What did you major in in college? What would you major in now if you could do it over again?

Undergrad computer science 1999, lots of jobs at graduation, kinda dried up there after that whole tech bubble. MBA 2003, now I work on wall street. Well ' work' is a bit of an exaggeration, I spend most of my hours in the office surfing the web, at the gym or out running, or in a local pub.

I was a history major. I wanted to be a professor, but read a few articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education and similar publications and decided not to risk entering the atrocious academic job market. I went to law school instead. It's so-so, I suppose.

I almost majored in math undergrad, just because I enjoyed it a lot in high school and was good at it. I sort of wish I had done that now. I had thought I was a literary type - turns out I'm not (or at least not now, I might have changed)!

I also majored in biomedical engineering. I loved it.

My only beef with it is that, like any engineering major, it was 100% science and didn't really allow for non-science thinking/growth. I would've loved to have taken creative writing classes, critical thinking classes, etc - courses that supported a wholistic education (not the standard brainless humanities 101 classes, though) - in addition to all my science. I deinitely think that kind of approach creates a more intelligent graduate than JUST shoving science down the student's throat for 4 years.

Instead, I've honed my creative writing skills (critical thinking, not so much) by trolling Letsrun d@mn near every day for the past four years.

Mass Comm with a focus in TV and Radio production. Did that for a couple years, but it is tough to get experience in a major market and I wasn't willing to move.

Ended up going to Law School, now work in Medicare Compliance. My major was interesting and I got to do something I did enjoy for a couple years, but looking back I should have done something in Business Administration or something that would benefit me. Still I was a lot different of a person when I was in college, never figured I would ever work in an office

College is a scam. Suckers!!

Blueberry Cake Donuts = Yummy wrote:

Instead, I've honed my creative writing skills (critical thinking, not so much) by trolling Letsrun d@mn near every day for the past four years.

Funny you mention that because my freshman year I took writing classes (they were required to graduate at my first school). My prof first semester was pretty laid-back and had a good sense of humor. He had us write on interesting topics but gave us a lot of leeway in how we approached them. He told me after each essay that I was a great writer and that I should continue writing to keep the skill. I had to laugh because 95% of the writing I'd done before that was on letsrun (I troll here daily under random handles). I learned spelling and grammar from school. I learned how to write from letsrun.

Guppy wrote:

Blueberry Cake Donuts = Yummy wrote:

Instead, I've honed my creative writing skills (critical thinking, not so much) by trolling Letsrun d@mn near every day for the past four years.

Funny you mention that because my freshman year I took writing classes (they were required to graduate at my first school). My prof first semester was pretty laid-back and had a good sense of humor. He had us write on interesting topics but gave us a lot of leeway in how we approached them. He told me after each essay that I was a great writer and that I should continue writing to keep the skill. I had to laugh because 95% of the writing I'd done before that was on letsrun (I troll here daily under random handles). I learned spelling and grammar from school. I learned how to write from letsrun.

We are brothers, you and me. Brothers from different mothers. I've never been a terrible writer, but trolling these boards has really crafted my... skill (?).

Do you mind owning up to some of your troll threads?

Blueberry Cake Donuts = Yummy wrote:

My only beef with it is that, like any engineering major, it was 100% science and didn't really allow for non-science thinking/growth. I would've loved to have taken creative writing classes, critical thinking classes, etc - courses that supported a wholistic education (not the standard brainless humanities 101 classes, though) - in addition to all my science. I deinitely think that kind of approach creates a more intelligent graduate than JUST shoving science down the student's throat for 4 years.

You had all the opportunity in the world to take non-science classes. They might not have been required for your degree, but no one was stopping you from taking those classes. You have a biomedical engineering degree, but it sounds like you didn't learn a thing in college.

I was a Pre-Med and Art History/Archeology major in college and obtained several advanced academic degrees post-graduation. I am currently contemplating going back to school for an MBA degree and/or just take classes for fun.

I wouldn't modify my academic or career path in the slightest.

What is it with all these useless political science majors? Did you actually want a job?

waste of time wrote:

What is it with all these useless political science majors? Did you actually want a job?

I guess it's about time for the engineering circle jerk?

Double major English and Biology

do-over would be Economics

Majored in geology. Getting my masters in geology. Best decision ever.

Majored in economics. Should have majored in economics and physics.

Undergrad: started a double major in biology and anthropology, but dropped the bio 2/3 of the way through.

Do-over--finished the biology or transfered to a school with a natural resources program.

Post grad: went to 1.5 years of school in natural resources and jumped into M.S. program (natural resources/ecology).

Five years later went for Ph.D.

Do-over: not gone for Ph.D. (wildlife biology); had an interesting project but it was not well funded and I finished the last year on my own. Did not lead to better job opportunities.

WTF MFr wrote:

You had all the opportunity in the world to take non-science classes. They might not have been required for your degree, but no one was stopping you from taking those classes. You have a biomedical engineering degree, but it sounds like you didn't learn a thing in college.

What the hell. Who are you? I had all the time in the world?

There wasn't a single semester where I had less than 18 hours of almost all difficult courses. I had a scholarship, so I had to fit all my hours into four years of school lest I end having to pay for an extra semester of college.

No, there wasn't time to take those classes. What do you know? What did you study in school? What school did you go to? Did you even go to school? Did mommy and daddy pay for your liberal arts degree?

I was a senior-year shift to an econ major (only one class prior to the beginning of my fourth year although I had lots of math and upper division stuff, such as Philosophy of Science).

I would do it again because it was intuitively obvious to me in many cases as an undergrad and even some of grad school. Biggest problem is that I did not have the right background/preparation for dissertation so it took a while.

Alright, man, it's not THAT hard. I was a Mechanical engineer, never took more than 16 credits (usually 15), and graduated in 4 years with 20 more credits than I needed (AP credits). Somehow there was time in there for 4 semesters of German, too.

18*8 semesters = 144 credits. How many credits do you need, 120 or so?

Summer school maybe? Independent study?