- #1
ResolutE
- 17
- 0
This might be a long post. So thanks in advance for reading it and trying to help.
First, some background on me. I am a student at a community college, and during the fall will be my third semester at the college. I was following a premed course schedule, but I have come to a realization that I don't think the medical field is right for me. I am interested in a degree and career path that will be more technical to suit my problem solving abilities. I know problem solving abilities are needed for doctors, depending on the type of doctor, but using medical knowledge to solve problems does not sound like my cup of tea.
One of the reasons I chose premed was for the security of a job and a good income. This is important to me. I am a hard worker and I am determined to excel at anything I do, but I believe it's difficult to get that starting job for many degrees.
So what career / degree am I interested in? Well, I don't know, I don't think I've been exposed to enough information. But I do know some things that will narrow it down.
I am interested in math. At my college, I've taken calculus 1 and 2, and I am currently taking calculus 3 over the summer (calc 3 is equivalent to multivariable calculus by the way). I have gotten A's in calculus, and I seem to be one of the top students in the classes. I am far from a "human calculator", but I am best at thinking logically / cleverly to solve problems.
I am also somewhat interested in some computer aspects. I've made custom games with the Starcraft 2 editor. For people not familiar with Stracraft or it's editor, I will just say it involves an entirely GUI interface, essentially I was creating mini games with easy tools. But some of the mini games I experimented with I was proud of, I did my own research and learned many things about physics and 3d math. I learned about 3d physics engines and found them extremely interesting. One project I spent months on, and it has a 3d physics engine with collision detection and collision response, and other stuff. I also learned about programming logic without actually learning a programming language, I learned about arrays, functions, sorting algorithms, and much more. I have experimented with visual basic minimally, I've managed to make some very elementary programs with visual basic. Looking back, I could have learned the programming language of Visual Basic more, but I had no desire to learn the language because I thought it would not be worth it if I was not going to major in computer science.
I also like physics, but I think I made this clear when I said in the above paragraph about how I made a mini game with a physics engine. Physics is basically applied math, I think is powerful and interesting. However, I've read that there are very little jobs for people with physics degrees.
So I talked about 3 things I like, math, computers, and physics. I also like science in general, except biology (because it is mostly memorization and not very applicable). I've considered engineering, but I think most fields of engineering are more focused on work experience, manual labor, or designing things, rather than on math or in-dept problem solving. Don't get me wrong, I know engineers need to be smart, but I think I'm looking for something for something smarter. Engineering is broad category though, I would say that something like a mechanical engineer, where I would work in a machine shop and stuff like that, I definitely do not want to do. But because programming / computers interest me, I might be persuaded to become a software engineer. Aerospace engineering interests me because of the physics and flight / space involved, but I'm not sure if I would actually like a typical job in that field.
I've always admired people who were brilliant and invented new ideas or achieved great things, example being Albert Einstein. I could picture myself being a research scientist for something. I don't want to have a mediocre job / life, I want to do something special / important. I mean, I could imagine myself doing something with CIA, NASA, or another important organization. But the big question is, what degrees or specialists do organizations like these want? I've actually looked at the CIA recruitment page, but it does not actually say what they are currently looking for, just what they would want in general (I assume there is a reason for that :P ).
I need a degree that would be promising. And I'm mainly talking about a bachelors degree, I know I would probably need/want to go to graduate school for many fields, but I'm only about to start my second year at college. I've considered being a mathematician, but in my research, it does not look to be promising unless I wanted to teach, and I don't want to teach. The applied parts of math, statistics, engineering physics, and some others, it seems could be filled by degrees better than general math, such as a statistics degree. If there was a promising career with high importance / good salaries with a math a degree, whether working with some government agency or some respected business, I would not think twice about a math degree.
Actuary science has a lot to do with math. Actuaries do calculations involving risk, mainly hired by insurance companies. This is almost the only field I've found that is somewhat interesting and is promising (because their in demand). However, I would not want to have a mediocre job with this, the sort of 9 to 5 type of deal. I know I would have to start at this stage, but where could I excel in this field? I don't think I could, I would probably work for the same company for the same hours everyday doing the same calculations, which would not be fulfilling to me.
Another career I've considered is software engineer. Software engineers are in demand. I would like this field because of the problem solving involved and skillful design involved. But I don't like the idea of going through endless amount of code all day. I am really not sure about this career, it seems like it could be good but I have doubts.
I think I've talked enough, sorry for the long read. Here is when I throw questions at you. Judging by what it seems I'm looking for, or by what's in demand, could you guys suggest any degrees, or could you shed some light on some careers I would be interested in? Cryptology also seems interesting. Any thoughts on that? I read somewhere on these forums that the CIA would gladly pay someone to research abstract algebra, is this true? I don't know what abstract algebra is, I've only taken calculus courses so far, but it sounds like something I could be interested in.
