What do with my education?

March 29, 2009 9:53 AM

I am a student doing my bachelors degree and I feel utterly confuzed about what I want to do with my education. I am currently doing an economics major, but have no real passion for economics.

I am in a fairly liberal program so I can switch between science and arts streams quite easily. I have talked with advisors to no avail, they keep giving me the standard answers which are not helpful. I only have 2 years before I finish my degree. should I try out some science courses. I just feel I can't commit without knowing more.

posted by happydude123 to education (8 comments total)

You problems are not uncommon (I'm a college professor who advises 40 undergraduates a year). I always encourage them to take as diverse a program as possible (though most are pretty focused on media by the time I see them). I would definitely try some science courses--and try to pursue some internships as well. Nothing can give you a better feel for a future career than trying it out as an intern. I know this is fairly vague, but I just want to encourage you to see college as an invitation to experiment with a variety of courses, and to not be discouraged if at your stage in college things still remain uncertain.
posted by quintno at 9:57 AM on March 29

One of my favorite professors is working in the Information Systems dept. She has a BS Econ, and the rest of her work has been with Information Systems. I think econ would serve you really well in statistics, information systems, computer science, and depending on your skills you could do fairly well working with visualization and information architecture.

You should try working backwards from what you will have once you graduate: If you stick with econ, you will have an awesome understanding of workflow and how x affects y, given condition z. Now think about where you can apply those skills that aren't econ-related.

Hope that helps. I'll be happy to put you in contact with my ex-econ/IS professor if you want to ask her some questions about transitioning from econ to a computer-field.
posted by ttyn at 10:04 AM on March 29

If you have no passion for economics, then don't study economics.

You should know that what many people study as undergraduates have little bearing on their careers.

I'm going to guess you're a sophomore? With the time you have, you should take the opportunity to get a feel for different subjects and see how you like them.

One word of advice: sign up for courses with interesting professors. Courses with interesting titles but bad professors will probably dampen your experience.
posted by Busoni at 10:39 AM on March 29

One way to look at this is to view it as a problem of lacking goals or direction for yourself. You say you have no passion for economics; what do you feel a passion for? Check out this AskMefi question about finding your passion, especially Grumblebee's superlative comment. The answers there may be geared towards people with more experience in the world, though, with a better concept of what options and paths even exist for them. You can't be expected to know much about that, yet.

College is a wonderful place to try out lots of different things in order to find a good path for yourself. It is also usually a very expensive place to do that. There is a huge pressure to find your path and complete a relevant degree within four years; any longer and you might feel like you screwed up or wasted a lot of money. You say yourself that you only have two years left to finish your degree. This isn't true.

Think about taking a year off. Almost any school should let you take a leave without affecting your status. Go out, work, travel, and experience things outside of a school or college context. You can learn more about the world, more about yourself, and more about your options.

In many countries other than the US, gap years are common. Students take a year before entering college to go do something out in the world, not in school. I think this can be extremely valuable. There's no reason you can't take one now. I had no clear goals in college, and I ended up dropping out after three years and joining a crazy scheme to drive around the country in a converted schoolbus before I was able to focus and form some. (I don't recommend dropping out of college.)

Working towards a particular degree in which you have little or no interest can work. If you have no better idea, go with it, as long as it's a somewhat practical degree (working towards a history degree with no interest, bad idea; working towards an engineering degree with no interest, at least you'll have a good chance at a high-paying job), but your primary goal outside of that endeavor should be to find your interest. Learn about different fields, try out strange classes, talk to people in different careers and ask them what they do, what they like, what they don't like...

If you haven't found what you want to do, there's a very good chance it's because you haven't been exposed to it yet.
posted by whatnotever at 11:10 AM on March 29

I recently graduated undergrad, switching out of a hard science major into a soft humanities (following my passion). In hindsight, I wish I partied less and took both degrees, thus fulfilling my own desires and offering me a more tangibly job centric direction.

Things change rapidly over these years. I suggest approaching with caution. Try and think mid term and long term a bit...
posted by stratastar at 11:36 AM on March 29

I'm finishing up my 3rd year in undergrad, and I've just settled on econ as a major because I love the subject. If you don't feel good about what you're doing, don't do it! Take some classes in other departments, and see what strikes your fancy. Those classes most likely won't be a waste either, because your college probably requires x credits outside your major. (For example, for my college, about half my credits for graduation are general education requirements, and the rest are for my major.)
If you think you'll like science, take a science class or two. Ask around and find out who is a good professor to take a science class with. You could also probably find an interdisciplinary class that combines two interests (like science and computer programming.)
I also did this, and it helped tremendously.
Don't stress too much about graduating on time. You can always take summer classes (I'm taking 2 this summer bc I decided my major so late), or stay an extra semester to finish up.
Find out exactly what your general education requirements are and if you haven't finished all of them, do a few more of those while to try to decide on your major. Those classes will probably help you figure out what you want to do.

Good luck!
posted by asras at 11:41 AM on March 29

asras: I also did this, and it helped tremendously.

See now, that there is some awesome, practical advice. You should absolutely do that.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:07 PM on March 29

Thanks for all the help, Im not going to act rashly, ill take a few science courses and go from there
posted by happydude123 at 9:26 AM on March 30