What are some quality Majors related to PD?

[Erock]

Hey everybody, I'm in my senior year at High School, and I'm applying/looking at colleges. I don't want to be like most students and wind up majoring in something I don't enjoy or something that will not be fulfilling. I was planning on majoring Computer Science, or Computer Engineering, but I realized just recently that, although I spend a lot of time on my PC, I really don't enjoy figuring out technological problems, and I don't think it would fulfilling in the long run.

What I really enjoy doing is reading fascinating books on Personal Development, Spirituality, or anything really interesting that is cutting-edge or that I can apply to my life in some way. I'm also looking for some field where I could contribute to the world and help myself and humanity evolve.

So, what are some good majors that might lead to a really fulfilling career? I was thinking maybe like brain research or something, that would be cool.

Thanks a ton
Eric

By the way, Does anybody know any good resources for learning about Majors or different fields? I'd like to really know what's out there.

[Michael Chui]

All of them and none of them.

There's basically two ways to decide what to do for higher education. You either choose a major and then find an institution that works for you, or you choose an institution and then find a major that works for you.

For me, I decided to take a closer look at UW because it was suggested by a friend. When I did, I discovered The Information School and instantly fell in love with it. I had no idea I wanted to go into information science until I read that.

There are a lot of reasons to choose a university first. The environment, the faculty, the support staff, the locale... it's all important to your education. Choosing the university is, really, choosing all of those things.

Don't worry about your major too much. After you graduate, you'll slowly come to realization that the choice didn't matter as much as you thought it did, and that the actual experience of going through college was the valuable part. The meeting people and sharing perspectives.

So... it sounds to me like you might be interested in Psychology. Find a couple random universities and look up their website, see if anyone goes to them and ask people about it, etc.

[stephencp]

Sometimes majors will matter and sometimes they don't down the line. If you want to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer, it will be difficult if you don't get the required certifications and degrees.

If you want to make a "real big" contribution, then I suggest you look the education of people you admire who've made a similar contribution.

If you want to go generic PD, psychology is probably the best.

Stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics

[Scorpio]

The first thing that sprang to mind for me was Psychology.

One warning is don't take something in university just because you're simply interested in it. If that's the case go to the library or bookstore and learn everything you want to know about the subject for free. If you want to learn specific skills and qualifications that will help you get into a certain career in the future than go to school. There's some overlap of course...

Also, psychology is a bit notorious as a subject that messed up people get into so they can study and try to improve their own issues. If that's your reason for taking psych (not to say the original poster is even into this), then figure out a free way to work on your problems. Just thought I'd mention that for information's sake.

[Erock]

Yeah I'm not sure that psychology is my thing. I agree that I want to learn some specific skills that could help me in the future. I was actually kind of looking for really neat career ideas and the majors that go with them. Or maybe a helpful website that someone knows of.

Thanks
Eric

[Michael Chui]

You could consider Biology.

[Scott]

Who says you need to find a major that fits your interests?

Try creating it. Look into "special major" or "design-your-own" programs. They may be difficult, but I think they would fit you perfectly. Unless, of course, you know of a school that offers Personal Development.

[Michael Chui]

I hadn't thought of that, Scott; brilliant suggestion.

[CStrunk]

First thing to come to my mind is Human Development. Psychology is a good choice, too, if you go for a behavioral track. I agree with Mike Chui though. You could study anything.

As far as researching majors, try www.collegeboard.com

[openeyes]

I'm a senior anthropology major and have enjoyed the breadth of humanity it has allowed me to study (though the best moments have been extracurricular), but if I were to start over I'd seriously consider taking a year or two off and consider only going on to college full time if my chosen career requires it. Even if you have a scholarship as I did, it can often be deferred until you return. Otherwise I'd run my own business and study whatever I want in my free time, possibly living near a college and taking classes when I want to (which is what I plan to do after graduating now). One book I came across that gets into this possibility is "Skip College: Go Into Business for Yourself"

CanaryIslandsPress - Books by JJ Luna

[blinglover]

Hi. I think that you should do what you really love doing. If you dont really know what you love, I suggest that you do something that would help you reach your goals in life.

In my opinion, if you have no clue about what you want to do, do something that is likely to be lucrative in the future, something that you dont mind doing for life, something that will give you a good foundation that you can build on and something that gives you portable skills. I strongly suggest degrees such as Engineering for your first college degree. You can always do an MBA/JD/MD after that or just do whatever interests you.

An Engineering/Science degree is likely to strengthen your analytical skills and force you to think and solve challenging problems for 4 years. This is great for your mind and is likely to improve you as a person.

(I must warn you that I am an Electrical Engineer, so do keep in mind the fact that my opinion may be biased.)

[blinglover]

Hey, by the way, do check out Liberal Art Colleges. You can do bits and pieces of everything. However, you are unlikely to find Engineering courses offered at Liberal Art Colleges.(The max you could get is probably Computer Science)

[Scipio]

I'm a philosophy major. It depends on who you study, but for example with Aristotle, the purpose of one's life is to reach "eudaimonia" (rough translation: excellence)--which is a self-actualized state of happiness. Of course there's the other end of the spectrum with nihilists and existentialists, who hate life and values as such.

[Scott H Young]

Every pursuit can be related to personal development, that isn't the limiting factor.

Personal development is a methodology and philosophy for living your life, a major and career are just a facet of that.

A degree isn't an end, it's a means. (Technically everything is a means, but that is another discussion). You should really ask yourself what you really want your life to look like and then work backwards from there. What do you want to do, what is your purpose? A major/job/career are just means to that end.

Good luck!