Would you change your own major if you could go back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I considered business, psychology/business, and finally ended up in economics.

The major and the thinking process was fine. I later got an MBA. There were many stumbles along the way. But the major was not the issue. I actually loved my university experience and enjoyed taking distribution requirements from art history to genetics.

My secret love was medieval history but I knew that job opportunities would be nearly non-existent and felt that the only frontiers in scholarship at that were more in the area of marginalized community studies. Fine if that suits your interest but I was concerned about finding cutting-edge topics that would interest me for the time needed to get a PhD. I don't regret it. I enjoy my current career and my interest in medieval history has waned while other interests from my 20s have increased.

Medieval era is probably as good as any other if getting a PhD in English or History. Marginalized community studies is currently where it’s at with most eras, isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

I should have picked a school in DC for better connections in politics. I went for the pretty campus with better academic reputation elsewhere (I did apply to American, but as a safety). I had zero direction/help while picking schools to apply to, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I managed to do ok with the volunteer experience on a campaign then a White House internship that I got on my own. I didn’t bother with career services at my school because they were focused on kids going into finance and consulting.

[Anonymous]

No, I loved art history! Got a graduate degree in CS though. Wouldn’t change anything.

[Anonymous]

I would not have majored in biology. I chose it because, like so many other incoming freshmen, I wanted to be premed. Of course, I wanted to be premed because everyone told me that’s what I should be. I didn’t really question anything even when I lost all passion for science. I greatly enjoyed the classes where I could be creative, but I thought I would be a failure if I didn’t study science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not have majored in biology. I chose it because, like so many other incoming freshmen, I wanted to be premed. Of course, I wanted to be premed because everyone told me that’s what I should be. I didn’t really question anything even when I lost all passion for science. I greatly enjoyed the classes where I could be creative, but I thought I would be a failure if I didn’t study science.

OP here and have almost the opposite perspective. Studied abstract concepts and theories and wrote about topics like post-modern Irish literature and Kierkegaard. Looking back, I kind of wish I had studied things that are more “real, like science, instead of what other people wrote.

[Anonymous]

I have a degree in math. I’ve had a really great IT career, but in reality, I should’ve been a psychologist.

I shouldn’t have changed my undergrad, but I should’ve gone and got my masters and PhD and psychology.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I majored in Bio & Econ and went to grad school for Public Health in the 90s.

I would kept Econ, dropped Bio and chosen Spanish instead. Then I would have eventually done PT or OT.

Loved being a college student though - both in undergrad & grad school!

[Anonymous]

I majored chemistry and math. I wish I had at least minored in history or philosophy.

[Anonymous]

no, but I would have not gone to UVA. I would have gone to a school like UMBC or a SLAC in the northeast. UVA just really wasn't worth all the trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I considered business, psychology/business, and finally ended up in economics.

The major and the thinking process was fine. I later got an MBA. There were many stumbles along the way. But the major was not the issue. I actually loved my university experience and enjoyed taking distribution requirements from art history to genetics.

My secret love was medieval history but I knew that job opportunities would be nearly non-existent and felt that the only frontiers in scholarship at that were more in the area of marginalized community studies. Fine if that suits your interest but I was concerned about finding cutting-edge topics that would interest me for the time needed to get a PhD. I don't regret it. I enjoy my current career and my interest in medieval history has waned while other interests from my 20s have increased.

Medieval era is probably as good as any other if getting a PhD in English or History. Marginalized community studies is currently where it’s at with most eras, isn’t it?

PP. I didn't have any issues with what was trendy in medieval studies when I was in college. PhD theses are supposed to be about novel things so that's why marginalized people's voices are being emphasized. All kinds of jobs experience trends. As an employment candidate, I was not interested in researching in those areas myself and didn't want to fight the current. Most of the professors I knew in the field were 45 or older and aiming to stick around for 10-20 years. I thought I'd have a hard time finding a job and switching jobs at the kind of top universities that are able to support pure medieval history scholars.

I think certain periods of history are more popular with students and therefore produce more employable scholars than others. The Middle Ages in Europe is less relevant because primary sources are in archaic forms of language that undergrads are not interested in (there is comparatively not much interest among Americans in medieval French, church Latin, Anglo-Saxon, etc.). And the economic and trade networks were less relevant to today's world (big statement, I know) than what happened during the Age of Exploration, with the British Empire, etc. I love the time period but I don't think it's a "must" for a learned person to have a deep knowledge of it.. There are no other time periods of history that interest me as much, regardless of practicality. So I have no regrets. I talked to a high school acquaintance recently who got an MA in English in the UK. She quit studying the Middle Ages (did not go on for PhD) to become a non-profit manager because of the impact of the then-current Yugoslav war. Sometimes it does feel like too much of a luxury to focus on things like ancient poetry. But that is a personal decision each adult can make for themselves.

I would also point out that things can change. The Internet has made it far more possible to study medieval things that I was interested in as an undergrad when we relied mainly on scholarly books and facsimile manuscripts. My undergrad was pre-AOL. Also, there have been some interesting developments in archeological science over the decades.

[Anonymous]

I majored in humanities, but should have done a BS in urban planning with emphasis on the math/quantitative side, given what I enjoy doing now.

[Anonymous]

Yup, I would have studied health sciences instead of finance. I knew by 1st semester junior year I didn’t really like what I was studying but thought it was too late to change course 😆. Also I would not have gone to a large research institution.

[Anonymous]

Would have definitely changed college, if I could go back.

My sights were set WAY too low (ie, merit anywhere), because my parents had not gone to college and did not understand my likely options. Oh well.

As far as major…hard to say. Now that I know myself and the world, I might have chosen another path. But for who I was at 21, I understand why I chose as I did.

[Anonymous]

I studied management science. I wish would have studied management information systems or the like. If cybersecurity where an available major at the time, I would have studied that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would have definitely changed college, if I could go back.

My sights were set WAY too low (ie, merit anywhere), because my parents had not gone to college and did not understand my likely options. Oh well.

As far as major…hard to say. Now that I know myself and the world, I might have chosen another path. But for who I was at 21, I understand why I chose as I did.

Same. I wish I had gone to college in the Midwest.