Getting a degree in something I don't like.

Out if curiosity what kind of careers did you look into? I ask a 2nd-year Geography major also in Canada.
 
And you'll be the butt of every other major's jokes. :p

Sure, right up until the point a few years after college when the business major pulls up next to you in, oh, let's say a Jaguar, at the lights with you still in your Geo Metro from college.... :mrgreen:
 
A lot of it though, is I really have no clue what it is that I do want to do. So if I were to stop taking these classes... what would I be doing...

I'm 30 and never started college for the same reason.

Please don't waste it.
 
As well, I've looked thoroughly at the careers I could get once I graduate with the double major, and I cannot see myself enjoying them, especially as a long term career. I feel as though what I'm doing right now is just pushing myself into something I won't love.

What would you do in a situation like mine? I need pointers. Really not sure what I even want at this point in life.

I don't have any good advice for you. All I know is I'm a couple years further down the line of the sample problem. Graduated with a degree I only majored in because it came easy to me but didn't care about. That got me a job I didn't want and I have to go back to grad school if I'm going to keep it. I still don't have any better idea of what I'd like to do than when I was in college. So if you can figure out something sooner than later.
 
Here's how you figure out what you want to do: what would you do with your time if you didn't need to work?

Now find a way to get paid to do that.

In the meantime, take a semester off. Try on a few jobs. See what gets you motivated. School will always be there if you need to come back to it.
 
Like others said, if it's really bad, take a break off, go travel the world, or do something you want to see yourself doing.

It's all about checks and balances. I've either pretty much been dissatisfied with 60-70% of my classes, however I know my major (Mech Eng) will be worth it to me later in life, which I why I am at least sticking for the Bachelor's. However, I'm thankful I've found something worthwhile and interesting related to my major (SAE), though should have been done much earlier, which at least diminishes some of the disillusionment brought on by the coursework.

As some wise guy (not Italian) said, "we are what we continually do." It may seem like a huge uphill battle now, but starting tomorrow take steps to do what you want and are passionate about, and with some patience and persistence it will work out in the end.

Do and control things in your life that are controllable, and try not to worry about the stuff that is not.

Here's how you figure out what you want to do: what would you do with your time if you didn't need to work?

Now find a way to get paid to do that.

While I agree with that statement I don't think it's necessarily that simple, at least not now. Life especially at this (st)age, has a funny way of catching up and putting random shit in front of us (as I'm sure you already know), and in our fast-paced society, it's difficult to focus on the summit when you're blindsided on the side of the mountain. Coupled with inexperience and lack of discipline, the cliche to just "find your passion and then get paid for it" is inadequate and potentially a wild goose chase.

I think the best idea here is to go gather as much experience as possible, while still keeping yourself afloat/off welfare, and then sit down somewhere and utilize all that info to pinpoint exactly what your passion or "legacy" is. It could be being the CEO of Microsoft, or it could be being the nicest corner gas-station manager, but these are all worthwhile paths as long as they fit into your idea of what your passions and goals are.
 
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I am currently in Computer Science, something I thought I would love and found out I don't want anything to do with it so this will be my last year.
Exactly the same thing happened to me.

Whatever new major you decide to pursue, please don't pursue any of these.

While most of these are utter bs, there is nothing wrong with studying communications. That's what I'm doing actually...

There are no "hoes" or "bros" in any of the communication classes I've taken. I've thoroughly enjoyed studying communication, Public Relations in particular, and think that it's actually very useful. It has made me a much better public speaker, and writer.
I have to agree that there is some dogma connected to communication majors. There is no specific thing that you do after you graduate. You have to adapt. I personally, would like to continue to Grad School, then get my Doctorate and eventually be a Communication professor.

You know - what Woody Allen said "Those who can't - teach, those who can't teach - teach gym." ;) It's somewhat true...
 
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well it turns out I'm apparently the one guy on Finalgear in almost exactly the same situation...

And in Canada...

It all started when I graduated highschool, I never knew what to do with myself. I knew 100% sure I would be working in the automotive field when I was older but I just never knew where at.

Things might be different here because I almost never even graduated highschool, Math fucked me over big time and I passed basic with a 50% average. Fast forward a little while and I'm chilling ( taking a year off for this reason) and thinking of what to do or where to go.

