I'm stressed out, honestly

[frozenpancakes]

I have been so sure that I wanted to major in biology. I find science interesting and I think it is very important. It was always between English and Science for me, they are my two loves. Even after I settled on biology, there was a little voice at the back of my head that said "but what about English??"

Today, I told my grandmother that English was the only class I could really get excited about. She responded, "Well, maybe you're heading into the wrong field."

That really struck a chord with me and sort of validated my fears of leaving English behind. Now I'm back to where I was before. I have no idea what I want to do and no idea what I want to major in.

It's all just very stressful.

 

Edit: It's hard to tell the difference in what I think about this and what I have been taught to think. I am trying to get away from the negative bias towards English, but it's very hard to stop. I keep thinking about all the negative things people say about English major careers, and how much more Science majors make. I know money is not the most important thing here. It's complicating this decision even more than it needs to be.

[frozenpancakes]

It's less of a "choose between the two" than it is not being sure that I will enjoy science as much as I thought I would.

 

I'm taking two science classes right now and I don't think I want to work with this forever.

[.Brianna.]

I was an English major (well English education) and I definitely hear where you're coming from. My background is pretty similar to what you're describing - I'm good with math and science, but I can't seem to enjoy myself when I'm doing things in those areas. My parents were pretty encouraging but my mom does like to point out that I'm never going to make very much money as a teacher (especially since we live in the south) - my response to her has always been that if I wanted to do it for the money I would have picked a different major.

 

I think the best thing you can do is follow your heart - it's going to take some soul searching and you won't be able to reach a decision overnight, but you have to do what is right for you. The beauty of English is there are so many applications of the field that don't require a degree - reading is a fantastic hobby, if you're into writing you can still blog or even for publication on the side. So if you do decide to follow the route of the sciences you don't have to give up what you love about English :)

[Kute]

I know a few people who use english to their advantage. One lady I know lives in Paris. She teaches English to French kids. She doesnt even speak french....

the second person I know teaches English to Disney employees in China. He doesn;t speak ANY Chinese. They both make good money, and get to see the other side of the world.

Just do what you feel works for you, who cares what anyone else says. You know every single person in the entire world whos ever accomplished great things have been told negative things. No you cant do it, youre not smart enough, that job isnt good. bla bla bla. but who cares? If they all listened to those people then nothing would be accomplished.

[jellysundae]

Unlike everyone else I've got nothing helpful to contribute :* I hope you do eventually settle on something that helps you find happiness and fulfilment in employed life though. Frustrates me how so many adults always put money before anything else. I know it's because they don't want their kids to struggle, and the less altruistic reason of they want their kids to be rich and successful so they can revel in parental pride/smugness, also, rich children feel a higher obligation to care for aging parents financially (cynical, me?).

 

Me personally, I'd rather have a job that I loved and to just get by; than make a heap of cash but be unfilfilled : /

 

Science covers such a massive area, what direction had you initially intended to go in? I had a dream of being a meteorologist, but I never did anything about it ._.

[rntracy1]

What Kody said!!! Also, What Jellysundae asked. What area of science were you looking into? Obviously as a doctor, Angelo' is a scientist. As a nurse, I am a scientist. We both studied a LOOOOOOT of science. However, I don't know that you would really consider either one of us a SCIENTIST per se', but we are.

 

