Majors Decision

October 17, 2008 2:30 AM

I'm a 3rd years college students and I'm really confuse as of what I want to do in life. In my first two years I thought I wanted to become a computer engineer, since I was always like working with computer. The problems was I fail Calculus 2 times and Chemistry 2 times. Therefore I think I'm not cut out for the programs. The reason I fail, is just because I don't understand the subject and it bored me most of the time. Anyhow after failing Calculus, I thought math is just not the thing for me, so I decided to go for Nursing, since the math requirement is not so much. During my summer break, I took BIO 156 (Introduction to Biology) and I failed the class. I'm currently taking the class again and I'm not doing so well either. The subject just doesn't interest me, and it's very hard to understand. I also attend the help session, but still I'm not doing so well. My question is what major should I be going for? I think science and math is just not my strong area, so I'm trying to figure out a major that doesn't require much science and math. I'm really confuse right now, I hope someone can help.
posted by huyhoangbach to education (18 comments total)

Choosing a program that doesn't have something you hate is OK. Choosing a program that does have something you like is much better. What do you like? What interests you? History? Political science? Anthropology? Music? Psychology? Business? Spanish? Cooking? Anything jumping out?
posted by PercussivePaul at 4:04 AM on October 17, 2008

So you asked pretty much this same question at the beginning of August. And what we're still missing is what you LIKE to do. I know that can be a really difficult question to answer, especially if you've spent your life trying to reach your parents' expectations (for example, if they expect you to go into a medical field, and you've always assumed that's what you're going to do).

Nothing seems to have changed since you last asked this. I don't know what institution you're at, but you should have a career center. Make an appointment with a career advisor and see what resources they have to help you pick a career path.

Also talk to your academic advisor. Most pre-health paths (getting the pre-requisites for nursing school) will take you three years, and engineering at least four. As a third-year student, you're looking at spending at least an extra year in college. Since your parents are paying your tuition, what's that conversation going to be like? Maybe that will help you get motivated.
posted by bibbit at 4:31 AM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Everyone asked before, but what do you like? What interests you? What bores you to tears?

If you're looking at health care, allied health fields might be more your thing: occupational therapy, physical therapy, those areas.
posted by dilettante at 4:51 AM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

Any field of healthcare (including PT or OT) is going to require some science. If intro biology and chemistry are out, healthcare is not going to work.

I think that the thing you have to get over is that every field in the entire world is going to have components, especially during school/training, that are hard to understand and boring. You have to find a way to at least pass classes that are not your cup of tea. This might mean hiring a tutor, but it might also mean getting your head down and just working. I don't mean to be harsh, but a lot of times when people specifically mention that they "attend the help session," they sometimes mean that they're really expecting the material to be spoon-fed to them without a whole lot of effort on their part.

That said, there's no reason to force yourself into a field where a lot of the material is not in your wheelhouse, unless you are so passionate about a given field that you're willing to make that trade. At the risk of duplicating all of the other answers, what do you like to do? What classes to do you enjoy and do well in? Also, you mentioned teaching in your last post...why not give that more consideration?

Finally, there was one question that really helped me figure things out when I was in a similar position: What would you do if you weren't afraid (of failing/ of disappointing family/ of hard work/ whatever)?
posted by LittleMissCranky at 5:27 AM on October 17, 2008

You might want to think about taking a bit of time off, say, and working for a couple of years (although I'm aware this isn't the best time to be job-hunting). Maybe college isn't the right thing for you at the moment. You ought to at least be able to pass courses that you aren't interested in, but you do have to be willing to put in the time and effort.

In terms of the current course: do you attend the professor's office hours? How much time are you spending on the course outside of class? The rule of thumb is at least two hours outside of class for every hour in class---and this doesn't mean just having books open while you watch television or something. And the outside of class hours should be spread over the week, not piled up in one marathon 'study' session.

But in general, what others have said: you should be majoring in a major where you look forward to taking (the majority of) the courses. Otherwise, you're setting yourself up for failure.
posted by leahwrenn at 6:00 AM on October 17, 2008

College is hard to understand unless you are prepared. Things don't magically become clear if all you do is come to class and try to do the homework. I learned the hard way, much like you, that you really have to make a major investment in trying to understand the difficult stuff. You have to make an investment in time and studying. You also have to talk to the professor during office hours or after class to try to ask questions about material you don't understand. I also don't know what you expect to counter the boredom. 90% of undergraduate studies are boring. That isn't the point, so suck it up.