I wanted to do autobody and painting (I think I'd kick ass at it) but I'd have to move about 350kms away to the "capital city" with people I don't entirely respect (very few real friends interested in cars) and get a student loan and buy groceries every week and pay rent and a bunch of other stuff I can admit I wasn't ready for at the time.

I ended up saying "hey, I'll just do the automotive service technician course at the school 2.5kms away from home!" because it was obviously a hell of a lot easier on everything.

Now I'm doing this course, still very much interested in cars and not even really hating the course all that much either but I always have a nagging thought in the back of my mind saying " There's no way in hell I'm gonna change tires/look for sockets/tear apart sunfire engines/ etc for the rest of my life"

And now I'm up to current (in a nutshell anyway) And I'm sticking with it while I'm doing good but If I started to fail I wouldn't be too upset about leaving.

Plans for afterwards? If all goes well with my current course I'm taking the autobody and painting course right after and building from there.

If I fail and leave? I'll try Automotive journalism ( would need major writing help )

If everything fails? Car salesman because I could do that without major problems.

Hope this helped anyway, it's probably my longest post on Finalgear so far, lol
 
If I may elaborate on Night_Hawk's post,

If you are good at doing something with your hands - go ahead - pursue it. I understand that he is good with working on cars, then there's no real need for him to go to college. Especially, if he likes what he is doing.

Some of us (actually most college student) can't do shit! So we go to college, to learn...but it's mostly theoretical. No real skills. One of the very few benefits is that at the end you receive a degree that qualifies you to apply for a job, even though you can't really do anything.

I would love to be able to do things with my hands, but I can't. I'm really good at physics and math...but when it comes to the practical, real-life side of things...not so much. Let's put it this way: I've jacked up my car and removed a wheel about 10-15 times in the past year. Out of these 15 times, the car fell of the jack once. How well does that speak for my mechanical skills? ;)
 
I'm in the same year as you and I was in the same situation last year. The choice I made was to switch majors into something I found I really enjoyed (Political Science and South Asian Studies). So take some time and figure out what you want to do, then do it. Also, it does bear mentioning that if you're going to grad school, your undergraduate degree doesn't matter too much to what you'll be doing in the real world. My dad was a History and Literature major in college, then he got a JDMBA. My mom was a major in Latin American Studies and she got an MBA and a PhD.
 
Wow, nice to see so many responses. Just as a bit more info, my parents are kind enough to pay for the entirety of my education, so while I won't have to deal with extra debts, I don't want to make their money a total waste.

Secondly, I'm only actually halfway through my school, because I've set it up to grad in five years (take less classes at a time = do better at them)

I think what I'm going to do is drop the Enviro Sci major (don't really enjoy any of it at all, just thought I might as well get a double major with a class which relates to the world today) and just go with the Geo BA.

But as I'm doing that, I have a connection to a guy that started and runs his own very successful dealership... bought my car from him, and my father has bought two cars from him, know him fairly well. Going to see if he has anything to say or if I can give me some insight on being a car salesman.

Also good friends with the guy who runs a pick'n'pull for BMWs...

Out if curiosity what kind of careers did you look into? I ask a 2nd-year Geography major also in Canada.

Depends what you focus on. The ultimate sort of thing is working with agencies which study things, in the sort that you get to travel the world and write papers about stuff.

But more hands on jobs... lots of things available in the government, working with things like the census and studying the data involved.

One of my friend's is doing a focus on water, and as such she has a guaranteed job doing data collection on shrimp and crab populations. If you live in BC, fisheries and forestry has a lot of available jobs. Mining as well, in other provinces.

I have some other jobs written down somewhere... and there was a pamphlet at school I perused called "What can I do with a geography degree?!"

A guy I know ended up making the university's maps once he graduated :p
 
I think you meant stigma and not dogma, but that's fine.

Anyway let's be upfront here, anyone who's chosen any major on that list will be quick to proclaim that there's nothing wrong with studying that major; it's self-justification after all. I still think communications isn't a very useful major however, and we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

Yes, you are correct. I don't know how I messed this one up :)

You are also right that everyone will defend his or her own major. I'll just say that the majority of people that work in the media have a degree in communication. In addition, most large companies have a PR/Media division. Not to mention that a lot of company CEO's and COO's have communication degrees as well.