First, some background on me. I am a student at a community college, and during the fall will be my third semester at the college. I was following a premed course schedule, but I have come to a realization that I don't think the medical field is right for me. I am interested in a degree and career path that will be more technical to suit my problem solving abilities. I know problem solving abilities are needed for doctors, depending on the type of doctor, but using medical knowledge to solve problems does not sound like my cup of tea.
One of the reasons I chose premed was for the security of a job and a good income. This is important to me. I am a hard worker and I am determined to excel at anything I do, but I believe it's difficult to get that starting job for many degrees.
So what career / degree am I interested in? Well, I don't know, I don't think I've been exposed to enough information. But I do know some things that will narrow it down.
I am interested in math. At my college, I've taken calculus 1 and 2, and I am currently taking calculus 3 over the summer (calc 3 is equivalent to multivariable calculus by the way). I have gotten A's in calculus, and I seem to be one of the top students in the classes. I am far from a "human calculator", but I am best at thinking logically / cleverly to solve problems.
I am also somewhat interested in some computer aspects. I've made custom games with the Starcraft 2 editor. For people not familiar with Stracraft or it's editor, I will just say it involves an entirely GUI interface, essentially I was creating mini games with easy tools. But some of the mini games I experimented with I was proud of, I did my own research and learned many things about physics and 3d math. I learned about 3d physics engines and found them extremely interesting. One project I spent months on, and it has a 3d physics engine with collision detection and collision response, and other stuff. I also learned about programming logic without actually learning a programming language, I learned about arrays, functions, sorting algorithms, and much more. I have experimented with visual basic minimally, I've managed to make some very elementary programs with visual basic. Looking back, I could have learned the programming language of Visual Basic more, but I had no desire to learn the language because I thought it would not be worth it if I was not going to major in computer science.
I also like physics, but I think I made this clear when I said in the above paragraph about how I made a mini game with a physics engine. Physics is basically applied math, I think is powerful and interesting. However, I've read that there are very little jobs for people with physics degrees.
So I talked about 3 things I like, math, computers, and physics. I also like science in general, except biology (because it is mostly memorization and not very applicable). I've considered engineering, but I think most fields of engineering are more focused on work experience, manual labor, or designing things, rather than on math or in-dept problem solving. Don't get me wrong, I know engineers need to be smart, but I think I'm looking for something for something smarter. Engineering is broad category though, I would say that something like a mechanical engineer, where I would work in a machine shop and stuff like that, I definitely do not want to do. But because programming / computers interest me, I might be persuaded to become a software engineer. Aerospace engineering interests me because of the physics and flight / space involved, but I'm not sure if I would actually like a typical job in that field.
I've always admired people who were brilliant and invented new ideas or achieved great things, example being Albert Einstein. I could picture myself being a research scientist for something. I don't want to have a mediocre job / life, I want to do something special / important. I mean, I could imagine myself doing something with CIA, NASA, or another important organization. But the big question is, what degrees or specialists do organizations like these want? I've actually looked at the CIA recruitment page, but it does not actually say what they are currently looking for, just what they would want in general (I assume there is a reason for that :P ).
I need a degree that would be promising. And I'm mainly talking about a bachelors degree, I know I would probably need/want to go to graduate school for many fields, but I'm only about to start my second year at college. I've considered being a mathematician, but in my research, it does not look to be promising unless I wanted to teach, and I don't want to teach. The applied parts of math, statistics, engineering physics, and some others, it seems could be filled by degrees better than general math, such as a statistics degree. If there was a promising career with high importance / good salaries with a math a degree, whether working with some government agency or some respected business, I would not think twice about a math degree.
Actuary science has a lot to do with math. Actuaries do calculations involving risk, mainly hired by insurance companies. This is almost the only field I've found that is somewhat interesting and is promising (because their in demand). However, I would not want to have a mediocre job with this, the sort of 9 to 5 type of deal. I know I would have to start at this stage, but where could I excel in this field? I don't think I could, I would probably work for the same company for the same hours everyday doing the same calculations, which would not be fulfilling to me.
Another career I've considered is software engineer. Software engineers are in demand. I would like this field because of the problem solving involved and skillful design involved. But I don't like the idea of going through endless amount of code all day. I am really not sure about this career, it seems like it could be good but I have doubts.
I think I've talked enough, sorry for the long read. Here is when I throw questions at you. Judging by what it seems I'm looking for, or by what's in demand, could you guys suggest any degrees, or could you shed some light on some careers I would be interested in? Cryptology also seems interesting. Any thoughts on that? I read somewhere on these forums that the CIA would gladly pay someone to research abstract algebra, is this true? I don't know what abstract algebra is, I've only taken calculus courses so far, but it sounds like something I could be interested in.
Last edited: