Help picking a college major

[sa_barry]

I'm getting to the point in college where I (almost) need to decide on a major. The thing is, it's been painful and hard for me to pick a major, considering I have a bunch of different interests, but I'd still like to have a major that could possibly make me some money and isn't entirely useless.

My interests are music (performance), songwriting, digital art, photography, writing, and philosophy.
Everyone tells me they think I should be a writer (meaning freelance). I'd honestly love to be a writer but it's a difficult path.

I was thinking about possible majors: philosophy, English, digital design, art history. I can't see any of these majors being worth it in the end--which is why I'm stuck. I figure if i'm gonna be a writer I don't really wanna major in English so I'm leaning more towards the other majors I mentioned.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Even other possible majors? Because I'm stuck. My parents support my decision, whatever I choose, but don't want a major that does nothing for me in the end.

 

[Happy]

I'd honestly love to be a writer but it's a difficult path.

...all the more reason to do it. The harder it is, the more fulfilling.

 

[Puffy]

I have four years of humanities degrees under my belt (literature/ film/ history/ philosophy), and on the practical side of things they have no benefit even though I got the highest grades in my year group. From the perspective of employment they don't care -- they just want to know you have the practical skills/experience to do the job.

I would say despite that I don't regret it because degrees can have benefits other than practical -- I had four years of primarily self-directed study in which I was able to align my assignments with my own developing interests. I know where my passions lie as a result, have a substantial knowledge in them, and had the time/ privacy to develop significantly in writing/creativity/intelligence in a way I wouldn't have done otherwise.

If you do go the degree route (certainly not necessary to be a writer if you maintain a disciplined practice), know a Humanities curriculum in of itself is of little value to you. What matters is what you make of the free-time.

If you want to write free-lance it's important to plan ahead. Most artists will not make a living primarily from their art, at least for a while, but from some other kind of employment they do to support themselves. The more you're able to identify vocations/employment/skills that further and align with your personal ambitions, the more the future is yours.

 

[dutchdisease]

I'm getting to the point in college where I (almost) need to decide on a major. The thing is, it's been painful and hard for me to pick a major, considering I have a bunch of different interests, but I'd still like to have a major that could possibly make me some money and isn't entirely useless.

TL;DR Give some thought into majors that provide hard skills and will get you a good paying job out of college but temper this to the lifestyle you want to live and your dreams/aspirations/passions

My interests are music (performance), songwriting, digital art, photography, writing, and philosophy.
Everyone tells me they think I should be a writer (meaning freelance). I'd honestly love to be a writer but it's a difficult path.

I was thinking about possible majors: philosophy, English, digital design, art history. I can't see any of these majors being worth it in the end--which is why I'm stuck. I figure if i'm gonna be a writer I don't really wanna major in English so I'm leaning more towards the other majors I mentioned.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Even other possible majors? Because I'm stuck. My parents support my decision, whatever I choose, but don't want a major that does nothing for me in the end.

Hey there just noticed your thread. This might get a bit rambley, but I'll try to be of what little help I can be. I went through this same thing. People for so long told me I had plenty of time to decide what I wanted to do with my life but I never took this completely seriously and sure enough the day came where I more or less had to decide. I had looked at just about every career test, OOH descriptions from the BLS, and many other job descriptions. My interests have also been all over the place and really still are. I will be frank with you and say that when you choose your major at this time you will probably not be certain that it is the right path for yourself.

All this being said let's look into your actual question. Now your interests appear to be very liberal and there is nothing wrong with that but it can make things a bit more difficult. I find there are two mentalities when it comes to choosing a college major. The first is to go for something that has good prospects and you can at least somewhat see yourself in. The other mentality is to follow your passions. For a very long time I was in the latter category but have recently shifted over to the first. The way I see it is this: You go to school and get a degree that will more or less (don't want to say guarantee but oh well) guarantee you a job with decent pay. This way you can come out making more than your peers and have a platform from which you can dive into future interests. Personally, I am going to try and strike it rich first not because I am some overly materialistic asshole who wishes to show off his collection of vintage wines but because I want freedom to live my life the way I wish to in the future. The way I see it, It is always good to have a layer of cash to cushion you from life's crushing blows.

