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Major Upheaval of...Majors...
Mim
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dead.Registered User regular
Even though I pop into a lot of English Major Dilemma threads, I am now having a crisis of my own.
All my life I have been told that I am a good writer. Teachers have written in my year books that they are interested in seeing me publish a book one day and friends and family have all seen me solely as a writer. While I know there are many careers that I can choose from with a BA in English (teaching, journalism, advertising, public relations, editing, etc) there is one minor problem.
While all these jobs are great for English majors, you are pretty much required to form social connections to really get any where in those fields. I am very anti-social though and the last thing I want to do is teach. It's not that I don't like people, I just have a hard time say anything to anyone and I'm particularly shy and not very sure when or how to say something to people and not kick myself later.
I like to draw, I like video games, but I don't think I'd excel in those areas in school or be able to do them as real careers.
Law is ok, but I have been interested in med school for awhile. The only problem I have with both fields is that I want to have a family one day of four kids and I'd like to be able to spend time with them and not be a distant mom. I don't think these fields would allow me to really be able to have a family. Nor am I particularly good with math, but sciences like biology I can excel in given that I put a fire under my ass.
Frankly I'm at a loss. I don't want to spend too much time in school because I'd like to start a family, but I'd like to support said family with a well paying job. Should I stick the route I am currently on (English with a hope of being a senior PR manager with a big check in the future) and work on being social, or is there really a way to be a doctor and have the kind of family life I want to have?
I'm also trying to pick a good minor. I've been thinking about Japanese or Psychology. But I'm not sure what way I can make those into careers. I know business is always suggested, but what else works?
All my life I have been told that I am a good writer. Teachers have written in my year books that they are interested in seeing me publish a book one day and friends and family have all seen me solely as a writer. While I know there are many careers that I can choose from with a BA in English (teaching, journalism, advertising, public relations, editing, etc) there is one minor problem.
While all these jobs are great for English majors, you are pretty much required to form social connections to really get any where in those fields. I am very anti-social though and the last thing I want to do is teach. It's not that I don't like people, I just have a hard time say anything to anyone and I'm particularly shy and not very sure when or how to say something to people and not kick myself later.
I like to draw, I like video games, but I don't think I'd excel in those areas in school or be able to do them as real careers.
Law is ok, but I have been interested in med school for awhile. The only problem I have with both fields is that I want to have a family one day of four kids and I'd like to be able to spend time with them and not be a distant mom. I don't think these fields would allow me to really be able to have a family. Nor am I particularly good with math, but sciences like biology I can excel in given that I put a fire under my ass.
Frankly I'm at a loss. I don't want to spend too much time in school because I'd like to start a family, but I'd like to support said family with a well paying job. Should I stick the route I am currently on (English with a hope of being a senior PR manager with a big check in the future) and work on being social, or is there really a way to be a doctor and have the kind of family life I want to have?
I'm also trying to pick a good minor. I've been thinking about Japanese or Psychology. But I'm not sure what way I can make those into careers. I know business is always suggested, but what else works?
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These are quite a few questions to ask on an internet forum, so.. for starters, how old are you?
Uh...
Well, I can help you out with the minor! A minor in Japanese/Any language usually isn't worth the trouble of taking whatever classes make it a minor instead of just some language classes, because nobody cares whether you minored in it or not as long as you can speak the language.
Things like starting a family tend to work out on their own. Contrary to popular belief you can meet someone and get married and start a family and go to school all at the same time.
Sorry, I was trying to write a lot but not bog the OP down.
I'm 20, and I have friends and a boyfriend. Maybe anti-social shouldn't have been the word, I can talk to people but it takes me awhile to get around to really being able to talk to people. I'm shy but I don't purposely try to avoid people.
I don't mind working too much but spending 24 hours at my job isn't what I would like to do. I don't mind a job talking to people (hence why I chose PR at first) and I have other interests, but normally when asked on the forums I notice that people are asks "What are your interests" and I just wanted to put the ones down that I would be interested in majoring in but wouldn't be comfortable for me because I feel I would lack the abilities to get well paying jobs in those fields.
I'll try to make this more...hmm...easy. I guess I'll go with the three off the top of my head that I want answered at the moment:
Is there a way to be more sociable so that if I do stick with English so I could get jobs with my major?
Is it hard to double major?
Can you be in med school and still have a family?
Do this. even if you do somthing else, it is much easier to move up if you can relate to your coworkers and boss.
allow me to refer you to this quote
Besides, what guy do you know that decides the exact number of kids he wants?
but they're listening to every word I say
I'm sure. I don't know anything specific though. Just make a real effort to do it.
No.
