So I didn't know what to label this particular
set of episodes. It's going to be just random
episodes that have to do with college -related
things that center on mostly students' questions
that have been asked. millions of times over
the years. So I'm starting off with one that
I get actually quite often, which is what major
should I pick? This seems to be a big question
when you get into college. And before, I would
usually just tell students, you should just pick
a major that actually is meaningful for you,
something you really enjoy, because that way
you're actually going to do the best on those
subjects, and your degree doesn't really matter.
I think now having a little bit more awareness
and having learned a lot more, I can give at
least a little bit more of a nuanced view on
exactly this question of what major to pick.
Okay. So. First off, I think that the picking
of a major makes a big difference for specific
fields. It's a very narrow few set of fields,
right? But for areas like, for instance, engineering,
where usually you're going to get a job right
off the bat and has to be a specific engineering
degree that's required for a job. You know, in
those cases, picking the major matters quite
a bit. Right. But usually what I found is that
engineers like they know that they want to be
an engineer. They sign up for it early on. In
fact, most colleges, they require a separate
application process for engineering students.
You know, and it's going to be similar with,
for instance, the fine arts. Right. In the fine
arts, you need to have developed a certain degree
of talent before you even get into the college
for that particular degree. So you usually have
to audition or you have to present a portfolio,
right? So if you apply to like an art school,
you're going to have to have some things already
ready made to go. And in those cases, the major
does make a difference because you're on a very
specialized track, okay? But for everything else...
I think the major really doesn't make a huge
difference, okay? And I want to kind of present
a nuanced view on this because I know that there
is at least some difference between some of these
majors, but I'm going to explain exactly what
the difference would be, okay? All right. So
first off, let's be clear, okay? If you want
to go to graduate school, if you want to go into
further specialization into some area, like for
instance, you want to go into medical school,
you want to get a PhD in literature, for instance,
okay? All right. You're trying to specialize
in a very particular area. You should already
have developed certain skills before you apply
for these more advanced degrees. And a lot of
them come with certain course requirements. They're
usually not major requirements. They're usually
course requirements. And I stress the distinction
here for a reason, right? You could actually
be like an English major and go to med school.
As long as you took all the prerequisite med
school courses, right? There's a certain set
of courses that medical school requires you to
have completed. Basic math, physics, chemistry,
biology classes, some upper division classes.
And you have to get a certain, you know, kind
of high grades on those areas. As well as, you
know, take the MCAT. These are all requirements
of... get applying applying to medical school
nursing school I think might have some requirements
like basically if you want to go get a degree
beyond your bachelor degree then your major could
matter to some degree because a lot of times
it overlaps with these requirements but I'm pointing
out that it's not actually necessary you don't
need to actually major in a particular science
subject in order to apply to these things you
don't need to major in necessarily to get into
a philosophy PhD program. But there might be
certain course requirements where you might think
it economical to just major in it anyway since
you're going to be needing to take those courses
for the advanced degree you're going after. So
even there, you don't need to necessarily major
in anything in particular. So then what does
picking the major really come down to? Should
I just pick whatever I want to, whatever that
I'm interested in? And the truth of the matter
is yes. And the reason I say yes, I think, and
that I know that a lot of students say it doesn't
feel helpful, is I think that it's not really
addressing the core issue when students are asking
this question. I think at the heart of it is
that a lot of students just have a deep misconception
about what a bachelor degree does, what it's
for, how it's viewed in the outside world, right?
So let me be clear about something, okay? A bachelor
degree at a four -year college, right? does not
actually teach you any vocational skills. Again,
with the exception of these very narrow areas,
right? So I'm talking engineering and like the
fine arts. You're not developing some particular
skill for a particular job. That's not what you're
doing. And in fact, your degree doesn't represent
that, okay? Your degree doesn't represent it.
When you go out with a bachelor's degree in a
particular major, it doesn't actually tell the
world like, hey. I am ready to do work in this
particular area. No, you're not, okay? No, you're
not. What you need is actual work experience,
right? And in fact, a lot of the things you learn
about how to do a job, it's called on -the -job
training, right? You learn how to do it for the
particular job at a particular company on the
job, like the first few weeks, months, even the
first few years possibly of being on that job,
you know, is you getting trained to do that job
well. That's what it is, right? So it's not a
trade school. You're not learning a particular
skill set that is supposed to translate into
the work arena, okay? What your degree actually
represents is your ability to learn and to be
dedicated, to be consistent, to manage time,
to do all the things that getting a degree indicates
for an employer, okay? That's what it tells you.