As far as the majors you listed I will make a few somewhat blunt recommendations which I wish for you only to consider. Please for the love of God do not feel as though I am trying to shoot down any dreams of yours! First off I'd say out of your listed majors art history is probably going to be the least practical for reasons I am sure you can guess. As for Philosophy I have only studied it on a low level so on higher levels it may make help your reasoning but if you are really that interested in it I think you should pursue it on your own time, realize that you will come out of college with no hard skills and you will be completely relying on your own intelligence to see you through. English can be a decent degree but it depends what you want to do. If you really want to be a writer it might be the best choice for you, It also opens up paths into fields such as teaching, journalism, copywriting, and technical writing. I would assume digital design is along the same lines as graphic design which is once again not necessarily a terrible choice as you will come out with some sort of hard skill.

All this being said, I honestly don't think you should choose any of the above. Try to find something in the STEM fields as they will be the ones that will continue to be in demand in the future. The same cannot be said about more liberal career fields. Some business fields may also be acceptable to you and you will have to decide this for yourself. If you fear the rigorous coursework that some of the more technical majors can consist of then I suggest you stop it. Put the effort in and learn what you must even if you aren't good with subject areas such as mathematics. I do not necessarily mean you must become an engineer but don't fear having a helping of math in your meal of life.

Some majors that might be worth looking into include:

Comp. Sci. (very popular among the INTP community)

Geoscience

Engineering of any sort (if you can stomach it)

Medical majors (if you are willing to get and advanced degree)

Environmental Science

ETC. ETC. Really mostly just stem fields though I would avoid an undergrad in bio unless you are planning to go to some sort of medical school. As stated some business major may also be applicable but be weary of the environment you might end up in.

Unfortunately for you and for me we must make our decisions with bounded-rationality and cannot be certain if we are doing the right thing.

Do not take everything I say too seriously, I am still young and rather unqualified to give career advice. I hope some more qualified members of this forum can come and answer your questions and provide contrasting views to my own. Best of luck to you and try not to stress yourself out about this too much. You can take years off your life when you get stuck in a loop trying to figure these things out instead of just picking something and learning (sometimes painfully) from your mistakes.

Finally at the End of the day realize that you only get one life and you must decide how that life will be best lived. No one can answer this for you.

 

[Blique]

Since you mention art, I can give advice in that regard.

Digital artists are highly generous, you can find high quality tutorials and guides for most anything online, thus I don't think it's worth paying to major in it for college. I majored in Illustration rather than Design, and I admit there are more illustration tutorials online than design ones, but I think there's still easily enough to get by on. As for me, I transferred from Illustration into Medical Illustration, because they don't freely teach the latter online, and I got to do special things like dissect humans and watch live surgeries.

My point is, when you're picking a major, make sure it's something that you can't easily learn or experience somewhere else for free. I also recommend Marketing/Business if you're planning on anything that involves you being an entrepreneur/freelancer. If not as a major, then as a minor.

 

[bvanevery]

My interests are music (performance), songwriting, digital art, photography, writing, and philosophy.

Digital art is worth the most money and still actually interesting. Do that one. All the others can be done if you have money.

 

[Rainer]

Major in self-liberation. That is, major in an occupation that can free you from the shackles of self-hatred and limitation imposed upon you by other, more dominant personalities by providing you enough income to become quickly (5-10 years) financially independent.

Major in something that enables you to quickly gain financial independence so you can do what really matters to you in life.

You should probably study:
Computer science
Engineering
Accounting with the intent to become a CPA and run your own business
Nursing/medical lab technology
Dental hygiene (pays great, only an associate's needed, only 30 hr/wk required); INTPs might have a hard time enjoying this one, though

Then when you get a bank account full with $500,000 or more, you can quit your job and start to think about real freedom. If you find an occupation you like along the way, all the better for you.

