What Was Your Major In College

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I am curious what majors other DUers have

I have a B.S. in Social Science , a M. A. in Political Science, and have done post grad work in Government at FSU.

[TSIAS]

1. I'm looking to major in Communications

But it'll take me another 3 years to get my Batchelor's degree.

[FatbackSlim]

2. Computer Science

I'm surprised you only have 'Engineering' as a non-liberal arts choice.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. I Consider Engineering One Of The Hard Sciences

[BrewerJohn]

22. So where are the hard sciences?

I'm a physicist turned engineer.

[Ediacara]

74. hard sciences:

physics and chemistry

soft sciences:

biology, sociology, psychology

Geology is kind of both, geochemistry is a hard science, but sedimentology and paleontology is kind of softer...

non-sciences:

psychology, sociology

Hard sciences require math to recieve an experimentally derived outcome, soft sciences don't.

[BrewerJohn]

80. Uh, I asked "where"

Not "what are they"
As in, "where are they represented in the poll (other than engineering).

[Ediacara]

85. yes

you sure did :-)

I need a class in reading comprehension. I am obviously a soft-science major LOL

[northzax]

96. just out of curiosity

how can psychology and sociology be both soft sciences and non-sciences?

And are you really putting biology, an experimental science, in the same category as sociology, an observational science?

I rank them as so:

hard sciences:
Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, astronomy, etc.

soft sciences:

sociology, psychology, anthropology, polysci, etc.

ON EDIT: for the record: major: government/East Asian History, minor Japanese/Creative Writing.

[Kellanved]

23. me too

And it still is. Although I'm a grad student by now.


Minor in undergrad: history
Minor now: Economy and Psychology/Ergonomics.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Working on

5 year Bachelors/Masters in Micobiology

[hippiechick]

8. OMG ! Love your Emperor !! n/t

:hippie:

[bicentennial_baby]

Got it here:

http://darrias.com/small_art/smallart.html

The art of DUer JoeFree1

[TNDemo]

4. Accounting.

Might want to have a business category.

[underpants]

94. Accounting here also

Damn did intermediate SUCK!!!

[Salviati]

5. Physics and Mathematics double major

[hippiechick]

6. "Other" -- Social Change and Development

A combination of Poli Sci, Sociology, History and Liberal Stuff at the U of WI.

Now working toward my MA in NonProfit Mgmt at Indiana.


Oh how I miss my alma mater !!! x(

:hippie:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. We Call That A Bachelor of Science in Social Science in FL

To get my B.S. in Social Science I had to take coursework in:

Political Science

Psychology


Sociology


Public Administration

[ewagner]

84. If that's at UCF

We were also required to take 9 hourss of engineering as a graduation requirement..."in those days"

[TheBigGuy]

30. I think thats really cooll...yr undergrad degree...& that nonprofit stuff.

That sounds like the kind of degree I would have gotten if I had a choice in the matter.

Ive taken some coursework in nonprofit management, and that too is really interesting....we used some case studys from the Yale program in NP management.

[Habibi]

9. Theatre and Womens' studies

(BA, that is.) Welp, seemed like a good idear at the time (early 1980s), and dang, it was fun. Later I went on to a master's program in American Studies, which I hated so much I dropped out right quick.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. I Took Women And Politics

but I went to college in the early 80's when there wasn't as much of an emphais on women's studies.

[Habibi]

37. And me

I ended up in 'puter tech support, after stints as: an aspiring actress, a waitress, a clerical worker for the state of Minnesota, a housewife, a massage therapist . . . Still, I really appreciate my education. Okay, so I'm not a Wall-streeter or a think-tank intellectual.

But in the early 80s at the U of M in Minneapolis you'd better believe there was an emphasis on Women's Studies.

I have the bite marks to prove it. :-D

[laruemtt]

16. i got a regent's degree, which

is an interdisciplinary degree with a requisite # of upper level courses and total credits overall, which is another way of saying the degree for people who can't make up their minds! but it does leave me open to choose from several different masters programs - if i can only decide which one :crazy:

[kayell]

11. Horticulture

probably not a lot of others here with that degree. ;-)

[Habibi]

17. Cool one though.

Have you been able to make a living from your educational experience?

[kayell]

29. Yes, for past 20 years

although it definately isn't a major for those who need much money. I've worked as a landscape designer, in a garden center, as a head gardener in a botanical garden, and now for the state cooperative extension service.

[Habibi]

42. That is really too bad

There are a lot of folks out here who need your expertise.

[kayell]

105. I enjoy my work though

and fortunately don't have expensive tastes. I do get a lot of info out to home gardeners in my job. I write horticultural factsheets, we have an informational website that I work on, and answer LOTS of phone calls from home gardeners.

The worry of course is that the cooperative extension service like all other state services is in serious trouble with funding.

[bleedingheart]

101. I am jealous...!!!

I love gardening ...

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. Double major.

Journalism and history. Degree is Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Northwestern University, 1971.

