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What would you have majored in?

patientPrince$$

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:hurray:I'm new here and I've been browsing alot of diff topics. I was thinking about some stuff and would like to ask the board this question:

WITH YOUR FASTLANE MINDSET, IF YOU HAD TO GO BACK IN TIME AND CHOOSE ANOTHER FIELD OF STUDY/MAJOR WHAT WOULD THAT BE? IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD STATE WHY YOU DECIDED ON THE MAJOR AND WHAT NOW, MADE YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT IT.:smx6:
 
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yveskleinsky

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I started off with a major in business and a minor in marketing, then switched to English with a minor in literature. ...Mainly because the guy I was dating didn't like me majoring in business/marketing. Thought it was a "soulless" pursuit. Turns out I wasn't soulless, just spineless. ...If I had it to do over again I would've stayed the course with business/marketing...and I would've gotten rid of that guy on the second date. :)

Just a little background: My major in English/Lit was all for the ultimate purpose of teaching special needs kids/ adults to learn to read, or to learn to speak/read English. I did that for awhile and it was great. I learned a lot about how to convey a murky concept in the simplest terms possible as well as how to make learning fun and engaging. Surprisingly, these are two skill sets that I have found come in very handy in multiple business environments.

...Why? Are you at a crossroads as far as a direction to choose?
 

djs13

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I think it depends on the college. For example, I'm going to community college in January when I'll be majoring in Business Administration. If I can pull off slightly better grades in the next two years I'll be able to transfer to NYU or Syracuse. NYU offers Business with a concentration in real estate while Syracuse offers a concentration in entrepreneurial studies. Both are pretty different programs.

My big picture plan is to go from MVCC to Syracuse and then to graduate school for a JD/MBA duel degree program.
 

rcardin

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My major was in elementary education with a reading specialty. So far it has been an interesting ride. I'm going into my 112th year of teaching. Benefits aren't bad and only working 187 days a year is a definite plus. My pay this year will be 49,750 give or take a few bucks. So pay is not bad, time off is excellent and I work 8:45-3:55.

The bad is:
dealing with parents who believe their kids can do no wrong
kids who could care less about school. this is a direct relation to the immigration problem in our area.
An administration (school) who somehow believes that "All children are college bound"

If I had to do it all over again I would have gotten a Law degree or an engineering degree. I have friends who went the engineering route. One has his Phd in Electrical Engineering and makes around 200k a year. He has his house paid off and a ton of money in his retirement account.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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My school didn't offer a degree in entrepreneurship so I took what I thought was second best ... finance ... and then a stayed and got another degree in marketing. I think both have served me well -- one being numbers/analytically oriented while the other creative/promotion/advertising oriented.
 

Bilgefisher

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I joined the military in order to pay for my degree. I earned a degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology. When I got out of the service, I went back to study Environmental Engineering. After an eyeopening internship I quickly dropped out. Went to work doing what I did in the service and I rather enjoy it.

In my opinion, the only real degrees I hold are my Military experience and my Dolphins. There is little to no substitution for experience. I would go down that path every single time. It worked great for me. No regrets here. In fact, I feel blessed to have been able to take this path. If I hadn't gone down the road less traveled, I may not have been here today.

Robert Frost anyone?
 
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Jill

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I started off with a major in business and a minor in marketing, then switched to English with a minor in literature. ...Mainly because the guy I was dating didn't like me majoring in business/marketing. Thought it was a "soulless" pursuit. Turns out I wasn't soulless, just spineless. ...If I had it to do over again I would've stayed the course with business/marketing...and I would've gotten rid of that guy on the second date. :)
I knew we were kindred spirits, Yves!!!

Similar to MJ, my degree is in Finance. I knew I loved business and wanted to focus on investments, with emphasis on securities and real estate. (Later found out that it wasn't nearly as fun to invest other folx $ as it was my own!!) Got a minor in entrepreneurship. I can't honestly say than any other major would yield me a better income than I make today. But when I first got out of school and started looking for a job, the fall-back plan was a JD/MBA. I still think I would enjoy law - not for the coin, but because I love to argue logic!

So to your question . . .

If I had to do it again, I'd probably study MIS (to gain more technical knowledge for a world that we had yet to imaging WAAAY back in 1982) with an emphasis or minor in marketing.
 

hakrjak

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If I could have done things again, I would do a major in Law or Petroleum Engineering.

Instead I went into IT, and am forever living under the threat of layoffs with no pay increases, offshoring, etc - It was a much easier choice at the time, but the future just wasn't as bright as we all thought it would be.

- Hakrjak
 

hatterasguy

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The school of hard knocks, Harvard business, or West Point.


Wish I worked harder in HS. A West Point or Coast Guard Acadamy would be a sweet degree.