Your readiness for a particular job. is indicated
by work experience, right? So if you actually,
like a lot of students come out of college and
they're like, I can't get a job because all these
places are demanding that I have some work experience,
but I don't have any work experience. I just
have my degree, but I thought that would be enough
to indicate that I know how to do it. Well, employers
know that having a degree doesn't mean shit.
It doesn't mean that you can do the job. It just
means that you can learn possibly to do the job,
but it doesn't have, it's not a track record
for you having done a similar job or knowing
how to do the job, right? And it would be arrogant
for you to think so, because you haven't had
that sort of experience. What you need is work
experience. This is part of the reason that it's
important in college to not focus so much on
the major, but focus rather instead, if you're
planning on going into the workforce right after,
to get your work experience up, right? Whether
it's through internships, whether it's through
various volunteering opportunities, some hands
-on experience in the particular field you want
to work in. so that you can demonstrate to an
employer, like, hey, I have experience doing
this particular job. Your degree only tells them
that you could be reliable, right? If you finish
a degree, that means that you were able to dedicate,
you know, four years of your life or more to
studying, to making sure that you complete all
the assigned tasks, that you could follow directions.
That's what it tells the employer. It doesn't
tell you you can do the job necessarily. but
your work experience would. So you should focus
on those areas, the things that actually are
real -life work experiences to translate over
to something like a job, okay? The major doesn't
really matter, okay? Now, that said, that said,
I want to be clear about something, okay? Different
majors train different skills, okay? Let me repeat
that real quick so that it really sinks in, okay?
Different majors... train different skills and
do so to varying degrees okay um let me kind
of explain exactly what i mean right ideally
your college education should have consisted
of sufficient general education that you know
how to do the basic reading writing and critical
thinking skills but beyond that each major trains
you in a different way of thinking about the
world I'll give you some examples here, right?
So for instance, in philosophy, we're very big
on logic and in writing in a very particular
way where it's clear, concise, accurate, direct,
able to make subtle distinctions, able to explain
big picture ideas, complex abstract ideas. And
that's what you'll be trained to do because that's
what the subject matter is. That's what we deal
with, right? And your writing and reading skills
will be particularly sharp because that's what
you're trained well to do, okay? It's going to
be a little different for, let's say, somebody
who is studying history, where they're probably
going to be much better in terms of telling a
story, a narrative, especially one that is rooted
in historical context. analyzing historical texts,
right? Unless you did a lot of that in philosophy,
you're not going to be trained as well as somebody
who studied history. And then you're probably
going to be really well trained in seeing bigger
long -term intergenerational picture, how the
past impacts the present, right? You're going
to be able to kind of see these things a little
bit more clearly with the background knowledge,
but also with the training that you receive,
okay? And that's going to be very different than
somebody who studies chemistry. who is probably
going to be focused on very particular systems,
rules, laws, application maybe. It depends on
what area of chemistry you're going into. You're
going to be trained in being very detail -oriented
because it matters. Analytic skills, you're probably
going to develop quite a bit. And that's going
to be, again, different than somebody who studies
psychology, who has a deeper understanding of
human nature, about what makes people tick. Because
that's the area of your focus, you're going to
be more focused on developing the skill to being
able to understand people as opposed to maybe
systems of governance or something. In other
words, what I'm saying is this. Depending on
your major, you're going to be better trained
in certain areas. you're going to be better prepared
for certain ways of working. Okay. So if you
know that you want to do a certain type of work,
then it would be helpful for you to find a major
that trains you well in that type of work. Okay.
Now, again, like I said, ideally, all majors
have enough of everything. And well, along with
your general education requirements, you should
have received training across the board so that
you're going to be able to learn all whatever
it is that you like you're skilled in all these
areas right that's ideally okay but the reality
is that some of these areas are just better at
it than others okay and it's not because there's
you know there's a major that's quote -unquote
objectively better than another major in training
students no it's just that each major deals with
different topics and they approach it in a different
way and as a result depending on what major you
do you're going to be better trained in the way
that it's done in that particular major okay
So then should this make a difference in terms
of picking out your major? Well, I'm guessing
not. And the reason I say not is that, look,
if you're drawn to a particular topic, you're
probably also going to be drawn to the way in
which the thinkers think with regards to that
in that particular field. And that's probably
also correlated with the kind of work that you
want to do, right? Like you're drawn to what
you're drawn to for a reason. And that's probably
what you're going to still be drawn to when you're
looking for work. OK, so it's going to be weird
to try to cater your major for a specific goal
that's different than something you're already
kind of drawn to. Like that feels a little strange.
