Most Beneficial College Major to the Fastlane

[Dbbuzbee]

I am gearing up about to go to college here's in less than a year. I know that College is the epitome of a non-Fastlane decision but it is something important to my parents and something I am going to do. My question is what college major/ area of study would be most valuable to me when applying onto the Fastlane lifestyle once I get out?

 

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[Denim Chicken]

Business Admin, Bus Econ, Economics, or Accounting. Anything can be useful as its better than not having an education, but those in particular are what I would pay for in terms of tuition.

 

[JSM]

I don't have much input on major but I would check out the University of Utah's Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. It seems awesome to me. If I go to college that'll probably be my choice.

 

[AvocadoMan]

I am gearing up about to go to college here's in less than a year. I know that College is the epitome of a non-Fastlane decision but it is something important to my parents and something I am going to do. My question is what college major/ area of study would be most valuable to me when applying onto the Fastlane lifestyle once I get out?

Why does it matter if it is important to your parents?

 

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[lowtek]

I don't know what your aptitudes are, but if it were my decision I would pick computer science, with an emphasis on machine learning - there's a tsunami of automation and productivity enhancements coming from machine learning.

Git Gud now and you can get a piece of that pie.

 

[jpanarra]

I went for chemistry BS, and am about to graduate with my MBA.

Honestly, I would credit my chem major a better route for Fastlane compared to the MBA. The amount of commitment and time invested in getting a degree in the heavy sciences allowed me to be self-trained to be persistent.

The MBA was nice and I learned a good number of things, but all of them could've been learned in practice and via youtube videos.

What I would suggest is to start a business in college. There's no place like college where you have hundreds of consumers ready to throw their parent's money at you. Think of something simple, buy and hold used textbooks to sell next semester. You'll learn how to manage money, deal with consumers, how to build a system etc. There's no other way that you'll learn faster other than doing.

 

[Duane]

It depends on what journey you want to take. College could be an asset depending on what business you want to start. It could also be a total waste of your time and money.

Make the best out of every situation you're in and you'd be amazed at how much value you can get from things you thought had no value.

Getting a degree, working in that field to learn the business, and then starting your own thing in that complicated, specialized field. Sounds like a pretty big barrier to entry to me.

 

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[policebaton]

Seeing as you are already going, and this post clearly isn't about the choice of going to college or not, I'm not going to go down that debate route.

If you are going, remember there are a ton of lessons you learn from being in college that don't necessarily have to do with your degree. For instance in college the probably 2 most valuable things I learned were diet/exercise habits, and social skills. Seriously social skills included networking, making friends, knowing how to deal with all kinds of people, etc. These sort of "soft skills" you get from being surrounded by your peers in your own little mecca like city is incredibly valuable for your future.

Go out there and enjoy yourself a bit man, find out what you like, network, learn to get good with people... there's just a ton that college provides you beyond a piece of paper in business or chemistry. Take advantage of clubs and try a bunch of new stuff. I never thought I'd go into business until I went to college.

 

[Lex DeVille]

I don't know what your aptitudes are, but if it were my decision I would pick computer science, with an emphasis on machine learning - there's a tsunami of automation and productivity enhancements coming from machine learning.

Git Gud now and you can get a piece of that pie.

^
This

 

[Brian C.]

Economics was great.

Learning about capitalism: it's foundations, its constructs, it's lessons....

To me, it was the coolest thing; learning about money. I took entrepreneurship classes too, and that helped to complement my college ("business") education.

Best of luck choosing though man. You'll have a blast when you go - regardless of major.

 

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[GuestUser450]

Kneejerk says any hard science. But i'm going with Psychology with a minor in probability/statistics.
The world runs on stories. Understanding why and how we're addicted to them is a superpower.

 

[Dbbuzbee]

I don't know what your aptitudes are, but if it were my decision I would pick computer science, with an emphasis on machine learning - there's a tsunami of automation and productivity enhancements coming from machine learning.

Git Gud now and you can get a piece of that pie.

That is interesting. That is what I was thinking about, although I don't see myself as a big computer guy I know I could learn it if I really devoted myself to doing so. Machine learning while we move towards AI and VR are both fields that I feel a computer science degree will really aid in creating business opportunities around it.

 

[Andy Black]

I don't think going to College is the "epitimone of a non-Fastlane decision". Even if it was, make your decisions based on where it will take *you* and not on what you think others will think of it.