Probably not.
but they're listening to every word I say
So would psychology and English be a good combo? Or would psych be a better minor? I picked Japanese originally to be a minor because I would like to be a PR manager for a video game company and I know they probably work a lot with Japanese sister companies so I figured it'd help the job.
How many credits are english and psychology majors? How are they compared to the minors?
I guess english and psychology would be alright. Nothing spectacular though. You write with psychology jobs, but psychology does not really do anything for english.
but they're listening to every word I say
However, you can apply to med school with ANY major as long as you do the pre-reqs. If you aren't gung-ho about becoming a physician you can have a pretty solid backup by choosing a useful major.
I also second the recommendations not to worry about the family stuff too much, there are a ton of things that can happen with that to base your life around.
I've heard about library science but can't you work in a library without having a degree in it? What exactly does it teach? Is it a frequently hiring job position? How much does it pay?
My sister is a librarian and had to get her master's to pursue a job in the field. My impression is that it's quite competitive. She also doesn't get paid much.
"I want to have a good job, but English isn't a vocational major, and now I don't know my career path." This isn't really a discussion about majors at all.
First off: You don't do vocational majors because you think there's money in it. Many people try. These people also fail, because they have no passion for it at uni, let alone for the rest of their life. Stick with English.
What you need to do, instead of feeling aimless about your major, is to work out your career field. You have wishy-washy life goals. If you can distill those down some more, then you can begin formulating a plan of action. Until that point, you will continue to feel lost about the next step, because you aren't even sure which direction you want to be going in. Once you know what the next step from your degree is, you'll feel better.
It might well need you to start networking with companies you might want to work with now. I know how much importance the US puts on internships. Do one.
I'm afraid you're going to have to learn now that:
Networking = Jobs
If you choose to feel yourself as anti-social, which you will then execute unfailingly, you aren't going to get a job, regardless of what you do. You can't even be a writer: you'll never get published without having contacts you can work at the publisher.
Talk to your school's career guidance people. This is exactly the sort of thing they are there for. Many, many people have the same feelings as you, but they aren't going to go away without serious thought and consideration. Careers people will be able to help you think things through and educate you on possibilities. They may even have have networking contacts in various companies with (usually ex-alumni), that you can then get in touch with.
DO NOT GO INTO MEDICINE.
It is a fucking mess right now in the US. You will have no life, and with the mountain of debt you will accumulate, you will have no money either. The average medical student these days graduates with $150,000 in debt. The good old days of doctors making bundles of cash are long gone. Adjusted for inflation doctors today make 9% less than they did 10 years ago. What other field do you know where 10 years of doing the same thing gets you LESS money? In the same time the costs of practice (overhead, staff salaries etc) have gone up about 30%. Do the math.
And the people wonder why there is a looming shortage of doctors. Duh. It ain't rocket surgery.
If you want a job at a large library, a university library or a position that has room for advancement you need a degree in library science. It's also a very, very competitive field.
I got my degree in English and quickly found out there were squat opportunities where I'm at outside of some minor publishing things. If you like to write, I would suggest going for your Masters as well, and then even on to Masters of Fine Arts, as you can then teach writing and write at the same time.
There really is no perfect way to set yourself up with a degree, job, and then pop out some kids. It happens, and you learn how to deal with it.
Go into medicine only if you truly care about assisting others and yes, are able to work some high hour weeks. As far as not making as much money... maybe on a national level, but I know docs who are making 500-700k + annually. It may just be a matter of specializing. I wouldn't advise starting a family in the heat of it all.
Are you set on starting a family right after undergrad?
One thing you might consider is trying out an internship or waiting a year or two after school to start your family to see what your work life balance might be like as well as your income.
Anyway, to keep on topic, you asked about doing Psychology and English together. I just finished a Psychology degree and I personally wouldn't say that the two courses go together like a lot of people would hope. Psychology is more of a science, very research based, and unfortunately the writing parts of it completely suck away any creativity. Since you say you like writing so much, you might hate how there's a specific writing style that you HAVE to use in order to get published.
On the other hand, if you're really not sure what to go into, English and Psychology are two courses that would give you a really broad range of skills and ideas, and you could pretty much go into anything from them,.
Librarians have far more responsibilities as that. The easiest way to think about them is Information Managers. As well as worrying about the books, they have to formulate disaster plans, backups, think about how information is disseminated (a librarian friend of mine works almost exclusively researching online collaboration), work with councils/universities on how the information they have can benefit elsewhere.
The guys you see at the desk are like the same guy you see at the checkout at the supermarket, you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
The reason why it is such a competitive field is that there are very few jobs chased by a fair number of liberal arts majors. It requires in-depth knowledge of the science involved (which is why you need a Masters), and usually you need to have a very strong handle of an academic field that you can specialise in.
