STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

GucciGal19 · BCBG

Does your major REALLY matter in the real world?

ejc423 · Coach

I think unless you take very few classes outside your major, it doesn't matter much. I majored in religious studies but I am getting my master's to become a speech-language pathologist. My major has next to nothing to do with my career, and the same goes for most of my friends.

It sounds like you probably already have a well-rounded transcript to offer so I say you should definitely major in the subject you love!

rocky · Coach

It really depends... I have friends in college that were either computer science or electrical engineering majors that ended up doing the same thing.

On the other side, I have a friend that majored in Bio, didn't like doing lab work, didn't want to go to med school, and is now tutoring high school kids. I actually plan on switching careers into business by going to business school, so I guess if you don't like your options with a Bio degree you can always go back to school or find another entry point into the career you want.

-- Edited by rocky at 17:22, 2005-06-10

-- Edited by rocky at 17:23, 2005-06-10

shopgirl82 · Chanel

mine does....nursing. but part of the many many reasons that i picked it, was that i get bored easily and i'm not sure i want to be lifting 200 lb. patients when i'm in my 50's. soo, that being said, nursing was a great choice for me since i can do sales, law, education, etc...with it. a ton of my nursing professors, review court documents (making sure that the nurse, dr, etc...documented things correctly in the patient's charts in cases that have gone to court). this is a side job for them but pays well. another person sells hospital scheduling software to make it easier for administration to make the nurse's schedules. this is nursing, but it's not too far from biology.

why don't you combine your business experience with medicine and go into medical equipment sales (there's a ton of money in that) if you don't like medicine. i was thinking of doing that possibly with nursing. if you know how to sell, and you can say to the buyer, i was there in the field, on the floor with patients, etc...i know that how things work, this is why x machine will work better than y machine. buy our product, etc... i feel like you have an edge over someone who just graduated from business school.

i know a psychology major who works with computers now. i think it doesn't really matter for most careers because they train you in your job and most of the time it's not stuff you learned in college.

don't worry, you can always take night classes in a different major, but i guarantee you, with a biology degree, you will find a job!

HeatherLynn · Gucci

rocky wrote:

It really depends... I have friends in college that were either computer science or electrical engineering majors that ended up doing the same thing.

Thats how I am. I was an industrial engineering student and that is what I now do. My major definitely mattered. I cant speak for anything out of the technical majors though.

honey · Gucci

i think it only matters if you want to go into a technical field that requires specific skills and even then that's arguable. i feel like most people don't end up picking a career until later on in life, so you should just study something you enjoy learning and get the most out of the experience. i studied government, i work for a law firm, but law is not going to be my career, and i knew that when i picked my major. (i guess i should add i went to a liberal arts school so there were very few majors that were actually applicable in the real world.) however i was interested in the subject and i learned a lot so i'm happy.

kenzie · Chanel

Like some of the other girls have said, I think that many times in only matters if you are in a very specialized field. However, in my job search, most of the jobs I've been applying for require a major in either marketing or journalism and they won't consider those who don't have that. So, I think it really depends.

I think your best bet is to major in what you love, pick a good minor (like business or journalism) and possibly a second minor, in a subject that you love. If I had to do it all over again, I would have probably doubled majored in journalism & graphic design and minored in business and musical theatre. As it stands, I ended up with enough musical theatre credits for a minor and obviously, a journalism major, but I wish I had business and graphic design in there, too.

Rica · Kenneth Cole

I found this article several years ago when I was in a similar situation. (I was working towards a bio degree but worried that I'd get tired of being stuck in a lab all day.)

Working Your Degree: Biology

Really, just do what you're truly passionate about and the job will find you.