My degree was Maths, and after 15 years of working with databases I started an MSc in Computing for Knowledge Management (complete with Data Mining, Machine Learning, and AI modules).
It got too geeky for me and focused way too much how to write up academic papers. I dropped it like a hot snot.

I'm glad I found AdWords and can use my data and IT skills to change people's lives more directly.
There's enough Maths, IT, and Data in what I do to build on my geeky strengths, and I get to rub shoulders with business owners every day.

Whatever technical skills you pick up will help you get a good job. They'll help you freelance too.

To build a business you'll need commercial skills (aka street smarts).

I'd loved to have studied a decent business, marketing, economics undergrad course, so I didn't have to unlearn so much of the "engineering" mindset I picked up over the years.

 

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[Vigilante]

Economics

 

[startinup]

That is interesting. That is what I was thinking about, although I don't see myself as a big computer guy I know I could learn it if I really devoted myself to doing so. Machine learning while we move towards AI and VR are both fields that I feel a computer science degree will really aid in creating business opportunities around it.

I am just finishing up my computer science major so I can share insight on it as a Fastlane choice...

If you decide to go the computer science route. It is REALLY important that you go to the right university. I go to a great school, but the computer science department has not kept up with the field. Don't get me wrong, I'm taking Machine Learning right now.

But what our school lacks are strong project-based, applied courses, and in some cases, modern material. To give you an idea of what I mean...

At my girlfriend's school they have classes like: Android and IOS Development, Web Development (MEAN Stack), etc.

In her Programming languages course, they learned about newer languages like Go, Haskell, and others.

We don't have Mobile Dev or Web dev courses. And in my Programming Langs course we wasted time on some archaic languages like Fortran, Smalltalk and Ada.

It's safe to say my department needs an update.

---

Anyway, since you seem like you want to go down the C.S. route, choice of school is very important.

Ask questions about specific classes you want.

What languages will we go over in programming languages? What applied courses are available? What electives are available?

Come up with a list of questions that are important to you too. Do your research. Since you're interested in AI, find out what techniques are being used right now and ask if you will learn about these techniques.

---

LONG P.S. If you can afford it, being in California might be a good choice. Since they are so close to all big tech companies the schools are on the cutting edge. My girlfriend has a professor who worked for Google. She goes to a tiny school, but since they are so close to the center of tech, they can easily find professors who know about the modern technologies.

 

[JAJT]

I know that College is the epitome of a non-Fastlane decision

Like Andy, I disagree with this.

While everything you "need" can be acquired without college, there are still lots of reasons to attend - as a "backup" plan, for the positive life experience, for building up and practicing your work ethic (don't be a lazy college party kid, obviously), learning a few new skills (albeit you could do the same in a non-formal environment the formal atmosphere does "force" you to learn it if your discipline is low right now), etc...

My attitude is that college and university need to be personal decisions for the right reasons and not forced on you under false pretenses. If your parents want you to take out a 6 figure loan "because it will get you a good job" I would call for a hard stop and aggressive push-back, for example. But if you want to go for your own reasons (and not because "everyone does it" or "I need it for..."), and it doesn't suck the life out of your future like a huge loan would do, well go nuts and tell anyone who disagrees to eat an egg.

All that being said - this *IS* an opportunity to learn something. Pick something worthwhile. If I had to go back I'd pick finance or accounting because those are always relevant in every single venture and do NOT come easily to most people. Web design is usually pretty easily hired out to others for reasonable rates but knowing this yourself gives you an edge in building your own sites AND gives you a freelance opportunity as well. I love the automation approach if that's something you think you could excel at (I couldn't.... I find it fascinating at a distance and that's good for me...).

Personally I would NOT take a business program. I say this as someone who graduated with a 3 year business admin diploma, marketing major. Everything I learned was less useful than various books I've picked up, they idealize the business landscape in unrealistic ways and encourage you to be a nice little manager one day. It's cool to say you're taking business but that's about where I think the value ends, at least in my experience. If I were to suggest business it would be an MBA program with a history of pumping out winners disproportionately into the real world - but then we're likely talking about 6 figure loans and 5 year programs again which I generally disagree with. In short - go all in or not at all.

 

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[Millenial_Kid5K1]

As a counterpoint to a lot of what people have said, I'd say pick the hardest major you can find. I don't know that I'll ever get to use thermodynamics or chemical kinetics outside of my day job, but majoring in chemical engineering taught me when to buckle down and work, and trained my mind to break down extremely complex problems into a series of smaller problems.

And hey, it comes with a decent salary (read, starting capital).