So this is part of the reason that I always tell
students, like, go with what you actually enjoy
learning and try to be the best at that. Because
I think what you'll end up finding is that you
were drawn to that subject for a reason. You
were trained in that field of study. And that
has helped you develop a certain set of skills
that will translate into areas that you want
to go into that are good for those things, right?
You need to understand it in this way because
I think it does a couple of things. It allows
you to, A, identify your strengths because then
you realize like, hey, my being drawn to this
major and studying this particular major has
helped me develop a certain set of skills that
translate over well with certain types of work.
not in a particular field necessarily, but like
certain type of work, right? Whether it's like
data analysis type of work where you're, you
know, analyzing like a bunch of numbers or whether
it's your being able to see the big picture and
being able to manage a bunch of people, right?
Like, you know, it's going to translate into
a certain type of work. OK, it's going to train
you for that. But B, it's also going to humble
you to some degree because you're going to realize
like, hey, it actually trained me well for one
type of work, but it doesn't actually didn't
actually train me particularly well for a different
type of work. And as a result, I need to either
A, develop some additional skill sets to help
me, you know, with some of these areas that I'm
weak in or B, and this is also another great
option. Leave it up to somebody else to do, right?
This is part of the reason that not everybody
wants to go after the same jobs. We're different
people. We're good at different things. We enjoy
doing different things. And so leave it up to
somebody else who enjoys doing it. Look, let
me be honest with you. I really don't like doing
home improvement stuff. I don't enjoy it. I developed
some skills doing it, just having owned a home
and to try to reduce the cost of getting help.
But... I really don't like doing it. So I will
do the bare minimum of things I can fix, you
know, with minimal effort and everything else
I'll hire somebody else to do. And this is what
you need to kind of figure out. You need to figure
out what it is that you enjoy doing, what you're
willing to do, what you like doing, and differentiate
that from things that you are not good at, that
you don't enjoy doing, that you would rather
have somebody else do. Because the truth of the
matter is the job you're looking for isn't going
to demand you to do everything. That's a weird
job. Most jobs are going to ask you to do a particular
set of tasks or some combination thereof. And
usually what they'll do is they'll find somebody
else who is better at the other areas that you
might not be so strong in. It doesn't mean that
you're a bad candidate. It just means that you're
a good candidate for a particular set of jobs.
And that's okay. And in fact, I think that's
probably what's going to help you the most in
figuring out exactly where to apply, what kind
of jobs to apply for, how to narrow down your
job search, right? Because you shouldn't just
be applying to whatever. You should really be
considering, A, what you're good at, B, what
people are willing to pay you for, and C, what's
a good fit in terms of the kind of work environment
you want. And those three things need to coincide
for you to have a good, like, work life. So,
you know, like I said, like, does a major matter?
To some small degree, it might because you're
training in a different area. But like I said,
it usually correlates with what you enjoy doing
anyway. So I would say just pick something that
you're really passionate about learning. And
I guarantee you, like, you should be learning
how to think well in that particular. what looks
like it in that particular field, okay? There's
a lot of correlation that goes on here that's
not causation, right? A lot of students are drawn
that do well in these subjects because they are
just drawn to it regardless. They would do it
on their own anyways, right? So I'm not going
to say, I'm not going to tell you to pick a major
and then think that that's going to cause you
to be better at X, Y, and Z. That's not necessarily
the case. A lot of times, you know, it could
help, but, you know, you should really go after
the things that you really enjoy. It will also
make your college life a lot less, how do you
say this, boring and more meaningful. And this
is honestly the best part of college, right?
The thing I loved about college the most, as
opposed to high school, was that I wasn't boxed
into these very generic subjects and I could
explore the particular, you know, areas of study
that I was really interested in. You should take
advantage of that. And then here's something
for you, right? And if you ever change your mind
and you feel like you want to study something
else, you know what? You could go ahead and do
that in the future. Yeah, you could go back to
school. I have a lot of those in my class, right?
And you could do it as a hobby too. Isn't that
cool? If you want to learn, you'll find a way
to learn. It might cost you money and time, but
you'll be able to learn whatever you want to,
right? So just enjoy what it is that you enjoy.
Pick a major that you really like. Don't stress
out too much. Don't get into a game of comparing
and contrasting and then think that it applies
to like job applications. You know, unless a
job specifically requires you to have a degree
in a particular area, if it's even just recommended,
you could always spin whatever skill set you've
developed and say that, hey, I am trained to
learn in this particular job. So I'm ready to
go. Right. And like I said, what matters most
would probably your job experience anyway. So
time to work on those. Right. Those internship
and those summer. and school year part -time
job applications, develop some of the background
to show people you are capable of doing the work.