The Coast Guard Acadamy is the hardest school to get into in this country. They won't even look at you if you dont't have better than a 4.0 average in HS. Don't waste the paper to send your application in. Thats not the only criteria, but don't waste your time if you don't have it.
 

PurEnergy

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My son is 16 and we are currently exploring this same question. I've got three years of an accounting degree from a private college. Life got in the way and who knows if I'll ever go back to finish it. If I do it will probably be just to finish what I started.

This is how I see it and sort of the theme of the discussions between me and my son. You can work for someone else or you can work for yourself. Either is fine and there's money to be made in either. A degree is a prerequisite for success in corporate America. You don't have to have one to work for yourself but you will need some skills.

If you want to make a lot of money working for someone else, you will need to spend a lot of years getting to that point more than likely. You SHOULD be smart, strive to have a degree from a prestigious school, be polished, and will need to stay motivated to get to the top of the ladder. Unless of course you want to be a doctor. If that's the case, suck it up and do whatever it takes to graduate medical school. Lot's of money to be made helping others.

I think a business degree is the best general degree to have in the corporate world. If you are thinking a little more conservatively you might consider a degree in a specialized field like accounting or engineering. It depends on what you like to do and what classes you can excel in. You will probably always be able to get a decent job with a specialized degree. You can also use minors to your advantage.

If you are going into BUSINESS for yourself than business again is probably the best route to go. But to tell you the truth if I had to do it all over again, I like hatterasguys's idea of going to one of the military academies. That would be fun in my opinion.

One of my best friends has a degree from a not so prestigious school in marketing. I promise you he was drunk a good bit of the time if not all six years. He is now the VP of a very popular micro brewery in California (his dream job) and he makes a very good living. I think the key is to simply get it done and try not to worry about it a whole lot. Have fun in the process and time will expose your strengths and weaknesses your likes and dislikes.

More than likely you will have to take basic classes the first two years anyhow. Concentrate on those for now and figure it out as part of the process. There are no guarantees in life. Pick any major you want within reason and then go be the master of the universe. My advice is yes, go to college and major in something.

Have fun and good luck.
 

fanocks2003

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:hurray:I'm new here and I've been browsing alot of diff topics. I was thinking about some stuff and would like to ask the board this question:

WITH YOUR FASTLANE MINDSET, IF YOU HAD TO GO BACK IN TIME AND CHOOSE ANOTHER FIELD OF STUDY/MAJOR WHAT WOULD THAT BE? IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU COULD STATE WHY YOU DECIDED ON THE MAJOR AND WHAT NOW, MADE YOU THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT IT.:smx6:

I wouldn't decide to major anyhow. I don't really see the point of doing that when you can go out and start a company and make money that way. If you have interest in something, then pick up a book or a call an expert on the subject. Isn't that faster and easier than scoring a major (which usually takes years to accomplish)?
 
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patientPrince$$

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I posted this question because I'm having a hard time picking a major that I would be passionate about. Being a third time freshman, (Computer Engineering --> Computer Science ---> Business Administration), I feel that by now I should know what I want to study. But I dont, and its bothering me. Recently I've been reading alot about Finance and I feel as though I would get alot out of studying Economics with a concentration in Financial Economics. The community college that I attend now doesn't have an Economics program and I would have to get my GPA up to transfer to BK college where they have a very good ECON PRoGRAM. They also have a minor in Small Business Management and Urban Entrepreneurship which would compliment, I think, my Financial Economics Major. So thats where I'm at right now and the responses to my question is helping in motivating that possibility.
 

JesseO

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Well I haven't technically gone to college, but if I did then I would probably cover business management, real estate, and financing. It's interesting seeing other responses. Knowledge is powerful =)
 

TaxGuy

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add to that fanocks, I'm not sure how it is in Sweden, but here all the total costs of college(tuition, housing, food, living exp, books, etc) are way more than enough to start SEVERAL business ventures :smxB:

as for my journey- I started out in Mechanical Engineering, at a small, not so well known(outside of the industry) but very prestigious(and expensive) school. The school was great, but like MJ I got sick of my environment, maybe it was S.A.D. and had to make a move... the funny thing is that two of the major reasons I chose the school was location- about 250 miles south of Chicago, figured the winters wouldn't be as bad and size- only 1600 students, figured it would be much easier to focus, especially with all the personal attention of strictly PhD profs(no TAs) and less drama and partying than most schools.

