# Need advise how to choose what to study.



## Drakeh (Dec 30, 2013)

I am going to study in university when new school year starts, but I have huge problem - I can't decide what to study. All those different studying programs just pisses me off. Everyone tells me to choose what I like, but I simply dislike them all. Problem is that in order to get job and live normally you need university diplome. I am quite good with math, english, history, computers. As INTJ I found ALL subjects boring. Only 2 things I was ever interested in were martial arts and war. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing: Maybe you could post some proffesions/things I might find interesting?


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## Cellar Door (Jun 3, 2012)

If everyone followed their dreams and did what the like, most work wouldn't get done. The big mistake young people make is they have a really romantic view of what "finding their calling" actually is. It's not deciding on a title, it's not deciding on a profession, it's not deciding on where you'd like to work, it's not deciding on what you'd like to do, all of these things are a waste of time. If you want to figure out what you'd like to study you have imagine what you'd like to do on a daily basis and what you want your life to be like.

So you may be really into war, but that's a topic not an action. Forget about what you're good at, that doesn't matter, it's what you can do and value you can provide. I know people who have had a job and made a decent wage 60k to 90k and another company finds out about them and offers to double their salary. Why would they do that? Because people need things, and people who have skills and know how to do things get paid. I wouldn't consider any of these people crazy talented or unbelievably smart, but they invested in themselves and learned how to do things that others don't know how to do that were in high demand. These skills don't really have a name, they're really specialized and industry specific, and even if they had a name the name wouldn't matter.

If you want my advice, this would be my plan if I were you:

1. Pick between a field of engineering, comp sci, stats, math, and maybe business if your school has a really good business program. If you want you can double in something else that's less quantitative if you want, but i'd recommend a social science. Science is usually OK as well.

2. Get a job in a lab if you have a lab science major or else get an internship. Internships are everything, and I mean everything. I got the job I have now because I got an off after being an intern. This doesn't always happen, but at a minimum it counts as experience when you apply to your next job. If you decide to go to graduate school it'll really help as well.

3. Get the best grades you possibly can, they don't need to be perfect, or even meet minimum requirements for employers or graduate schools if you have experience. I got accepted to graduate schools that I didn't have the minimum requirements to even apply, but I did it anyways. No one is going to care if you have a solid track record of accomplishment on real things that matter, not made up tests in a class room.

4. Find any job that utilizes your skill set. If you are an accounting major it's easy, virtually every business needs people with these skills. If you're an engineer, any company that creates things will need you, or whats more trend now, you could do sales of high tech stuff. If you studied business, well, almost every business could hire you, the options are endless.

Hopefully this helps, sure you could study war or whatever your interested in, but people's interests change. When you're 50 do you think you'll still want to study war? Maybe but maybe not. If you study comp sci and learn how to program and your interests changes, just program for a different company, do different work, knowing how program enables you to follow your interests but you'll have a tool set that allows you to accomplish things. Same goes with any of the fields I listed.


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## C3bBb (Oct 22, 2013)

Cellar Door said:


> If everyone followed their dreams and did what the like, most work wouldn't get done. The big mistake young people make is they have a really romantic view of what "finding their calling" actually is. It's not deciding on a title, it's not deciding on a profession, it's not deciding on where you'd like to work, it's not deciding on what you'd like to do, all of these things are a waste of time. If you want to figure out what you'd like to study you have imagine what you'd like to do on a daily basis and what you want your life to be like.
> 
> So you may be really into war, but that's a topic not an action. Forget about what you're good at, that doesn't matter, it's what you can do and value you can provide. I know people who have had a job and made a decent wage 60k to 90k and another company finds out about them and offers to double their salary. Why would they do that? Because people need things, and people who have skills and know how to do things get paid. I wouldn't consider any of these people crazy talented or unbelievably smart, but they invested in themselves and learned how to do things that others don't know how to do that were in high demand. These skills don't really have a name, they're really specialized and industry specific, and even if they had a name the name wouldn't matter.
> 
> ...


+1 don't limit yourself based on current interests as they are bound to change as you mature. If you want to start somewhere start with history, as I'm sure you'll encounter many situations to study war and similar topics. If your university doesn't require you to do so already (mine did and most do) branch out to different disciplines and take classes in everything that even interests you in the slightest. You never know what gems you might uncover if you don't dig around.


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## snapdragons (Feb 1, 2011)

Keep in mind the point of obtaining an education is to result in an employable position after graduation. That means your degree and experience must reflect that. Instead of thinking about what to study, what would you want to do for a living that will help you support yourself and not be utterly boring?

FWIW, STEM isn't for everyone nor should it be hailed as the Golden Ticket.