One thing to be careful about here, it all depends on what you do in order to make money like that, regardless of your major. For example, MBA's tend to (on average) make more money than many PH.Ds and such according to a google search and (I think) wikipedia. That's based upon those who actually report salaries, but it's just a note (and also does not compare medical school based salaries). Be careful of anecdotal evidence is all.
Sure, doing anything inculding coming up with the next post-it note with a high school diploma could net you that kind of money, but we should be careful in giving advice like this to people when giving them a statistical average would be much more useful.
OP, I recommend you find something you enjoy, but I highly recommend you find out what it is you will be doing in whatever major or career you are pursuing since you still have time to do so now. I'd look for chances to job shadow, intern/temp or sit down with graduates from your college who graduated in your field so you can find out what they are doing now and how they got there. They may have some very useful and current advice on what you may end up doing and/or how to get where you want to be.
When I was still in college, I was able to connect to graduates in my field through both the career resources center and my head professor of my field.
Good luck in whatever you do.
I know only one field of medicine that makes 500k+ and that is neurosurgery. Any other kind of doctor claiming that kind of income is doing something illegal, unethical, or both.
As for neurosurgeons: 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, a couple of years in transitional internship or research, then 7 or 8 years of 100 hour workweeks in a newurosurgery residency. By this time your educational debt has ballooned to twice what it was, you are past the prime of your life and have had everything literally sucked out of you. If that sounds like your cup of tea, go for it.
Oh and as for the saintly little angels that go into medicine to 'help people'. I have yet to meet one of them. Yes, even I was an idealist when in medical school, all starry eyed and wanting to do the right thing, but the real world of medicine is so rotten on the inside we are all jaded and cynical. And when you have mortgages, kids and piles of debt, you really want to help yourself first before moving on to helping people. Physicial heal thyself and all that crap.
A field like Dermatology, Physical Therapy, Ear/Nose/Throat, or Plastic Surgery you can develop into a practice where your hours are somewhat controllable since these are often either elective or have procedures that can be scheduled in advance. These fields have become increasingly competitive because the hours can be more controllable. Fields where you're likely to get some nutty hours (usually due to emergency issues): anaesthesiology, surgery, diagnostics (Radiology), pediatrics, oncology, cardiology, obstetrics and gynaecology. It might sound crazy, but E.R. medicine can have more reasonable hours than other specialties, since E.R. doctors often work shifts (though regular oncalls are still likely throughout internship and residency). The pay isn't great though.
Nursing is a good field to get into, pretty good pay, and the job is still in high demand. Less schooling required than an M.D., and less liability.
<working and children>
When the baby comes plan to be down 2-4 weeks minimum, and that's hurrying baby onto the bottle and assumes you have someone to take care of baby once you're back at work. It's insane how much time a new baby consumes; it is almost impossible to multi-task whilst taking care of a newborn, especially the mother since she's the sole source of nutrition (on average every 3 hours) for the baby until the transition to bottle-feeding. So don't try to plot out your career and inject scheduled babies (cause they likely won't come on schedule anyways), just go down your career path and when you get pregnant deal with it then. Though when applying for job positions, internships, residencies, etc, I'd keep the family-planning info on the low-down.
I'd think it would be very difficult for an expecting mother to birth and raise a child during medical school or law school, at least for the 2-4 weeks during the birthing and newborn stages. There is just so much time consumed by studying, reading, attenting classes, and doing rotations or mock trials; that said, most graduate schools can assist with the child care (either in a stipend, housing subsidy, child-care services).
<path to employment>
You need to get over your Socializing issue. There's no practice, just get out there and do it; attend group meeting and social events and force yourself to talk to people. This is even more important if you're not following a well-plotted path to a terminal degree in the hard sciences (chemistry, engineering, math, physics) or a J.D. or M.D.. If your degree is in the Arts, your highest probable path towards getting a job quick out of school is your network of contacts: student employment assistance center, field-of-study-related groups/organizations, honors societies, relationships with professors, greek system, and circle of friends.
What you actually Minor in is of little importance w/r/to making you more employable. Having a secondary interest in which you pursue a minor may expose you to programs, professors, colleagues, and other contacts that might be an avenue to a job though.
I think there is an underserved need for writers who convert technical/jargon-rich information into material more appropriate for mass consumption. Manuals or technical documentation are a current example, but I see a growing need for "translating" legal, medical, financial, and technical services related materials. To do that successfully, however, you need to have a thorough understanding of the technical field you're de-jargonizing.
As for the degree, do English. It sounds like what you really want to do. On a more general note, what is up with making people do a four-year bachelors before taking medicine? Here in the UK you start medical school straight-off and spend 5 years there.
