a good major for college?

[sstarch1]

I got an Aerospace Engineering Degree b/c i was good at math and thought differently, (you do have to have a different thought process, which is what i think seperates a great engineer from a good one), im currently doing civil engineering, and will soon be doing patent analysis, with hopefully a career in patent law in the future.

P.S. Patent law = so much $, i dont even know how many "$" to use to explain....here goes: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by sstarch1

I got an Aerospace Engineering Degree b/c i was good at math and thought differently, (you do have to have a different thought process, which is what i think seperates a great engineer from a good one), im currently doing civil engineering, and will soon be doing patent analysis, with hopefully a career in patent law in the future.

P.S. Patent law = so much $, i dont even know how many "$" to use to explain....here goes: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

I agree ,I took the LSAT and was ready to go...then my family got a new addition, and to quit my job and go back to college life for next 3 years was not a wise idea...
But yes, the engineering degree + law degree = patent lawyer = opportunities + a lot of $ (after a few rough years out of school).

[enwhykiid]

checked out patent attourney and its looking pretty good, how many years did it take you guys or will take you?

[sstarch1]

Keep in mind, there is no "major" in law school for patent law.

You are officially a patent lawyer if you hold a JD and have passed the BAR and the Patent Bar Exam.

If you are not a JD, you can still take and pass the Patent Bar Exam as long as you meet certain techincal criteria with your previous education or work experience. If passed, you are now a Patent Agent.

The differenecs between a patent agent and lawyer, is that a lawyer can litigate patent cases in court, while an agent cannont. Other than that, an agent and lawyer can do mostly the same things. The other issue is money, a patent lawyer will make more money than a patent agent, considerable more based on experience/firm.

[BMW F22]

a good major is one that you've picked for yourself and are happy with it.
LOL i have no freaking idea what I just said

[zzinco79]

Mechanical Engineering major at RIT(Rochester Institute of Tech.).

Pretty enjoying my major except for liberal arts

My major classes such as math, physics, Mat'l science, Engineering Designing Graphics, etc...

Sooooooooo fun. Fun as hell. :rocks:

[Agni]

Originally Posted by enwhykiid

checked out patent attourney and its looking pretty good, how many years did it take you guys or will take you?

Pick a major you will like, what do you want to be doing 10 years from now, 20 yrs,..etc?

Start taking different classes. I was in the same position as you.

Pick subjects you might have an interest in. ie: Finance, Computer Science

Then once you take the class and find out you really love that stuff then start looking for an internship. Internship is where you will really get true job experince.

Also I strongly advice against Pre-Med unless you are 100% sure about medicine and YOU REALLY REALLY like med AND can put in the ridiculous amount of work and studying in. Most kids choose med because of the money, but physican salaries are on the decline and its not worth the 10 years of hell you have to go through.
If you do med for the money, realize that unless you are top in your field, you are not going to make more than $250k-300k/yr in your life. Offcourse that is more than enough for anyone, so its personal prefernce. Although u still have malpractice to pay.
While a successful buisness person can make 7 figures easly.
(key word: success)


Pick a major you like, and be the very best at it. Dont pick a major for its money or because someone told you to. You will hate the major, and start getting bad grades.

[enwhykiid]

im really good at math and science especially math, finance and engineering really appeal to me

[Gearcraft]

to the OP: have you tried going to the school's counseling office and use their "Eureka" software? the software asks you questions and gives you choices and narrows down fields of work and majors according to your preferences, skills, and interests.

i tried it and it gave me a long list of possible majors. it also gives the stats about the major.

hope that helps.

[Hawkshaw]

Originally Posted by enwhykiid

im really good at math and science especially math, finance and engineering really appeal to me

I'm telling ya, be an actuary...your skill set is perfect..

http://beanactuary.com/about/best_job.cfm

[just4kickz]

top engineering schools are really competitve... but if your good in calculus and the sciences you should have no problem getting into those schools... and the majors.

[ward]

stay away from anything involving language, english, (stuff you learned in high school)

learn business or engineering/then turn it around and make more $$$

as an engineer you'll start at around $50 grand (rough ballpark/not enough money)

[Asiann]

You can try health care administration which involves finance! Plastic surgeon is really hot here in Hawaii!

[firstkill]

Dont look at online average for jobs... find people who actually work in your state and city and ask around.

starting salary for a giant hospital chain here in california (kaiser)
for a medicine doctor is around 150-170k starting. You work 7 days straight, 60 hrs or so.. then take 7 days off.

Private practice the skys the limit... because its basically just like owning your own business.....

orthopedics in california start around 300k for hospital work with a terrible hours
general surg starts around 250k a yr with even worse hours...

[Viral]

pharmacy = great bang for the buck

[850CSi]

Is there any difference between getting a BA and BS (say, a BA in Econ vs a BS in Econ) as far as job market?

[younghov85]

Originally Posted by DC52E55

I was a pre med, and what a mistake! now I am going to go to dental school.

My mother is a dentist and turned me away from the field because its definitely not worth it. Too much stress

[calvino]

psychology

[BMW320i]

well, u can do as another member said, take courses from different fields and then choose the one you like, (off course you should also concider the job market and the pay)...

what i did is take all commerce introduction courses (accounting, management, marketing, finance, economics, Stat and operations)
i found out i like marketing, Finance and management...and i chose finance because of the job market here...

[Herc]

Originally Posted by Hawkshaw

I'm telling ya, be an actuary...your skill set is perfect..

http://beanactuary.com/about/best_job.cfm

Listen to Hawkshaw, Actuaries make gr8 dough right out of school. It's not easy, you need to study for regular exams to up your status, but you don't need to get your FSA to make a lot of money. Just make sure you can handle university math (4+ years of it) and you must love stats.

My buddy (he's now an FSA) joked how he could retire at 40, if he didn't marry and have kids (although he admits he's not real extravagant with $$$). Now he says he'll probably work until 50. He went to the US, makes more there than he would in TO. I forget the big insurance company he's with, he's in Des Moines.

I have a BMath, and now do software development. Also pretty good money. In the right company it can be great money.

Pharmacy is also an excellent choice, less math but more bio/chem. Pick your poision (no pun intended).

H

[Louie A]

Actuaries/Engineers do make great money out school, but from what I've seen from my friends their pay plateau's out at ~6-7 years of experience.

Aside from picking a profession that intererst you, think about a profession where you have a lot's of runway to make more money. Perhaps I'm biased, but I think Finance is an excellent track. Since graduating from school in 1998 I've more than quintupled (sp?) my pay and see tons of more potential.

So in short, don't limit your choices to what will yield the most out of school. Think long term and about potential trajectory.

[DFW_M]

Originally Posted by Louie A

Actuaries/Engineers do make great money out school, but from what I've seen from my friends their pay plateau's out at ~6-7 years of experience.

Not really true at all.
There is no real upper plateau (sp?), I mean, that would really suck if I (10 yr of exp + MSEE) and someone with 25 years of exp had the same pay. You cannot substitute the experience in Engineering...and driving