What should I major in?

[LeoXiao]

Hi all,

I want to study Chinese as my major (whilst learning other languages), but I feel that it isn't a good idea to only major in a language, so I want to double major in Chinese along with something else.
My question as follows is pretty simple; what other subject should I study?

I've never been very good and math or hard science, so something in those fields is probably out of the question, even though accounting has been suggested to me several times. My interests lie more in languages and social sciences.

I've been thinking about psychology as a possibility, but read a lot about how it's the major that you choose when you don't know what to choose. I wonder if this is true, as well as how intertwined psychology is with math and hard sciences.

So, other than something that involves tons of math or science (I can deal with a bit of it, just not have my life revolve around it) can someone who knows a bit about educational paths make a case for a field in addition to Chinese that I should go into?

PS: I'm going to college in the US

[InstrumentalityOne]

International Relations/International Studies maybe?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations

[Killer Bee]

Evangelionomics.

Some day it may save your life.

[Allemann]

Linguistics!

[BornIn1142]

I've been thinking about psychology as a possibility, but read a lot about how it's the major that you choose when you don't know what to choose. I wonder if this is true, as well as how intertwined psychology is with math and hard sciences.

It's a little hard to say whether a perception as vague as "people who don't know what to pick pick psychology" is true or not. It is pretty popular though.

Personally, picked psychology because it's what I wanted to study. I'm generally pretty horrible at math and hard sciences, but I've managed perfectly fine so far, over the first two years. They come up some, but not a whole lot. My course, at least, involves studying some basic statistics, but the mathematics component is really minimal, limited to calculating means and medians, etc. There's also biology. Of course, I imagine this may vary between different universities.

[KnightmareX13]

Business

[LeoXiao]

International Relations/International Studies maybe?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_relations

That may not be a bad idea. What do you have to do for it (is it super difficult/time consuming?) and what kind of jobs can you get out of it?

Personally, picked psychology because it's what I wanted to study. I'm generally pretty horrible at math and hard sciences, but I've managed perfectly fine so far, over the first two years. They come up some, but not a whole lot. My course, at least, involves studying some basic statistics, but the mathematics component is really minimal, limited to calculating means and medians, etc. There's also biology. Of course, I imagine this may vary between different universities.

I guess that amount of math/bio wouldn't kill me. I'm just unsure as to the practically of it all, in relation to finding jobs and stuff.

[BornIn1142]

I guess that amount of math/bio wouldn't kill me. I'm just unsure as to the practically of it all, in relation to finding jobs and stuff.

Don't have a clue about that.

[InstrumentalityOne]

That may not be a bad idea. What do you have to do for it (is it super difficult/time consuming?)

I think that that´s a given

and what kind of jobs can you get out of it?

Interpreter, Diplomat(?) and stuff like that, I think.

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[NemZ]

A course of study is just collected skill set, a means to an end, and a language major is probably the vaguest possible choice as it indicates the sort of people you should interact with but not what you can do for them. You should decide what kind of career you actually are looking for (look at fields that interest you, not just a single specific job) before declaring anything.

I strongly suggest you focus on core classes for the first couple years of college and take some introductory courses in things that seem to have potential. After you've had a few different tastes of what's out there you'll have a better idea of what direction you really want to go. You have to have a number of electives anyway, so it's not like those course hours will be wasted.

[Xard]

Field of N.E.E.T. Studies sounds like it would suit you! :)

become a sociologist like our dear old doggy...or was he a law student.

[symbv]

Field of N.E.E.T. Studies sounds like it would suit you! :)

Or you? Actually I thought it was a thread started by you Xard

Seriously, besides international relationship, I could think of the following to go with Chinese major (not much maths)

- History (Chinese history is interesting, at least to me)
- Geography (physical geography is a hard science though)
- Business

Economy would have fair amount of maths.

And Nemz's post above provided some very good advice on the approach...

[Sailor Star Dust]

Follow NemZ's advice for now if you can, it's the safest route to go until you have a better understanding of what works for you.

[drinian]

In addition to NemZ's advice, you should really be looking through your university's course catalog and comparing the requirements of each major, not to mention the departmental websites. You should know the departmental strengths and weaknesses of your university as well, to make the most of your time there. Maybe even have a professor in mind that you would like as an advisor.

[NemZ]

...or you could do what I actually did, if you really want to:

• Pick a major based on a single magazine article you read.
  
• Go to first college that accepts you without checking out their program.
  
• Surprise! It sucks.
  
• Hate it but stick it out anyway, growing bitterer by the day.
  
• Nearly be kicked out for drunken idiocy because you eventually just stop giving a shit.
  
• Change schools, finish associates degree with transfer credits.
  
• Learn that an associates degree that isn't in a technical field is basically worthless on it's own.
  
• Work retail for a year, hating that too.
  
• Go back to school with a completely unrelated major.
  
• Completely fail to keep track of deadlines to get into certification program, waste a semester taking random crap.
  
• Enjoy random crap, add it as a second major with absolutely no intention of actually putting it to any practical use besides arguing on the internet.
  
• Get into some bullshit drama right before graduation with your sponsor who tells you you aren't cut out for this job and end up with zero useful references.
  
• Work in field of your major for a few years.
  