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## Scelerat (Oct 21, 2012)

Try reframing from "what do I want to study?" to "what lifestyle do I want?"


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## Zombie Devil Duckie (Apr 11, 2012)

Depending on your University, you might be able to go in as an "Undeclared Major". Spend a semester or two taking mandatory classes that you would need to take anyway. This way you can get used to the University experience and settle down a bit before choosing your Major.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

-ZDD


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## birdsintrees (Aug 20, 2012)

If you really can't figure it out: take a gap year and earn some money. It will allow you to enter the work force and find out a bit more about the reality of day to day work, it allows you to consider different options for a while without committing yourself to university and it possibly saves you from building up a year of study loan debt. 

Ask youself the question in a broader context than just university: if you could do or be anything you could possibly do or be, what would it be? Then find a happy medium between the practical/obtainable and that ultimate goal and you've got yourself a plan.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted in Uni. I went from Psychology to Cultural Anthropology to Archaeology and ended up with two Law degrees. ..


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## ponycannon (Sep 22, 2012)

Finding the right major is difficult for a lot of people. Even after you make a decision there will still be moments of doubt. I find the battle tends to be between what you feel you're "good" at (or bad at) , what interests you, and how practical you think something is. I agree with the above advice to consider what job will lead to the lifestyle you want but also refrain from thinking you know exactly what that is now.


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## All (Jan 13, 2014)

You don't sound like you're ready at all to make this decision. I don't mean to be offensive, a lot of people aren't by the time they have to apply for university.



Drakeh said:


> Only 2 things I was ever interested in were martial arts and war. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing:


This part of your post, especially, makes me think you're not ready. It sounds like you don't have any concept of what university and the job market after that are like.

What interests you about war? That's too general. Are you interested in the history of conflicts? Why they happen? In actually fighting in a war?  That's important to know here. There are many fields that study war and topics related to it. If you study History you'll study about war but other things as well. Fields like Sociology study the effects on wars on populations. International Relations discusses wars a lot, such as why conflicts happen and possible ways to prevent them. However, neither of these (or any such fields) mean that "it would not be be very good for humanity". Most likely, you'd be doing scholarly research after graduating, being a journalist or columnist, or even being a teacher or unemployed. There could be chance of you working for governmental or non-governmental groups, but even then, you'd be a consultant or something. Unless your country has a dictatorship and you become its next leader, even if you became a politician you would still have to deal with others along the decision-making process. You wouldn't be starting wars left and right just because you felt like it, there would be consequences. Most politicians also have degrees in stuff like Business, Law, etc. instead.

Do you see what I mean now? It sounds like you don't have much of a notion of what you do (and don't) study at university and what people do with it.

When you get a degree, there's nothing that guarantees that you'll work in your chosen field. At the same time, a lot of degrees also let you go into a really big variety of careers once you're done studying.

The biggest question here is what kind of life would you like to have when you're done. What do you value? Would you rather have a steady, more sedentary job? Something less steady but more diverse? Something fast-paced or slow-paced? 

I seriously recommend that you take a gap year before going to university. Get a job, volunteer, do something with your time during that year. It'll give you a better understanding of the world around you and you will have extra time to think it through and make a decision. If your parents don't allow you, you can point this out to them. It's better to take a year off and maybe make some money during it, than spend money on tuition fees that you may come to regret.

I also recommend trying to get more information about universities. Go on their websites and look at their prospectus and what classes you'd be taking. Go visit them and ask questions from whoever is in charge of prospective students. If your current school offers a counsellor of some sort, they may also be able to explain how university works and you can ask them questions. You can also take a vocational test if that's your thing.

Whatever degree you choose, you won't be studying only things you like or interesting things. Like any kind of formal education, there will be classes or professors you hate. There will be boring moments. The important thing is to choose something that keeps you motivated through that, either because you're passionate about the other classes, or because the degree you're getting may bring you one step closer to your dream job. 

If you really don't think that university is something you can do, there are other options. Depending on your country's education system, there may be more practical study options for you, like vocational degrees or apprenticeships where you learn a trade hands-on. There's nothing wrong with that, they don't mean you'll be unemployed (they're not going to choose someone with a degree in IT if they need to hire a cook), and they may be a good option for you.


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## Drakeh (Dec 30, 2013)

All said:


> You don't sound like you're ready at all to make this decision. I don't mean to be offensive, a lot of people aren't by the time they have to apply for university.
> 
> 
> This part of your post, especially, makes me think you're not ready. It sounds like you don't have any concept of what university and the job market after that are like.
> ...