When I first started going to college, I majored in Business. Uggh, I hated it. I had to take a course in Psych, and I loved it. The community college I was going to didn't have a Psych major, the closest thing they had was Human Services. It would transfer for a 4yr degree, IF I wanted to do that, but the 2 yr Human services degree would get me jobs if I wanted. Anyway, one of my professors one day said, "We don't get into Human Services for the money......." I thought to myself, "um, well, errr, I do need money." I checked into how much money I would make in Human Services with my 2 yr degree, and it was EXACTLY the same as I was making as a Nurse's Aide. I thought, "WHAT!!?!! I am going to school, spending all this money, only to make what I am making now with my $400.00 Nurse's Aide certificate!!! I guess I will HAVE to go on to a 4 year school!!" During my internship I was talking to a woman who had her 4 year degree in Psych. She told me, DON'T do it!!! Unless you get a graduate degree in Psych, there is NOTHING you can do with it. She said, "get your degree in Social work if you must go into the field, because if you only go to the bachelor level, a BSW, at least you can still do something with it." (she was right, I know a woman, I took care of her husband when I was a nurse's aide, she has her BSW and did case management for the state dept of children and families.) Anyway, I told her, "Oh yeah, I'm doing psych because I'm gonna get my PhD and I am going to have my own practice, and blah blah blah. yeah right!!! It is VERY difficult to get a graduate degree if mommy and daddy are not footing the bill. So I learned the hard way. The REALLY hard way, because not only do I have a degree that is absolutely useless, but I knew NOTHING about schools, loans, etc. because I was the FIRST person in my family to ever go to college. So I knew nothing about state school vs. private school and how much more expensive the private school I was accepted to, was. I thought ALL colleges were that expensive. Uggh! So, after getting my Psych degree, I went back to being a private nurse's aide, then went to nursing school. I got my Associate's Degree RN, worked for 6 years then went back for my BSN which I paid cash for. I didn't want anymore loans.

It depends what you want to do, NOT what you want to major in! You may find certain courses in school that you love, and that may help you decide. IDK how old you are, and sometimes going to college right out of high school is a problem. It sometimes takes life experience in order to know what you want to do with your life. How are you supposed to know what you want to do FOREVER at 18 years old? That is ridiculous. I am not saying that there are not some very mature 18 year old people. Heck, I said I wanted to be a nurse since I was 7 years old. But there were a lot of bumps along the way. I think you have to experience life for a while, figure out what it is that you want to do first, THEN go back to school or whatever, and get your training or certification to do it. Take it from me, it is a huge waste of money to go in one direction only to find out that you really wanted to go in another direction all along.

[jellysundae]

Tracy's so very right; life experience can change what you study completely, because until you have that experience you have no idea what you really want to do. Life don't come with a map, you have to draw your own via exploration and learning :) Luckily there's people out there to guide you on your journey, but you do have to find these people yourself. You've started out on that journey by talking to us though :D

[extrasuperfantastic]

I was a digital arts student at a school that is ~60% engineering students. I knew a lot of engineers who really loved what they were doing, but I also knew plenty of engineers who were in it for the job security, or because their family expected it from them. None of those people were happy. On the other hand, a solid chunk of my digital arts classmates were former engineering students! They are intelligent, creative people, which is what you need to be a great engineer, but it also makes you a great artist. My friends are doing amazing things and none of them regret taking the risk to do what they love and forget about the money.

 

Your situation is a little different because you really love both subjects. But if you decide to stick with bio, you should choose it because you love it, and not because you're afraid of the risk you'd be taking by switching.

 

If you're worried that changing your major is a big deal, I promise it's not! It's a very common thing to do, and it probably won't set you back this early in the game.

 

Would you consider minoring in biology? What if you were a science writer for a website or magazine, or wrote books that taught children or the general public about science? :)

[siniri]

Is it possible to study both? The thing about "science" is that actual science is very different from science class. Especially intro biology courses, which cover a wide array of subjects, require much memorization (and often little actual thinking), and don't really go into anything in detail.

 

I went into college wanting to be a "medical researcher" because my sister went to nursing school when I was little, and when I told her I wanted to be a doctor to help people, she told me that medical researchers find the cures that doctors use, and can help a lot more people, and this idea really excited me (I think it was pretty obvious from a young age that I had a very scientific mind -- I was always very curious and wanted to understand how things worked). When I was in high school, I read The Hot Zone and was drawn to epidemiology ("disease detective"), but I couldn't figure out how to become one. Since the ones in the book were medical doctors, I figured I'd go that route and figure it out from there.

