketing?

To whom do you need to prove something when you're an entrepreneur?

The guys who hire college graduates often do not even have degrees.

I am surprised by the number of employee-minded individuals on this forum.

To my boss.

To the people who hired me to work my day job.

I wouldn't work for anyone who didn't have multiple degrees.

I am an employee - just make extra G's in my spare time, at night.

 

[grim001]

To my boss.

If you want to be an employee (and make money) you probably need a degree. Some people prefer being employees for various reasons. Too often, though, people consider being an employee and going to college to be their only option in life.

I just want people to recognize that if they intend to be an affiliate marketer or other kind of entrepreneur, a college degree can be a huge waste of time and money. College is the path toward being an employee. It is of little use to those who don't want to be employees.

Some people claim to learn a lot from college, but honestly: if you learn a lot from college, you probably weren't smart enough to be an entrepreneur to begin with. I've been there and I've seen how pathetic "education" is. I can get a more thorough understanding of most topics reading Wikipedia than sitting in a college classroom.

 

[IronLogik]

engineering

 

[Isostar13]

I just want people to recognize that if they intend to be an affiliate marketer or other kind of entrepreneur, a college degree can be a huge waste of time and money. College is the path toward being an employee. It is of little use to those who don't want to be employees.

Some people claim to learn a lot from college, but honestly: if you learn a lot from college, you probably weren't smart enough to be an entrepreneur to begin with. I've been there and I've seen how pathetic "education" is. I can get a more thorough understanding of most topics reading Wikipedia than sitting in a college classroom.

That's good advice. Its always good to consider an alternative career/life path and what it takes to get there. One thing to remember is most entrepreneurs (obviously not in affiliate marketing) will need at least some credibility to receive necessary venture capital backing. Granted, there are VC's out there that will fund a start up they believe in, regardless of the degrees/educational background of the founders, but there are many who will not.

I think your critique of education, however, is somewhat unfounded and likely as biased in one direction as mine is in the opposite. Regardless, there is no denying that college gets people to think. A lot of entrepreneurs discover their true calling while attending college. It brings together many great minds from around the world and enables a flow and conversation of ideas that you just don't get from wikipedia or wickedfire. You can read all day on wikipedia and be an excellent conversationalist but outside of the aff.marketing world, that will only get you so far, save the rare exceptions.

 

[egreenie]

There are some solid pieces of advice here, and some absolute rubbish, which compels me to put my 2 cents in.

If you want to go to college, go for it. While it's no guarantee of x amount of income or success, it's still an insurance policy for your future.

If you have the financial means and the time, it's a good decision. Experience/practical knowledge is also an essential part of getting hired, so the combo of degree and some actual work in the area is really the only way to go, IMAO. No one knows exactly what is going to happen in the next few years economically, and those that are shunning college now could be up shit creek if the interweb monies dry up for a while and they don't have anything to fall back on.

I know some will say, "That's not going to happen to me!" Well, you really just don't know. After 5 years of college, I hung it up and started my own business, which lead to starting another business that ended up being wildly successful. I was the VP of the corporation, and I had almost 10 years of business experience and knowledge under my belt when shit happened and I ended up leaving the business. I had to get back out there and find a job, and I quickly learned that I was at a serious disadvantage. Even with the knowledge and skills I had developed, I couldn't get through the door at most places without that sacred piece of paper, and I had to take something that was well below my abilities and far less than I was making before. If you ask me, I'm smarter and more creative than the average bear, I'm not painful to look at, and none of that meant shit when I was trying to get a job in the "outside" world.

As far as your major goes, if you don't know what you want to do when you get out of school, DON'T RANDOMLY DECIDE YOUR MAJOR! You have a long road of required courses ahead of you (English 101, 102, Science, Math....), and you will spend a couple years taking those classes even if you knew exactly what your major will be. The worst thing you can do is pick a major out of a hat, start taking specialized classes, then figure out you want a different major, and have to start over again. Worse yet, if you transfer schools, many of those classes may not transfer (even from major university to university). Ask me how I know.

Also, there is no shame in taking these required (lower division) classes at a community college. No sense in paying a god awful amount of money at a U of whatever when you can pay a lot less for the same classes. It looks the same on your transcript either way and saves you tons of $

I do agree that unless you are going into a specialized field (accounting, lawyer, doctor...), the value of college is quite limited, and don't expect to actually learn much. It also won't matter a hell of a lot which degree you get if you are not specializing, as many HR departments just want to see that you have a degree. Most of my friends in HS (and myself) went in to the fine arts area in college. Guess how many of us are working in our field? Zero.