I should probably say thank you for writing post this long, but all you have written I already knew. That is the reason why I posted. Maybe I should clarify my main question. How to choose proffesion when all things are boring and look equally useless to me. I dislike them all. I know I will dislike and be bored most of my life. I simply can't decide which is lesser evil. No the main fight is between 5 different specializations of informatics, philosophy, socialogy and antropology. I managed to narrow it to this little list.


Ps. When I say war I mean everything connected to it. From reasons why they happen and results to military strategy, weapons, strategy and combat arts. It may sound funny, but n all my life I have only experienced few times. One of them was when I first got interested in war. I simply felt that it is place where I belong. I felt connected to it. I know it is funny, but oh well....I do not mind admiting that. I though and would have joined army if it was not that bad where I live.


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## Peter (Feb 27, 2010)

Drakeh said:


> I am going to study in university when new school year starts, but I have huge problem - I can't decide what to study. All those different studying programs just pisses me off. Everyone tells me to choose what I like, but I simply dislike them all. Problem is that in order to get job and live normally you need university diplome. I am quite good with math, english, history, computers. As INTJ I found ALL subjects boring. Only 2 things I was ever interested in were martial arts and war. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing: Maybe you could post some proffesions/things I might find interesting?



In stead of deciding what to study, you might want to try to figure out what kind of job you want in the future and then look what study is necessary for achieving that goal. Just studying stuff that you like isn't enough. You have to also study stuff that you don't like. It's part of the path to your goal. (That helps justifying to yourself that you have to study some things you don't really like.)


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## All (Jan 13, 2014)

Drakeh said:


> I should probably say thank you for writing post this long, but all you have written I already knew. That is the reason why I posted. Maybe I should clarify my main question. How to choose proffesion when all things are boring and look equally useless to me. I dislike them all. I know I will dislike and be bored most of my life. I simply can't decide which is lesser evil. No the main fight is between 5 different specializations of informatics, philosophy, socialogy and antropology. I managed to narrow it to this little list.
> 
> 
> Ps. When I say war I mean everything connected to it. From reasons why they happen and results to military strategy, weapons, strategy and combat arts. It may sound funny, but n all my life I have only experienced few times. One of them was when I first got interested in war. I simply felt that it is place where I belong. I felt connected to it. I know it is funny, but oh well....I do not mind admiting that. I though and would have joined army if it was not that bad where I live.


I'm going to start with the end of your post. Fair enough, I'm interested in a lot of things about war as well even though I would never join the army. However, the job you would likely be doing in the army is very different from something like conflict mediation or being asked to do research for a case study about war refugees (for example). 

As I said, there are lots of different degrees that can give you the chance to study war in more depth and work on something related to it, such as research about specific conflicts.

I stand by what I said. A gap year sounds like a wise option to me if you're so unsure. Look for volunteer opportunities in your country, career fairs, or even get a job. Anything that might give you more insight into the job market and what people in different careers actually do on their daily lives.

I think most people find work somewhat boring, even when they're passionate about what they do there are still going to be downsides to every job and bad days at work. The key is to find something you don't hate and which allows you to lead the lifestyle you want. You could start by asking yourself specific questions. In your personal life, are there goals you would like to accomplish? Do you want to move to lots of different countries or try to settle down as soon as you can? Are you more interested in living in the city or in the country? Are you more interested in material comfort or non-material goals? These are only a few examples. Figuring out what sort of life you want for yourself can help you decide what kind of career would allow you to accomplish what you need. 

It would also help to ask yourself what sort of work fits your personality and how you work best. For example: do you work well under pressure? Do you prefer to change things up or are you more comfortable with routine? Do you enjoy fast-paced work or slower work? Do you work best in short bursts or over a period of time? Do you prefer to work in groups or alone? Do you need a lot of guidance when accomplishing a task or do you work best with no guidance? Are you best at creative things, numbers, working with people, or what? Would you feel comfortable interacting with different clients every day or would you rather stick to the same group of co-workers? This can also help you decide whether a certain kind of job would be too stressful for you or whether it would be something you would probably enjoy.


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## RHe (Aug 7, 2012)

How about military instead? You can always go to uni later when you've had more time to think.


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## Drakeh (Dec 30, 2013)

RHe said:


> How about military instead? You can always go to uni later when you've had more time to think.


I thought a lot about it and searched all info I can find. After studying that info I decided that it is better not to have job then go there.


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## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

Scelerat said:


> Try reframing from "what do I want to study?" to "what lifestyle do I want?"


This.


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## sinshred (Dec 1, 2013)

Drakeh said:


> I am going to study in university when new school year starts, but I have huge problem - I can't decide what to study. All those different studying programs just pisses me off. Everyone tells me to choose what I like, but I simply dislike them all. Problem is that in order to get job and live normally you need university diplome. I am quite good with math, english, history, computers. As INTJ I found ALL subjects boring. Only 2 things I was ever interested in were *martial arts and war*. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing: Maybe you could post some proffesions/things I might find interesting?