[Hand]

14. Classics...

No kidding. I got my BA (High Honors, somehow) with an emphasis on Latin and extensive coursework in Greek as well. Great stuff--my real inspiration was the department chair, a brilliant, modest man from Kansas, a Rhodes scholar who became a Quaker in the 1950s and was a conscientious objector back when it was definitely not done. He was incredibly patient and encouraging with me, even as I struggled with a demanding curriculum (hell, you had to acquire two languages before you could even read the material).

My honors thesis on "Senecan Tragedy and the Theatre of Cruelty" is renowned at least fifty feet from the library archives.
:D

Eheu fugaces...

Hand

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. Bach. of Architecture

5 year program (it's a "professional degree")....and yeah, it was hard, and the pay is not "great".

[never cry wolf]

107. exactly right

here too in all respects

[VOX]

18. ART.

Had a great time. Manipulated the raw material. Learned much that applies to aesthetics and life.

One of my lifelong best friends was my drawing instructor during my first semester. Never sass the faculty -- they may wind up in your Roledex!

[TheBigGuy]

19. Bachelor of Architecture....

...minor in urban & regional geography
(and that really shows in my interest in political geography here at DU)

I was working on a MPA but dropped out.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

26. so what'd you end up doing?

BTW I went to Pratt Institute.

[TheBigGuy]

28. ....U of KY alum

it was sort of a colony of the Cooper Union, Cornell, and the GSD.

I started doing architecture, and moved into facility management due to the job security.

[never cry wolf]

108. smart move

i've been running my own small practice for 10 years, frikkin roller coaster!! U of Ill. - Chicago '84. B. Arch.

[soleft]

20. Other - Film

[gyopsy]

114. I almost choose film

but then went for Radio-TV Production instead but obviously many of the techniques are one and the same.

[short bus president]

21. who are the other philosophy geeks?

Let's meet up here and refuse to discuss pointless questions!

[gyopsy]

27. Philosophy is tough

Especially the "formal logic" aspects of it. Very confusing and not at all the right-field drivel I thought it would be. Challenging but not for me.

[short bus president]

34. learn to bullshit

through the stuff that sucks that you have to take (formal logic, rote memorization of stupid dead people and their stupid words, etc.) and find a field that interests you. I picked ethics - about the only remaining pragmatic branch of philosophy.

[Pert_UK]

32. One here...Loved it

Formal Logic is a bit of a bitch though....no fun really, but useful in the end.

People massively underestimate a philosophy degree and tend to picture students sitting around scratching their beards and pondering their navels.

It's actually a lot of hard work, commanding thorough and clear argument, logical deduction and reasoning and clarity of thought.

On a related note, I've got a signed letter from W.V.O. Quine which he sent me when I was President of the University of Nottingham Philosophy Society....OK, it says he won't come and talk to us, but it was hand-written and very thoughtful!

P.

[short bus president]

36. Yeah, I've got a formal

machine-produced submission rejection from Philo. I feel like one of the club, definitely.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

48. Here's my take on Philo:

I've always thought of philosophy as a means to determine responsibility- that is, construct a value system and then act on it.
Did I miss anything?
BTW: Sartre's the man!

[ferg]

44. philosophy/electrical engineering

I remember reading 60 pages of Husserl trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about and realizing he'd spent 60 pages obliquely describing the scientific method.

German philosophers suck.

[short bus president]

46. all dead philosophers suck

because they're out of fresh ideas, and they've ALL been thoroughly deconstructed. There's just no fun to be had there anymore. The fun of philosophy is doing it in the here and now. Which you can do with ethics. I'm not sure it can be done with existential doubt, or Aristotelian theory.

[Pert_UK]

49. You can still examine philosophers who nobody has fully understood..

My dissertation was on Wittgenstein's Private Language Argument. That was fun, because half the commentators said "This means X and it's clearly crap" and the other half said "No it doesn't mean X but we're not really sure what it does mean".

I like Wittgenstein. He talks a lot of common sense.....+ he was a beery swine!

P.

[short bus president]

55. I understand where you're coming from

I view detailed study of any of the dead guys as "historical philosophy," which is a worthy field of study, but to me doesn't mean much in terms of the daily struggle to be a good person in the here and now. For my however-many credit hours, you can't beat applied ethics for philosophy with fresh life.

[GumboYaYa]

89. Philosophy major here.

If I could do it again, I would. I loved studying philosophy, even the pointless metaphysical questions that have no answers.

It definitely prepared me for law school. Law school was a joke compared to some of the issues and arguments I studied in undergrad.

[short bus president]

104. It takes a special kind of mind

to enjoy pondering esoteric problems of zero relevance. I got into it on occasion, I'll admit. I came up with a fine refutation of the Molineaux Hypothesis (which was rejected by the asshole editors of the "Notes" section of Philo). But most often when I pondered the pointless it was the drugs doing the thinking and not me. I definitely prefer the pragmatic side.

[gyopsy]

24. Communicatons (Radio-Television Production)

Currently. I'm in college right now and working towards it.