Unless you have kids. In which case, you're in trouble.

 

[RaBind]

...all the more reason to do it. The harder it is, the more fulfilling.

I don't agree with this. This "follow your passion kinda stuff" just sounds like crap to me. For every success story blah blah you've probably heard it all before.

Intps generally have a variety of different interests, and even for subjects which they are indifferent towards, they can usually learn to appreciate it's different aspects if not the subject itself.

Better a degree in something mildly interesting that gets you a mildly interesting job than any degree that doesn't help you get a job at all. You can argue that the course gives you an opportunity to develop your skills and shit, but if you were really that interested in it you could've just done all that shit in your own time at a fraction of the cost. If your excuse for not doing so is something like "I can't be bothered" or "I'm too lazy" then you probably shouldn't consider pursuing a career in the subject with such an attitude.

If your subject of choice only has a skills based barrier to entry you're better of doing an apprenticeship of sorts (or vocational training) aren't you? Why pursue the degree if it's not gonna do anything for you?

Spoiler

I don't know though. I'm ignorant of the subjects in question (digital art sounds slightly more promising than the rest but again do you need that degree or just the skills?), the level of hard work it'd require to "succeed" (which might simply mean you can afford a standard quality of life) financially within those careers, how likely it is to find such success regardless of effort and whether OP is even an intp or not.

Use the information you have available. Don't make rash or stupid decisions especially ones you could've avoided if you just kept your eyes open.

 

[Happy]

I don't agree with this. This "follow your passion kinda stuff" just sounds like crap to me. For every success story blah blah you've probably heard it all before.

That's not what I said. I encouraged pursuing the more difficult path because overcoming a challenge is more fulfilling than taking the easy road, so to say.

 

[Inquisitor]

Whatever you do, get excellent grades. I really do mean that. Number one most important factor.

Ideally, as some others on here mentioned, you major in comp sci, or math, or econ or engineering or possibly Chem/Phys/Bio (but that's less ideal IMHO since there's a glut of STEM graduates in those fields). IOW, pick something that will give you a job right out of college. Comp sci especially is a great fit. I'm studying it right now and in my early 30s.

But if you really aren't enthusiastic about any of those and think you would get mediocre grades, then forget it. Doing well in a STEM or quantitative major takes a lot of dedication and motivation. You literally have to work flat out if you want the "A", and you won't have a life (or at least not much of one if your school's department is any good at all). The other kids will likely all be hardcore nerds. Think Asians, Indians, and dorky white kids (I'm white btw). If you can't at least match their level of dedication, the curve will sink you. They'll be happy to welcome another lackluster student b/c you'll just be helping them. Right now, I am at a top 25 university for CS, and let me tell you, I have very little spare time. Always going to office hours and tutoring sessions. Basically working non-stop, and I'm older and more mature and more motivated than most of the other students and I'm still not sure that my best will be enough to get me an "A."

At the end of the day, a 3.8-4.0 in a humanities degree beats a 3.0 in STEM. You can always go back to school/take STEM classes during the summer if you later find out you want to go into a technical field.

 

[RaBind]

That's not what I said. I encouraged pursuing the more difficult path because overcoming a challenge is more fulfilling than taking the easy road, so to say.

Yeah I know what you meant. But obviously like the OP has mentioned a lot of the subjects he listed as his interests aren't going to be very helpful in landing him a good job.

He pointed out that the writers career would be particularly difficult, and I assume you replied to him specifically for his "writers career being difficult" remark, taking into consideration that it's the subject he is most keen on pursuing. So you'd essentially be saying that the difficult is offset primarily by how much the OP would like their job, the satisfaction derived from having overcome the difficulty would be a side benefit.

Now if I assumed wrongly and in fact you were just saying "pursuing the more difficult path because overcoming a challenge is more fulfilling than taking the easy road" then practically this line of reasoning makes even less sense and is frankly masochistic. Might as well go to some hell hole of a country and literally work shovelling shit if you're simply going for the most difficulty.