I failed out of Calculus and it took me about 5 years before I went back again and succeeded. When I did go back it helped to find classmates in similar straights and meet with them to study and do homework. I also picked up other books which explained the material differently and sometimes better than the textbooks. I have a fine collection of higher math books and engineering books.
posted by JJ86 at 6:04 AM on October 17, 2008

I would recommend that next semester you pick one or two (as many as you can, really) classes that you really, really want to take. Surely there are some classes that just leap off the page of the course catalog at you, right? Even if it's something that seems really impractical, just take one class in that subject and see where it leads you.
posted by lunasol at 6:06 AM on October 17, 2008

I know someone who really wanted to work with computers but was terrible at science and math...he switched to graphic design and is quite happy (and employable) now....and still gets to spend all day with computers, and information.
posted by availablelight at 6:38 AM on October 17, 2008

I'll second what JJ86 says.

I'll also add that we can't figure out your interests. You have to do that for yourself, though if you could say "I can really see myself being an X in 4 years" we can probably help you figure out what programs can get you there.

The most important thing about choosing a career is choosing something that you will enjoy for a long time, especially if it requires as much of an investment of time, money and energy as university does. I know people who've gone through undergrad and ended up in careers they hate, who've received masters degrees and hated their careers and even PhDs.

My girlfriend is going through veterinary technology right now, parts of the course (the algebra portions, probably eventually statistics) are terribly difficult for her. She knows she will love the career when she's finished however. I'm an electrical engineer so have been through far more rigorous math than hers so I do my best to help her out. Usually that means figuring out how to work through a number of analogies so that she grasps the underlying concept. It doesn't help that she went to private schools all her life that never gave anything less than a B (wouldn't want to lose those dollars!)
posted by substrate at 6:49 AM on October 17, 2008

Regardless of what you end up doing, get a tutor for the subject areas you're struggling in. Only the rarest of people simply have understanding leap into their cortex.

The thing is, high school doesn't prepare a lot of people for university. It took my first couple of semesters of undergrad and some Cs in calculus and chemistry (from someone who got basically straight As in HS) to realize I needed to learn how to learn. I got tutors (your university probably offers them for free), went to my professors' office hours, found other students to study with, etc. I was able to turn things about, finished up with nearly a 4.0 in my major classes (computer science and philosophy) and something like a 3.5 overall. I went on to graduate school and finished up a Masters in CS about a year ago.

It's possible to do well, even in courses you don't like or are "boring" but it's not going to just happen. You've got to work at it and work at it hard. Find out where your deficits are and try to fix them. Good luck.
posted by Nelsormensch at 6:56 AM on October 17, 2008

I thought I wanted to become a computer engineer, since I was always like working with computer. The problems was I fail Calculus 2 times and Chemistry 2 times

CompE grads might actually use it more than most, but a lot of Engineering degrees require more math than you actually end up using in the real world. I am a CS grad, for example, and I use almost none of the high level math I learned in my job. You may still want to be in computer engineering or a similar field, the hardest part might just be getting the degree.

I thought math is just not the thing for me, so I decided to go for Nursing, since the math requirement is not so much

I would advise against making career choices based on the course requirements. Remember, you will most likely spend much more time in your career of choice than you spend earning your undergrad degree. Of course you may end up choosing a career that has nothing to do with your degree, but it helps to get started on the right track.

I think that the thing you have to get over is that every field in the entire world is going to have components, especially during school/training, that are hard to understand and boring. You have to find a way to at least pass classes that are not your cup of tea.

LittleMissCranky has it right here. Every major has some tough classes, and many of those classes may not match up with your interests. I had to take many very difficult classes that I had little or no interest in to get my undergrad degree, and getting good grades in them was just a matter of hard work and effort. In one class, that meant giving up 10 hours of my weekend every week to meet with a group of 15 other students to work through the nearly impossible homework problems, studying on my own like crazy, and finally taking home a hard-fought B+. The point wasn't that the material in that class interested me or would be useful later on in my life, the point was that I knew I had to work hard to make it through the class and I did. There are many challenges in life, and if you make an effort to face them and overcome them, you'll find that you don't have to limit yourself to the easiest paths.
posted by burnmp3s at 7:48 AM on October 17, 2008

I am not saying this to pick on you, but any subject other than math and science will require a lot of reading and writing. Based on your question, I would strongly advise you to take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class before attempting another major. I think you can get away with substandard English skills in computer or math classes, but you won't be able to do so in other areas. Don't set yourself up for failure - become as fluent as you can in English. There should be an international students office at your university that can help you.
posted by desjardins at 8:04 AM on October 17, 2008

Have you taken any computer science courses? I wouldn't give up on it because of required classes that were in other subjects.