When I got there it was the opposite and despite being very anti-drinking in HS(personal reasons) I started to drink and probably would've became an alcoholic if I stayed b/c 1) the weather was no better than Chicago in the Fall/Winter months, 2) it was worse than HS b/c there were cliques galore and being about 85% male meant a severe lack of quantity and quality of females as well as the elitist attitudes of the frat guys who failed to recognize we're all engineers and we're all geeks :rofl:

Xfered to U of I and the rest is history... majored in German, although I look back on it and wish I would've stuck it out in Engineering, the best school to major in is the School of Hard Knocks, lol, even with an Engineering degree and the knowledge that goes with it, the creative endeavors I want to pursue are nothing without the knowledge of how to implement them and turn them into successful business ventures, which wouldn't happen if I would've worked my dream job for Porsche and definitely wouldn't have happened if I took the path that most of my classmates took in working for GM/Ford or one of their subsidiaries.
 
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fanocks2003

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add to that fanocks, I'm not sure how it is in Sweden, but here all the total costs of college(tuition, housing, food, living exp, books, etc) are way more than enough to start SEVERAL business ventures :smxB:

Well, in Sweden it is actually beneficial going to school because you get paid to go to school. Loans can be granted and the student loans are actually the cheapest loans you can get over here. Inflation is actually higher than the interest rate that is charged on those loans:).

There is a hugh difference between US and Sweden when it comes to school and how you finance it. Sweden is actually the total opposite of the US school system. At least it seems like it.

In Sweden they pay you a certain amount every month. Sort of a passive income stream. Something of an encouragement to stay in school. I think that is good, because we need educated men and women. Sweden is very good in paying people in need, but it focuses to much on helping people out instead of encourage people to stand on their own legs. Sure, it is very good to have a safety net catching you when you go bankrupt, but it can become a safe haven for people with no ambition in their lifes what so ever. And this is paid for by the swedish people through heavy taxes. That is the bad side of it all.

I am written (live in) in the UK right now (due to me having my company in England). So I am not entitled to the benefits of the swedish system as of now and have not been for over 1 year now. But I will move back to Sweden when I buy a house (mentioned that in another thread).
 

MJ DeMarco

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.

If I had to do it again, I'd probably study MIS

True story from the mind of a teenager in college ... I originally was to major in Computer Science ... then on the first day of class, Intro to Fortran, I looked around and saw a plethora ofl computer geeks -- men, thick glasses, pimples, dirty hair, with one thing missing: No women. I thought, "Do I want to go thru 4 years of classes without beautiful women?". I walked out and changed my degree.

How's that for being YOUNG AND DUMB!
 

Rawr

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NOT FINANCE NOT FINANCE NOT FINANCE.


Ok, I am done :)

To be honest, from hearing many people speak out, the camp is divided into folks who chose something specific and got a job making 30-40k and now wish they got a business degree. Or the folks that chose business and then realized they should have picked something they liked instead of being another suit. Funny how things work out.


I majored in finance and international business/finance. I was more or less led this way by intuition - I liked talking money and doing investing on my own. But now that I can work in the field, I am not looking forward to it. And the current economic situation does not help.


I strongly believe kids should wait a few more years before committing to college - some soul searching is required for the majority to find out who they are and what they want to do, and getting tied down with debt is not a smart way to start off if you don't know where you are going.
 
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Rawr

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True story from the mind of a teenager in college ... I originally was to major in Computer Science ... then on the first day of class, Intro to Fortran, I looked around and saw a plethora of computer geeks -- men, thick glasses, pimples, dirty hair, with one thing missing: No women. I thought, "Do I want to go thru 4 years of classes without beautiful women?". I walked out and changed my degree.

How's that for being YOUNG AND DUMB!

I would argue it is not dumb -college is the prime time for women chasing. Do you have similar opportunities now as you did back then, I might be totally wrong, but I'd venture to say even with a Lambo it doesn't come close. :smxB:
 

TaxGuy

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and what 15yrs later you made millions on the 'net without a CS degree and probably had your share of women while those geeks with the degrees are probably still virgins and either unemployed or stuck in some dead-end high 5 figure-low 6 figure j-o-b :rofl:

as far as college goes, best advice is just like a business, have a well thought out plan, weighing positives/negatives and get some exposure to what you want to do before making a heavy financial/time commitment, especially with 2 kids and experience with two majors that did not work out make this investment in your education the one that "goes long" and enriches your life both intellectually and financially :cool:
 

kimberland

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I don't know a single computer science guy
who finished his university degree.
Though I went to University Of Waterloo,
one of the top computer science schools in the world
(and yes, it is Canadian and
yes, the boys from Research In Motion were Waterloo students and
yes, that is why the head office is in Waterloo).
The companies hired out of the second year ranks.
The knowledge taught was obsolete.
It was all about the opps.

My major was accounting
and if I could do it all again,
that is what I would take.
Accounting gives you a toe in the door
of any department
in any company (including start ups)
in any industry.