So far as socialisation of your good self you could do what I did - get a part time job as a salesperson on commission and pick up some classes that require you to stand up and talk through your position or theories in front of others of similar interests. If that doesn't force you to get out and become a people person who can think on their feet in front of strangers then nothing will
Where does she work or at least state location? I'm hoping to PR for a video game company and while I know that at first you start off at 30-50,000 once you reach senior level you get to be 100k.
And I've been looking at other things beyond journalism and teaching. I was just a journalism major and I didn't particularly like the major because of having to undo all that I learned from my English classes. i don't know what editing or publishing is all about but I can investigate. I notice you said you work with the government, is it easy to get a job with them if you have an English degree and then a political science degree or something more concrete?
Do you mean the career part of the children part? I've been pretty set on having four kids since I was a kid and all I want to do is provide for them but not be a mom that's never home. As for the career, yes I think you can call me wishy-washy on that. I've read many articles and seen many shows and read many forumer's posts where they have people who get their degrees in college and then wind up living in cars or working fast food jobs. I just don't want to be one of them.
I think I can work 40-50 hours a week if that still allows me to see my kids and provide well for them. My dad works 40 hours and I get to see him and spend time with him. My mom works more than that though and I only see her at night. At this age I'm ok with it and understand but when I was younger it wasn't so fine. When they're younger I'd like time with them and as they get older I can explain that mommy has to work more to ensure they're taken care of so they can understand. Last thing I want to be is the song "Cat's in the Cradle".
As of right now, family planning wise, I wouldn't mind getting married my junior or senior year of college (my mom wants me to wait till I graduate but I don't intend to follow her life rules for me any longer) and I'd like 1-2 years being able to just be married and work and have fun. I'll be a sophmore when I'm done with this fall semester (I was in community college in a different state and practically none of my classes transferred wasting a good year and a half). The latest I'd be willing to start a family is 28 or 30 which would mean I'd be married and childless for a lot longer and I'm ok with that too.
I haven't much considered librarianship but it's something I'm interested in. I looked on collegeboard and they said that they were paid about 52k a year I believe. Maybe government libraries are hiring.
I am flexible about where I can move to, to work as I don't intend to stay in Philadelphia all of my life. So I guess I should look around in other areas as well and also set up internships as many of you has suggested.
A good friend of mine completed his library science masters last year. He's now working for a university somewhere in the midwest. I don't know what his pay is, but even if it's not amazing, the school provides great benefits including a house to live in.
What year are you in school? If you have some time before you absolutely have to pick your major, I suggest taking intro classes to various fields you're interested in.
Also, while picking your major is an important decision, you don't have to completely stress yourself out about it. If you pick something you end up not liking, you can always change if you do so early enough.
Ultimately you need to go with your gut. Take a second and forget career paths, starting salaries, and anything other people might expect of you. What do you want to do? What do you enjoy? If you pick something you really love, then you will find it easier to excel.
Honestly, I am a bit concerned that you aren't serious about this at all.
I edited out the rest of your post about the family life and the children and all the rest.
Yes, having a work-life balance is important. But your future family is not your current concern. You need to stop thinking about things in those terms. You need to spend less brain cycles on thinking about what clothes your four children will be wearing, and how you're going to find a career that will financially support that size of a family, while providing the hours necessary to look after them.
Because your priorities are out of whack, so is your ability to decide what your next step needs to be.
Think about your career for now. The family stuff comes later. I mean, do you even have the husband yet? Stop looking to your future family unit as a goal. It's not relevant to how you're going to find a career. All you need to keep in mind is you need something that will be 40 hours a week or less. That's the only contribution this family thing needs to make at this point in time. The rest of your thoughts and next steps needs to be much more focused on finding a career you like. Remember that if you are doing a job you hate, that's going to fall back on your children too. You'll be stressed, tired and irritable. If you must, think of spending the time to get your career right as a favour towards your children later.
Have you seen a career guidance centre yet? If not, why not?
I'll worry about my career for now and I'm going on campus to the guidance center on Monday. But I don't know what I am saying to give off the idea I don't take this seriously. I think I take it way too seriously and I tend to over think the future. I know many people both personally and from classes who worry about work/family balance and are my age. I'm not concerned with what I'll be dressing my children in or what names to give them or any of that stuff, I'm just worried about being a good working mom and I'd rather plan for it now than be surprised later. Or at least a little less surprised.
I'm considering a major in English, with a minor in Information Science OR history and then going on to get my masters in Library Science.
I'm curious about information science though, does it require learning programming languages? Does anyone have any first hand experiences with information science as a major/minor?