I think it is more important that you learn how to study. There are different ways that work for different people, but for the most part, just reading the homework over and over isn't useful if you don't understand it. Does your school have any resources that might help you with your study skills?

It could also be a matter of your English. From your other question, you wrote that your first language was Vietnamese. Do you know other Vietnamese students who could help you study?
posted by advicepig at 8:18 AM on October 17, 2008

I dropped calculus classes several times after falling behind, getting depressed about falling behind, and falling behind more. But I got through the sequence, and I think it made me a better thinker and much more knowledgeable about how the world works.

If you can't understand the elegance and beauty -- and applicability -- of engineering-sequence calculus, either you have poor teachers, are thinking too small and short-term, or perhaps lack the temperament to have a career in the intellectual field.

I've never had to do a Shell integration or calculate partial differentials, but just knowing I spent the time learning and understanding that stuff gives me a warm fuzzy feeling now that I'm 20 years passed that challenge.

Challenges exist to keep the bozos out of the field. Tackle these challenges, take them down, and you will succeed.
posted by troy at 10:54 AM on October 17, 2008

I failed Calc 2 twice myself, and passed it the third time with a C (and that was no easy challenge). My solution to the problem was to switch out of Computer Engineering into Computer Science, where a math minor was required but not advanced calculus specifically. I fulfilled my math requirement by taking linear algebra, mathematical modeling, and statistics classes... all things that made sense to my brain.
posted by fusinski at 12:01 PM on October 17, 2008

huyhoangbach, you can reply to people here by typing in the white box at the bottom of the page and then pressing "post comment" on the yellow button below the box.

It would help people to give you advice if you listed some things that you like to do, or things you are interested in doing (even hobbies).
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:12 PM on October 17, 2008

As a fellow computer science undergrad, I feel you. I'm terrible at math. If it were not required for my major, I would have never taken (and re-taken) the math classes that I did. Trig, Calc 1, Calc 2 and Statistics-- I failed them all. As for my CS classes, I mostly pass with Cs because I find the material boring.

It's not you, it's them.

Colleges try to round you out by making to you take some not-so-interesting general and major requirements. While I think it's a great idea, sometimes it's a real chore to get through them. And not every college is made for everybody.

Like you, I started college off thinking that I love computers, but now I'm pulling my hair out because I'm taking classes on hardware engineering and operating systems programming when all I really want to do is make web apps. I'm very close to graduating, but when I look back, I wish I had picked a college that better catered to my needs.

Have you considered transferring to a different college? I noticed that other commenters were required to take a varying set of math classes for the exact same major. If you look around, you might find a better school with a more interesting nursing or computer engineering program. Honestly, college can drive a person nuts, especially as you begin to out-grow it the closer you get to graduation. Have you thought about co-oping? Most schools do some sort of co-op program where you alternate working and schooling for every semester. It not only gives you a break from school, but upon graduating, you'll probably have a lot more work experience than your peers. Plus, co-oping gives you more time to evaluate what you want to do for a living since you'll be graduating later. Definitely talk to your school's career department if you're interested in doing this.
posted by nikkorizz at 12:06 AM on October 18, 2008

First of all, thank you all very much for your responses....Sorry I couldn't reply earlier, I was working almost all day, plus I didn't expect this many responses in a short period of time.

Ok, so I've look the career book that my school offer. After reading about the different careers and their requirements. I have narrow it down to a few things, but what interested me the most seem to be teaching. I'm also interested in office work, but I'm not quite sure what. I'm thinking about going to a career adviser on Monday and ask for more information about the different career choices.

The think about the all the classes I have failed is that I just don't get them and it's very hard for me to understand things that are uninteresting. I mean I do quite well in most of my other classes, but for some reason when it come to Calculus, Chemistry or Biology it just seem so confusing. I started the semester doing pretty well, but after the first quiz thing just got complicated. I do spend a lot of times outside studying; I only work in the weekend, so I have time to study on school days.

About getting help, I went to all the help session that is available every week, but I don't know how to explain it. It's like I get part of what the tutor is explaining, but when I go to class it's seem that the teacher is talking about another thing.

After failing the my classes so many time, I don't really cared much about my parents hoped and desired. I don't mean to sound bad, but if I try to study something that I'm not interested in, I'll probably be wasting more and more of their money. So I mean...I'm not 100% sure that I like teaching or office work, but when I think about my future, I don't really see myself as a doctor or nurse. I think I'm more suited for office work or teaching.

Anyhow, thank you very much for all your advice. I 'll look for information and decide afterward.
posted by huyhoangbach at 1:00 AM on October 18, 2008