It teaches you how to read financial statements
(the language of business)
and gives you skills to trade for knowledge
(most accountants team up with lawyers
and swap services).
 
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czach41

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If I could do it over, I would most likely major in accounting due to its benefits with reading a business, or computer science.
As it is right now, I am majoring in history, while majoring in everything fastlane at the famous Toilet U.
 

LightHouse

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Never went :/ Started a company less than a year or so out of High School. I would have liked to have gone, for the social and learning experience. but any places that would interest me I couldn't afford. I don't like debt either. I would like to get a Top business school MBA though, again, for the social and learning experience.
 
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GettingThere

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Got my degree in Electrical Engineering...MJ, I hear you with the "no-ladies-in-view" argument regarding the techie majors. :) Didn't take me long to meet my lady, though, because I chose to socailize outside of class unlike many of the thick-glasses around me.

I chose engineering because of my troubleshooting skills and fascination with technical subjects/marvels. At the time, I never pictured a cubicle, or deskwork, or bureaucracy as being parts of an engineer's life. Ignorance was bliss. I do enjoy the work I do, finally, after job hopping for three years. I've settled in nicely to the slowlane routines of so many cube-dwellers...only to be swayed by temptation of fastlane freedoms. What really clicked with me when I joined this community was my first reading of the "normal is:" quote that mentions working hard and paying for items and things we can't enjoy because we are working to pay for them. I'm a logical thinker and when I read that, it made me realize how illogical that "normal" approach to life is. At some points in my reading and thinking (post fastlane introduction) I actually laughed out loud at myself for being so blind.

On the other hand, sometimes laugh about my role as an engineer in the world and how it is 'rewarded' in the typical cube farm. Surgeons, pilots (in my case), meteorologists, etc. are able to perform their duties because an engineer (team) made it possible through the invention, design, and implementation of new tools and technologies. Doctor ($250k/yr): "I need to see the baby to check its health". Engineer ($80k/yr): "uhhh...okay, made you an ultrasound machine. Rub the belly with some jelly and you're good to go."

Fortunately, it's all motivation to merge into the fastlane and not even think about what the "other guy" is doing to feed the tendency to feel like the "victim".

- John
 

Rawr

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Got my degree in Electrical Engineering...MJ, I hear you with the "no-ladies-in-view" argument regarding the techie majors. :) Didn't take me long to meet my lady, though, because I chose to socailize outside of class unlike many of the thick-glasses around me.

I chose engineering because of my troubleshooting skills and fascination with technical subjects/marvels. At the time, I never pictured a cubicle, or deskwork, or bureaucracy as being parts of an engineer's life. Ignorance was bliss. I do enjoy the work I do, finally, after job hopping for three years. I've settled in nicely to the slowlane routines of so many cube-dwellers...only to be swayed by temptation of fastlane freedoms. What really clicked with me when I joined this community was my first reading of the "normal is:" quote that mentions working hard and paying for items and things we can't enjoy because we are working to pay for them. I'm a logical thinker and when I read that, it made me realize how illogical that "normal" approach to life is. At some points in my reading and thinking (post fastlane introduction) I actually laughed out loud at myself for being so blind.

On the other hand, sometimes laugh about my role as an engineer in the world and how it is 'rewarded' in the typical cube farm. Surgeons, pilots (in my case), meteorologists, etc. are able to perform their duties because an engineer (team) made it possible through the invention, design, and implementation of new tools and technologies. Doctor ($250k/yr): "I need to see the baby to check its health". Engineer ($80k/yr): "uhhh...okay, made you an ultrasound machine. Rub the belly with some jelly and you're good to go."

Fortunately, it's all motivation to merge into the fastlane and not even think about what the "other guy" is doing to feed the tendency to feel like the "victim".

- John


What about patenting the device and making gazillions off the royalties?
 

TaxGuy

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What about patenting the device and making gazillions off the royalties?

lol, that's why I got out of engineering- one of the stipulations of employment at ALL big firms is something along the lines of: "because you are using our multimillion dollar equipment any patents you file while working for us are in OUR name, not yours!"

i.e. if I worked for Porsche and designed a revolutionary low-cost, high-performance and high fuel-efficient engine, Porsche would hold the patent, not I and even if I quit half-way through designing it, it's pretty certain that they would have the leverage in court if I tried to file for patenting it.


now on the other hand, I still should have gotten the engineering education so that on my own I have the analytical, creative and problem solving skills as well as a "title" to make my own products more credible :smxB:

not saying you can't develop them on your own, but someone who knows the intricacies of thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and circuitry as well as their practical uses has a better toolbox of ideas for a viable(and non-boring) alternative fuel vehicle than a bench-racer tinkering around in his garage :cool:
 

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