You remind me of myself a lot.

Well, if you choose the option to study at university, I suggest you to try a degree in engineering. This promises a reliable profession that still linked with your hobbies and interests.

Take for example the engineering industry, you can work on arms manufacturing companies, such as the Kel-Tec CNC Industries Inc., Smith & Wesson (S & W), etc.

Maybe I am biased because I currently studying at this degree


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## Drakeh (Dec 30, 2013)

sinshred said:


> You remind me of myself a lot.
> 
> Well, if you choose the option to study at university, I suggest you to try a degree in engineering. This promises a reliable profession that still linked with your hobbies and interests.
> 
> ...


Impossible. I can't study engineering. To study it in university I need to have passed physics exam with good marks. The problem is that long time ago in school I got rid of physics (at certain age students can choose which subjects to study. I chose chemistry simply because I needed to reach required amount of weekly studying time. For me it is nothing more than some free time).


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## Holly Ghost (Jan 17, 2014)

Drakeh said:


> I am going to study in university when new school year starts, but I have huge problem - I can't decide what to study. All those different studying programs just pisses me off. Everyone tells me to choose what I like, but I simply dislike them all. Problem is that in order to get job and live normally you need university diplome. I am quite good with math, english, history, computers. As INTJ I found ALL subjects boring. Only 2 things I was ever interested in were martial arts and war. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing: Maybe you could post some proffesions/things I might find interesting?


Don't worry about it. Just choose a topic at random, go to university, and save as much money as you can from your parents or student loans. But never do much work. Then, when they finally kick you out, blow all the money on heroin, hookers and a shotgun, and go out in a bang. Be thinking about what song you want playing at your funeral - one possibility would be "Old Before I Die" by Robbie Williams, if you like being ironic.

Hope this helps.


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## WillyT (Jul 22, 2013)

If you're wanting a degree and don't know what you'll be doing afterwards, I would recommend studying business (at least a minor in business). It's applicable to just about anything. Many jobs require a degree, but not a specific one. A business degree will get you more interviews than something in social sciences. 

For example, my old college roommate was/is a Golf enthusiast. He studied "Sports Management." He now manages a ritzy country club and knocks down some serious coin.


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## Razare (Apr 21, 2009)

Drakeh said:


> I am going to study in university when new school year starts, but I have huge problem - I can't decide what to study. All those different studying programs just pisses me off. Everyone tells me to choose what I like, but I simply dislike them all. Problem is that in order to get job and live normally you need university diplome. I am quite good with math, english, history, computers. As INTJ I found ALL subjects boring. Only 2 things I was ever interested in were martial arts and war. I do not have chance to study first and if I study second - well it would not be very good for humanity. :laughing: Maybe you could post some proffesions/things I might find interesting?


I recommend not going to college.

There are thousands upon thousands, maybe millions of people with useless degrees. They went to a University because they were supposed, accumulated debt, and are not getting a job because they got a useless degree, or what their degree is for is not what they wanted to do.

Most business degrees are a prime example of this. I don't know how many people got those at the college I went to... what does that prepare you for? Sure, if it's from Harvard, it means something, but from a community college, it doesn't actually qualify you for upper management at a big business.

Not to mention most of these people did not have an aptitude for "business" ... 90% were just taking the degree because they didn't know what else to take, and business sounds like its universally applicable... when really it's so generic, it doesn't mean much to an employer either.

If you do go...

1) Do not get funneled into a generic degree by academic advisers, without a concrete plan to switch your major to something useful.

2) Be prepared to accept a major which you may not be thrilled about, but can live with. For me, I ended up in Accounting... it's grown on me, but I would never say I'm completely enthused about it. It's something that's interesting enough to do, but I could imagine other things more thrilling.

3) Don't go somewhere expensive, unless it's going to pay back in dollars and translate into a job. If it's not a sure thing, better to keep it cheap and have less debt.


If I were 18 today, and fresh out of High School, I would not get a degree if it meant accumulating debt. I have a 4 year degree in Accounting, and am able to apply for higher paying positions because of it. Hind-sight is 20/20... I'm glad I have the degree, but it's not worth going into debt to get.

This concept that it's going to pay me back only really applies to people who get higher paying positions, it's not a guarantee.

In fact, I could have become an enrolled agent, and been licensed to be an accountant in all 50 states, and I could have done this without spending 11k. I could have done it quicker and it cost me less money than a degree. Right now, I'm studying to become an enrolled agent, which really in many ways, is more useful than a 4-year accounting degree.

It's just something to keep in mind, in many fields, there are way of advancement without getting a degree.


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