 

And so I entered college and double-majored in biochemistry and biology. I realized I wasn't going to get through medical school not wanting to be an actual doctor (I don't have the self-discipline for such a huge commitment unless it's something I actually enjoy), especially after I realized there are schools of public health, and I didn't need the MD. I went to a college with large research facilities, and got a job in a physiology research lab the summer after my second year (which I continued full-time summers and part-time during the school year until I graduated). I enjoyed working in the lab, but I was uncomfortable with the little animal work I had to do, and I wasn't enthused about physiology; I've always been more interested in infectious diseases.

 

I was exposed to basic epidemiology in some of my upper level biology courses, but I knew it might not represent what it was truly like, and I was torn between that and research. I took a temporary job at a pharmaceutical company in Research Triangle Park; that experience taught me that I needed to work for academia or a non-profit, not a corporation. I was able to get a job in a virology lab at a university that also had a school of public health. I took a few public health courses while working, and I realized that I wanted to see how what I was doing was benefiting people -- and basic virology research was too far removed for me to feel that. So I went to public health school.

 

Now my interests have shifted a bit; I'm still interested in infectious diseases, but I'm also interested in the relationship between poverty and health (thanks to both my coursework and my volunteer "work"). Looking back at my college courses, I struggled with organic chemistry, found the required memorization for my biochemistry courses tedious, was a bit bored by physical chemistry... I loved some of my upper level biology courses, especially the ones that required more thinking and less memorization, and the labs that allowed us to actually develop our own experiments. But I appreciated the fuller understanding of how living things work, from the molecular level all the way to the organismic level. My chemistry was very useful in the lab (making solutions, etc.). Both degrees are very useful when reading journal articles, studies, etc., because I can understand most of the experimental techniques used, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. It was an excellent foundation for public health.

 

My science degrees are also helpful in reading books, articles, essays, etc. -- and not just about science. A good science education can teach you how to be a critical thinker, especially if you're encouraged to look at the strengths and weaknesses of experiments. One of my hobbies is writing, and I'm currently writing a children's book. My writing has sometimes ended up on the back burner, and I do regret letting a bad experience in AP English dissuade me from taking any English courses in college (except for intro to poetry writing), but I figured that it'd be much easier to get writing coaching once I left college than it would be for me to get science experience. Science just has so much specialized knowledge, it takes a long time to learn. (Obviously, English does, too, but we start learning that as infants.)

 

Sorry this is already so long. My story isn't actually meant to persuade you to pursue science. I think it's important to continually reevaluate. Figure out what specifically drew you to science and English in the first place. What do you enjoy in your courses in each? Do those aspects correspond to any specific jobs? (Not necessarily in the same field -- my love of mysteries, puzzles, and detective work can be used in epidemiology, which is a bit far afield from police work!) What didn't you like about your science courses? Are you sure those aspects are actually present in "real" science (or at least, in all real science)?

 

Finally, have you talked to an adviser/mentor in either field? Not necessarily a professor; maybe a grad student or a professional... find out what it's really like to do it, not just learn about it. Maybe take a part-time job (try to get one where you can do more than just wash glassware, though you might have to start there...) or join a club (the newspaper?).

 

I have friends who double-majored in unrelated things, such as science and government, or music and science. You don't have to do just one thing (one PhD student in virology was also a semi-professional opera singer). Or you can combine them -- we really need more decent science journalists! Anyway, if you have any questions about things within my experience, I'm happy to talk to you more via PM or IM.

[jellysundae]

Wow, that's a great post, Sini! Really showcases the process of trying different aspects of your interests and narrowing things down through experiance to where your true vocation lies, fabulous :D

[frozenpancakes]

Unlike everyone else I've got nothing helpful to contribute :* I hope you do eventually settle on something that helps you find happiness and fulfilment in employed life though. Frustrates me how so many adults always put money before anything else. I know it's because they don't want their kids to struggle, and the less altruistic reason of they want their kids to be rich and successful so they can revel in parental pride/smugness, also, rich children feel a higher obligation to care for aging parents financially (cynical, me?).