 

[Happy]

Yeah I know what you meant. But obviously like the OP has mentioned a lot of the subjects he listed as his interests aren't going to be very helpful in landing him a good job.

He pointed out that the writers career would be particularly difficult, and I assume you replied to him specifically for his "writers career being difficult" remark, taking into consideration that it's the subject he is most keen on pursuing. So you'd essentially be saying that the difficult is offset primarily by how much the OP would like their job, the satisfaction derived from having overcome the difficulty would be a side benefit.

Now if I assumed wrongly and in fact you were just saying "pursuing the more difficult path because overcoming a challenge is more fulfilling than taking the easy road" then practically this line of reasoning makes even less sense and is frankly masochistic. Might as well go to some hell hole of a country and literally work shovelling shit if you're simply going for the most difficulty.

My comment was kind of in line with paragraph 2. But I was more suggesting that if he likes writing, but the path is difficult, it would be worth pursuing anyway because the challenge would keep it interesting in the long term. I wasn't quite suggesting that he should follow his passion, but rather that if he at least attempted it, he'd discover fairly soon whether it was his passion or not.

The thing is, if it's difficult, it wouldn't take long before he realised it wasn't for him. I don't like to tell people this explicitly, because I believe it's better for someone to find out themselves after they've at least attempted it, than to be dissuaded from it because of difficulty.

Background: When I commenced my studies, over half the students dropped out within the first year, but it was still a positive learning experience for them, as most went on to study something else and were better off in the long run.

It's a very subjective approach influenced from my own experience, though.

 

[RaBind]

You first post gave me the impression that you think passion = success, difficulty = satisfaction when successful, passion (success guaranteed) in something difficult = maximum satisfaction, so choosing to do what you are most passionate about always trumps difficulty, because difficulty is actually a blessing in disguise if you are successful, so actually an indicator of a good career choice. The flaw is most people aren't financially successful.

If you're simply implying that difficulty can be used to gauge how much interest a person actually has then I have no objections.

Difficultly capable of prolonging interest is an intriguing idea, but I doubt difficultly = interest. At some point you might lose your interest as you naturally do and then you're just left with something difficult that you can not longer justify putting up with. I'm aware you didnt say difficultly = interest.

 

[bvanevery]

Major in something that enables you to quickly gain financial independence so you can do what really matters to you in life.

Then when you get a bank account full with $500,000 or more

That's not self-liberation. That's following society's treadmill for at least a decade, maybe longer, because you're too scared to do your own thing before then. Self-liberation is picking something you like, that gives you enough money to live on, without seeking extravagances.

Having said that, when I was new at various things techie, I wish I had decided to get paid to do some of the things I learned on my own. Instead I just learned them on my own, i.e. 3 years of dinking around with Linux. I could have been paid as a sysadmin during that time, and learned pretty much the same things. Eventually that kind of thing wasn't interesting anymore, so the opportunity to get paid for learning it, was gone, in terms of personal happiness.

 

[Happy]

You first post gave me the impression that you think passion = success, difficulty = satisfaction when successful, passion (success guaranteed) in something difficult = maximum satisfaction, so choosing to do what you are most passionate about always trumps difficulty, because difficulty is actually a blessing in disguise if you are successful, so actually an indicator of a good career choice. The flaw is most people aren't financially successful.

If you're simply implying that difficulty can be used to gauge how much interest a person actually has then I have no objections.

Difficultly capable of prolonging interest is an intriguing idea, but I doubt difficultly = interest. At some point you might lose your interest as you naturally do and then you're just left with something difficult that you can not longer justify putting up with. I'm aware you didnt say difficultly = interest.

I'm glad I've got you thinking. I think you're getting what I'm saying.

I guess to summarise, if it's difficult, at least it will test you. There is no pass or fail in this test. If it's difficult and you're still satisfied by it, it's worth pursuing further. If the difficulty does not stimulate you, find something else, but know you haven't wasted your time.

I hope my thoughts make sense.