Lastly, let us not forget that President Buckethead is charging ahead with his plan to demand that every young'un have a college education. This will very quickly diminish the value of a college education and make a college degree worth very little in the job market, but employers will expect that degree even more than they do now. It will become the equivalent of what graduating from HS is now - the absolute minimum standard for almost any type of employment.

 

[grim001]

One thing to remember is most entrepreneurs (obviously not in affiliate marketing) will need at least some credibility to receive necessary venture capital backing.

The myth of venture capital continues to vex those who consider becoming an entrepreneur...

Venture capitalists are by far the least likely way to get any sort of funding for a new business. Venture capital funds are involved in an extremely small percentage of start-ups. They provide large sums of money to established businessmen who are creating big companies with big plans. They often demand partial control over the business, as well. They are not for someone who is choosing between entrepreneurship and college.

Also, there is no such thing as necessary venture capital. Affiliate marketing is not the only business in the world that has a low entry cost. There are a multitude of ways to fund a small business, such as taking personal loans from friends or family, bank loans, and credit cards. The experience and profit from a smaller venture can provide everything necessary to get started on a larger operation. You will be far more prepared than any business graduate at that point.

I think your critique of education, however, is somewhat unfounded and likely as biased in one direction as mine is in the opposite. Regardless, there is no denying that college gets people to think.

Granted, for the average person, college will teach them quite a bit. Entrepreneurship is not for the average person. Successful entrepreneurs are generally smart enough that they learn very little from college. The successful entrepreneur will always be thinking without a teacher prodding them to do so. In fact, their thinking process will only be hindered by the slow and regimented pace of a classroom. College will only slow their personal, intellectual, and professional development.

A lot of entrepreneurs discover their true calling while attending college.

People who feel that they have not yet discovered their "true calling" aren't ready to be entrepreneurs yet. Even so, they could get a lot more experience out of life without something as boring as college classes and homework dominating their schedule. The best way to discover what you want out of life is to live it, not to hide away in some dorm room doing irrelevant paperwork (with the occasional break to have drinks/drugs/sex) for four to six years.

It brings together many great minds from around the world and enables a flow and conversation of ideas that you just don't get from wikipedia or wickedfire.

What kind of imaginary college are you thinking of that brings together "great minds from around the world?" Your perception of college in general is tied up with a fantasy related to elite Ivy League colleges. So few people attend those colleges that they are nearly irrelevant when having a discussion about the general merits of college, but let's have at it anyway.

Ivy league colleges do not do something as mystical as "bringing together the greatest minds in the world" or "enabling a flow of conversation and ideas that can't be found anywhere else." They might get some interesting guest speakers, but you aren't going to be having one-on-one conversations with those guys. Transcripts of such speeches are available publicly. They are filled with a bunch of trite aphorisms and personal anecdotes. And many of said guest speakers never attended college because they had something better to do.

Other students attending college are as clueless about the real world as you are. The teachers are double-clueless, having spend their entire career regurgitating academia and rarely having any real world experience in the field that they are teaching.

The manifest advantages that Ivy League graduates have in lifetime income and achievement levels is due mainly to five things:
1.) They tend to come from wealthy families to begin with.
2.) They tend to already be much more intelligent than average.
3.) They tend to already be much more ambitious than average.
4.) They tend to have that existing ambition fueled even further by having such a presigeous degree.
5.) They tend to meet at least a few people during their college years that will provide them with insider connections in their industry of choice.

The advantages are most definately not due to some mystical educational secrets that only Ivy League graduates are privy to. The only one of those advantages that is in the least bit legitmate is networking. If you believe that this advantage alone is enough to justify 6+ years and $100,000+ of expenses, that is pitiable. People can succeed on their own merits without having to rely on buddies on the inside.

Forums and online communication are incredibly excellent ways to communicate with professionals and skilled individuals. Look at wickedfire. If some hack-job of an "affiliate marketing degree" were ever assembled, it would only contain 2% of the collective wisdom of these forums, and none of the "educators" would have half as much of a clue as the pros that post here every day answering questions. The same applies to many fields.

You can read all day on wikipedia and be an excellent conversationalist but outside of the aff.marketing world, that will only get you so far,

Strawman much? Clearly, anyone who doesn't go to college uses wikipedia as their sole source of self-education. The appearance of smarts is merely due to glib conversational skills.

save the rare exceptions.

What is a rare exception to you? Do you believe that one's fate is controlled by statistics? Do you believe that those that are successful are merely lucky? The rare exception is the man who can see through all of the bullshit, takes the straightest line to victory, and has the guts and the smarts to back it up.