Of course, that says nothing about the actual knowledge gained. There is a reason why communication falls under the Bachelor of Arts category - it is an art, and requires a certain amount of talent and proper apptitude. Everyone can get a degree in communication, but very few actually have what it takes to build a successful career. (I hope I'll be one of the later)
 
Yes, you are correct. I don't know how I messed this one up :)

You are also right that everyone will defend his or her own major. I'll just say that the majority of people that work in the media have a degree in communication. In addition, most large companies have a PR/Media division. Not to mention that a lot of company CEO's and COO's have communication degrees as well.

Of course, that says nothing about the actual knowledge gained. There is a reason why communication falls under the Bachelor of Arts category - it is an art, and requires a certain amount of talent and proper apptitude. Everyone can get a degree in communication, but very few actually have what it takes to build a successful career. (I hope I'll be one of the later)

I would of thought most CEO's or COO's would have had business degrees though our current CEO has an engineering degree.
 
I would of thought most CEO's or COO's would have had business degrees though our current CEO has an engineering degree.

CFO's have to have a business degree. CEO's and COO's generally can have a variety of degrees, but they have to have the ability to interact with the different audiences (media, employees, customers, investors etc...).

We've gone slightly off topic I think...
 
I was in the same exact situation before when I was younger.

I was an Electrical Engineer and Computer Science major, thinking because I loved electronics I figured hey why not. Work as an engineer at a reputable firm that makes cool electronics like apple or IBM. Then after doing some of the courses and taking an internship I decided I was doing the wrong thing. This was at about the end of my junior (third) year of college. I ended up just taking a break, and working for a few years, moving away a couple times. While working I found out I loved technology, but not to the extent of an engineer. Also, most engineers aren't the most social of people, and usually are bossed around by managers that didn't have degrees in engineering.

Long story short, I ended up working as a tech, and then moved my way up to an IT Manager. I liked the IT manager role so much that I wanted to learn to do business and eventually get an MBA. Basically I want to run some sort of technology firm or business. I didn't know exactly what, but something there. If I didn't get laid off, then I would of pursued trying to start my own firm. I decided to go back to college and finish a degree in Information Systems with a concentration in Business/Economics. Then I'll go along and get my MBA. (I love severance pay :mrgreen:) I'm only 27 now, so I know its not too late.

My point is this, the minute you're unsure about something, it isn't a bad idea to figure out what you really want. When you go into college, many people think they know what they want but end up changing because they really didn't know. I found what I was really happy with, and that was being my own boss and working with technology. I don't have to develop it, just manage it. So take a year or two off, work, and see what you enjoy.

A lot of jobs at the start don't require a college education, so don't be afraid to apply to some of those jobs. Good Luck! :cool:
 
As an optional test protocol, we are pleased to present an amusing fact: your major doesn't necessarily dictate your career path. Don't forget, James May graduated university with a degree in classical piano (or something) before he became an automotive journalist. The college degree is starting to become less and less relevant in this crippling job market; it's all dependent on what you enjoy instead of what you got your degree in.

Think about that. This is coming from someone who hates college and everybody in it.

Whatever new major you decide to pursue, please don't pursue any of these.

P.S.: my girlfriend's in art history; she wants to become a curator and already spent a summer interning at the MET. So it's not exactly as worthless as a website with pictures of girls in bikinis would make you think it is. :roll:
 
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^ People say that, but I find in reality what they want most of all is to shove you into a tiny pigeon hole based entirely on their perception of whatever you majored in. I've found it impossible to even begin a discussion with someone on getting out of field.
 
I have people telling me how worthless my Writing major is; even tonight, like about 20 minutes ago, some asshole who I hadn't talked to in three semesters was like, "oh, you won't find anything with that major." Considering he's a fucked-up neo-Nazi creeper in charge of the sketchiest fraternity on campus, I have no sympathy for the fucktard and choose to ignore naysayers like that in general. It's not your major per se; it's what you can ultimately do with the skills you learn from the required classes in there.

And as a Writing major, I'm expected to become a suicidal alcoholic. :p
 
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