• Realize you don't really like it and aren't all that good at it, like that asshole told you years ago.
  
• Be pissy that nobody told you that before you ran up a mountain of student loans.
  
• Enjoy your depression!
  
• Realize that the problem with original major was the stupid program and your own immaturity/idiocy at the time, not the field itself.
  
• Take a few classes online
  
• Do what you first started out wanting to do more than a decade ago.

I wouldn't recommend it though... seems like quite a lot of needless bother.

[Uriel Septim VII]

If you plan on going to graduate school, then probably just consider what it is you like, because it's going to be difficult investing much of your time in something you are indifferent to. If you don't plan on a terminal degree, get something most would label practical.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Since we're apparently posting stories of college paths, here's what happened to me:

~Went to a community college (2 year), started things off by taking GE and prerequisite classes.
~After the first year or two of doing that, I focused on the Major/career path I decided on. That was another 2 years. (Each quarter I took 12 units (full load) which was all I could really handle anyway.)
~After 4 hard years (2004-2008), received my AA degree in my Major (Liberal Arts with a Teaching Emphasis).
~Transferred to a 4 year University to focus on my Major, but after only one semester of being there, I was forced by my parents to stop going. (I was so stressed out there, I failed all my classes.) I wasn't happy with the Major I chose and my parents didn't allow me to change my Major, plus some other stupid ultimatums (financial for instance).
~Afterwards, I volunteered for a year or so to gain some retail experience since that's the time the economy started going to shit (2009 since 1 semester=2 quarters) and unless you already had a job, places weren't hiring. The job experience part worked out nicely at least.
~Currently waiting for something to pop up job-wise but I kind of have some side projects in the meantime.

Actually, something good to keep in mind is changing your major--just like changing careers--supposedly tends to happen 2-4 times throughout a person's lifetime. So don't worry too much if what you thought was an ideal career choice doesn't work out in the end for you for whatever reason.

[child of Lilith]

You should major in whatever interests you and you show an aptitude for.

[The Abhorrent]

So, other than something that involves tons of math or science (I can deal with a bit of it, just not have my life revolve around it) can someone who knows a bit about educational paths make a case for a field in addition to Chinese that I should go into?

Arts not really my primary interest (studying civil engineering, so pretty much the end of the spectrum you're trying to avoid), but I would suggest trying to focus on something with a tie-in to the Chinese language (or perhaps other languages). Just to mention a few ideas:

Sociology -- I've taken a couple courses in the subject (complementary studies), and it's quite interesting. Fairly easy to get into, but deceptively complex at times. Since it's the study of people in society, language couple play a rather large role here. Occasionally annoying with the excessive use of it's own terminology, as it can be unnecessary because another word or phrase (quite often more clear & concise) already fits the definition.

History -- Seeing how languages evolved over the centuries, and sometimes the origin of various idioms. Not to mention history can be interesting by itself.

Business -- With China becoming even more of a major player in the world economy, knowing the language (and culture) would be an asset. Some universities offer specialized programs in International Trade (or even those focused on trade with nations around the Pacific Rim).


Note: Every program will require taking some courses you don't like.

There's no real way around this, but there's always some sort of requirement for courses that you're going to end up hating. Sometimes you may not even realize which course it is until you take it, and more than likely it will be a compulsory course in your post-secondary program.

Just as an example, I had to take several courses in numerical analysis (basically how to translate real world data into usable information on a computer, and it involved using Excel a lot). Needless to say, they're more than a little boring. But they're necessary, because the number of variables involved in engineering means analyzing anything by hand would take forever. This comes moreso into play for water resource engineering (pipe networks and such) than the other subjects, but it still has it's uses.

Of course, some of the introductory courses I've taken seem rather trivial now. Then again, just about everything I've learned in a previous course has ended up being integrated into a later one. Linear Algebra (with all its matrices) seems to be a bit of a dead end to start with, but those eigenvalues and eigenvectors reappeared in the last numerical analysis course. I wouldn't be surprised if some other programs did something similar.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

NemZ had the basics down, but as far as specific areas of study, I would seriously look at the following:

1) Agricultural science

why? because arable land is likely to become as rare and valuable as gold and oil due to the MASSIVE populations in China and India, and knowing how to squeeze as much crop yield as possible is going to become like owning a mint over the next few decades

2) Geology, with emphasis on mining geology and petroleum geology

why? again, the long-term demand of natural resources from developing countries like China, India, etc.

3) Environmental engineering

why? in this case, it is the management of natural resources, but I would emphasis the part about WATER and obtaining it and keeping it potable, that stuff may become like oil is now in terms of a commodity and political football, just look at how Japan got hit by several natural disasters and how clean water got scarce, or some of the political wrangling over it in the Western US or Georgia/Tennessee

4) Basic knowledge of Mandarin and Spanish languages

why? because while Anglophones have the upper hand in international commerce today, that is likely to change over time for geopolitical and socio-political reasons that would take too long to explain and make some people upset, but needless to say, you will be more likely to find more work with firms if you have usable knowledge of said languages

just look around the world and see what people will absolutely, positively NEED over the next decade or two to the point they would practically kill each other over it for basic survival, and you'll understand what I mean with these recommendations of mine

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