I don't know what to major in

[Opossum My Possum]

I'm not in college yet, but I'm going to be soon, and I still don't know what I want to major in.
My two favorite things are art and computers.
I draw, write, paint, take pictures, do makeup, and I'm interested/really good with computers.
For the most part.

I'm eighteen, and getting my GED, and I'll need financial help.


I do love art, but sometimes I feel I'm not good enough to use it as a major.
:/

Same with writing and such- I feel like I'm not good enough.

I've thought of a few different things I wouldn't mind majoring in, but I've never been sure of anything.
;-; I enjoy history as well, but I don't think I could major in that.


Gaaah, I need help.

 

[Ochalla]

Why not go to community college and get all your pre reques out of the way. Give yourself a few more years to figure out what to do. Also while having a major is important, look to see what sort of career you want to end up with.

 

[Mid]

Some schools do offer Graphic Design or Interactive media and Design as majors which both involve art AND computers (like making posters, CS5, designing on the PC, learning artsy things like charcoal, paint, pencil, etc). So you could always just do both, :). And this does include community colleges.

 

[Zen]

Yes definitely fill out your Prereqs and while you're at it, see if you can take classes in art and computers. See if you improve and really enjoy those subjects.

As far as careers go, why don't you look into Animation? They both deal heavily with computers and art, just know that you'll be using Geometry a lot when you go into this field. Again graphic design is another good one.

 

[loyalist_historian]

Graphic design, film, maybe cinema studies...

My boyfriend is a film major, and at our school that's a lot of work on After Effects and Final Cut Pro. He also had mandatory photography classes. And, interestingly enough, the film department here is in the Comm School, not in CAS. I think it's interesting, anyway.

It's also important to remember that the purpose of education is not to prepare one for the job market. There is an inherent benefit to education that goes beyond the needs of a capitalist system.

Says the history major. I'ma go sleep. Make up for the hour and a half I got last night.

 

[Ochalla]

There IS a disillusion of people going for majors "for the love of the subject" that try to then apply their degrees into the real world with disastrous results. If you are going to put time and money into something you need to make sure you're getting the benifit you desire. A college degree does not guarantee a job any longer. I'm not saying you have to reject all you love to work in the capalist machine, but $80,000 of debt with a minimum wage job is not going to make for a happy individual. Money might not buy happiness but debt creates misery.

 

[loyalist_historian]

In the end, it comes down to breaking up the precedents set in the 70s, when all of the university presidents and BoTs agreed to push rates up with government support. What I'm arguing, in a nutshell, is that you are absolutely right. But if you ARE right, and even a college degree does not ensure a job anymore, education is a right, because it's necessary to function effectively in society. And if education is a right *shifty eyes*...we've got some work to do.

 

[Ochalla]

Education IS a right, and only those that wish to exploit a populace want to keep the people ignorant. It's not paranoia when it's true!

 

[loyalist_historian]

<3

 

[Cathedral_Dweller]

You sound exactly like me when I was thinking about going to college. I was interested in a million things, and I was freaked out because I didn't have an exact plan of what I was going to do. I put Anthropology/International Studies on all of my applications because they interested me. Well, I shopped one International Politics class for one day and instantly decided that it wasn't what I wanted to do. So I started taking classes that interested me, and here I am, a history and English major!

And per the healthy debate about learning for learning's sake vs. practical application...if you're passionate about a subject, it's possible to get a job. As someone who goes to a liberal arts college, I get a lot of crap. Yet there are English majors who graduate from my college and go on to become businesswomen, or work at an NGO, or even become professors themselves. Studying something obscure like literature or history actually gives you a lot of useful skills that employers are looking for. And a unique major helps you stand out from all the business majors or pre-law majors who will be applying for the same jobs as you. It's a conversation starter. "Oh, a women's studies major, tell me about that?" These are all stories I've heard from alums of my college (my job is to call alumnae and talk to them.)

The point of this whole anecdote is that you don't need to decide what you want to do right this very instant. I guarantee that if you decide on something, you'll take some amazing class that makes you change your mind, or you'll ultimately decide that it's not for you. Just enjoy being a student and finding your own path! And financially, a LOT of colleges provide extremely generous financial grants (not loans, which means you don't have to pay them back!) and I definitely recommend looking into them. There's also nothing wrong with spending a year or two at a community college to figure out what you want to do.

Best of luck!