 

Me personally, I'd rather have a job that I loved and to just get by; than make a heap of cash but be unfilfilled : /

 

Science covers such a massive area, what direction had you initially intended to go in? I had a dream of being a meteorologist, but I never did anything about it ._.

 

 

What Kody said!!! Also, What Jellysundae asked. What area of science were you looking into? Obviously as a doctor, Angelo' is a scientist. As a nurse, I am a scientist. We both studied a LOOOOOOT of science. However, I don't know that you would really consider either one of us a SCIENTIST per se', but we are.

 

When I first started going to college, I majored in Business. Uggh, I hated it. I had to take a course in Psych, and I loved it. The community college I was going to didn't have a Psych major, the closest thing they had was Human Services. It would transfer for a 4yr degree, IF I wanted to do that, but the 2 yr Human services degree would get me jobs if I wanted. Anyway, one of my professors one day said, "We don't get into Human Services for the money......." I thought to myself, "um, well, errr, I do need money." I checked into how much money I would make in Human Services with my 2 yr degree, and it was EXACTLY the same as I was making as a Nurse's Aide. I thought, "WHAT!!?!! I am going to school, spending all this money, only to make what I am making now with my $400.00 Nurse's Aide certificate!!! I guess I will HAVE to go on to a 4 year school!!" During my internship I was talking to a woman who had her 4 year degree in Psych. She told me, DON'T do it!!! Unless you get a graduate degree in Psych, there is NOTHING you can do with it. She said, "get your degree in Social work if you must go into the field, because if you only go to the bachelor level, a BSW, at least you can still do something with it." (she was right, I know a woman, I took care of her husband when I was a nurse's aide, she has her BSW and did case management for the state dept of children and families.) Anyway, I told her, "Oh yeah, I'm doing psych because I'm gonna get my PhD and I am going to have my own practice, and blah blah blah. yeah right!!! It is VERY difficult to get a graduate degree if mommy and daddy are not footing the bill. So I learned the hard way. The REALLY hard way, because not only do I have a degree that is absolutely useless, but I knew NOTHING about schools, loans, etc. because I was the FIRST person in my family to ever go to college. So I knew nothing about state school vs. private school and how much more expensive the private school I was accepted to, was. I thought ALL colleges were that expensive. Uggh! So, after getting my Psych degree, I went back to being a private nurse's aide, then went to nursing school. I got my Associate's Degree RN, worked for 6 years then went back for my BSN which I paid cash for. I didn't want anymore loans.

It depends what you want to do, NOT what you want to major in! You may find certain courses in school that you love, and that may help you decide. IDK how old you are, and sometimes going to college right out of high school is a problem. It sometimes takes life experience in order to know what you want to do with your life. How are you supposed to know what you want to do FOREVER at 18 years old? That is ridiculous. I am not saying that there are not some very mature 18 year old people. Heck, I said I wanted to be a nurse since I was 7 years old. But there were a lot of bumps along the way. I think you have to experience life for a while, figure out what it is that you want to do first, THEN go back to school or whatever, and get your training or certification to do it. Take it from me, it is a huge waste of money to go in one direction only to find out that you really wanted to go in another direction all along.

I had/have no idea what I want to do after school :( I was kind of hoping that I would get into school and learn what I'd like from there.

Thank you to everyone for the great replies!

[jellysundae]

Finding some ways to get some life experience before basically blindly choosing a major seems like a great option then. Hopefully your fellow Americans can give you some tips in that area, 'cause I've got no clue what options you have in that country. Do you have career advisors (or any other advisors) that you can talk to? Maybe people not actually linked to the school so without a vested interest in getting you to sign up for something/anything at that school.

[Naamah D.]

Try both studies. While I'm not in school right now I kept changing my mind throughout high school. At first I wanted to go into business administration and then I started an internship working with little kids and while I did enjoy that, I decided not to because of stress and sensory overload in classrooms.

 

I've decided to train service animals and am sticking to that and would also like to do animal rehabilitation for people who have been through trauma like car accidents, retired military veterans or even people who were abused as children.

 

Try lots of different things and see what you want to stick with :)