[FreeperSlayer]

25. Major business, minor psych

eom

[Rabrrrrrr]

31. Count in another engineer

And a real one, too - electrical. None of that industrial or civil engineer mamby pamby stuff. With emphasis on digital logic, integrated circuit design, and quantum physics and a minor in liberal arts (concentrating mostly on literature).

[gristy]

35. digital logic???

That makes you a programmer, you know. :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. No, not programming,

though God knows we did enough of that (assembly, lisp, fortran, spice, fasp, ladder logic, and others I don't even remember any more). I did digital logic in terms of integrated circuits and computer design and industrial controls, from the hardware side of things, not so much software, and was doing this just before microprocessors and RAM became cheap enough to be used in everything, so we were designing vending machine change money counters/change givers/dispenser with actual AND and OR and etc. circuits, for instance. Circa late 1980s.

[SweetZombieJesus]

33. I recently dropped out

I was a political science major until last semester, and was about three or four classes away from having all the credits I needed to graduate, and the apathy and utter conformity of my fellow majors during the run up to the Iraq invasion drove me to drop out entirely. It's been building for years, but this was just the last straw. I got sick of having classes with people who were there just to learn how to screw the system and get rich quick. I also got sick of having conversations about how dictators murder their political opponents, and hearing people defend it as "solidifying their power base". I just can't bring myself to examine all the sides of political murders, or the actions of the CIA during the Cold War. I almost got in a fistfight with a guy who was trying to rationalize and justify the CIA's involvement in the assassination of Allende in Chile, and shortly after 9-11, a classmate suggested that we should revisit internment camps for Arabs as we did for Japanese Americans in WWII. I finally decided that if these people were going to end up as part of the same system I hoped to change, there was no hope for me.

[Shrek]

38. Computer Science

Minor in accounting.

[Coffee Coyote]

39. History

[thom1102]

41. Which time?

LOL The first time was Music Performance,Music Education, and Drama, now it's Physics Education.

[Catshrink]

58. Are you using the Modeling approach to Physics Ed?

I took a workshop at ASU last summer in this. It was terrific. Using it now in my classes.

[Zorba607]

43. biology

minor in english literature

[BigMcLargehuge]

45. English Lit/European History double major

Arab studies minor.

[BeatleBoot]

47. B. S. in Business Administration

Pretty freaky, huh?

[Lindsey]

50. B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies

at Cal State. For me it was a wonderful experience. I went back as a full-time working adult and was able to get my degree at nights and on weekends through the Cal State system. I actually use much of the knowledge that I acquired in my classes in my current position. I'm a counselor/activities coordinator at a diverse vocational school here in So. Cal. My degree is by far my proudest accomplishment having received it at 41 years old!

[Catch22Dem]

51. Other: B.S. Info. Sys. Mgt.

[nuxvomica]

52. English

I started out PoliSci but just couldn't stand my first instructor and I really enjoyed my freshman English seminar course so I switched, finally, sophomore year. After graduation, I eventually got a job as a proofreader and I moved around the company till I ended up in computer programming, which is just another form of English.

[Lady President]

53. Need a combo choice

My undergrad degrees are in sociology and political science. I didn't know which to pick because poli sci seems more pertinent here, but I liked sociology better. I also have a law degree. Safe to stay I steered away from the hard sciences.

[Catshrink]

54. Chemistry

ages ago -- but atoms haven't changed much.

I'm teaching it now.... to high school kids who don't much care.

[cosmicdot]

56. B.S. Secondary Education/History and Social Science

[disgruntella]

57. don't laugh.... "American Civilization"

Basically what is called "American Studies" everywhere else. I took my sweet time declaring and by the time I did, this was the only one I could declare and graduate in four years.

Lots of other folks at my school did the same thing, hence the nickname "AmBiv" for the "AmCiv" majors.

I did get a clue and got an Masters in Library & Information Science. I've been a "webmistress"/programmer/system administrator ever since.

[thebeaglehaslanded]

59. English and American lit. A.B, M.A., and pre-Ph.D. studies.

Plus a couple of teaching credentials. So of course I became a technical writer, primarily software systems.

[ScreamingMeemie]

60. Humanities.

[Lady Freedom]

61. working on a...

BA in Mass communication /broadcast

[jayfish]

62. Criminal Justice.

I switched my major after my third year to television production then had to drop out due to a lack of funds. If I had to do it all over again I probably would major in political science or English.

Jay


-Edited For Content-

[Proletariat]

63. Political Science/Economics/Philosophy

[SOteric]

64. Insolvency,

How to sponge money from your family. With a minor in how to form a careful opinion.

[starroute]

65. Linguistics

I was a Tolkien fan, so when I realized I didn't have a head for physics, I found my way to the linguistics department instead. It turned out that linguistics was full of former math and science majors, probably because it was the most logic-based of the humanities.

One high point was that I got to cross-register at MIT and take a course with Noam Chomsky. Unfortunately, he spent most of the lecture time arguing with the fourth year grad students in the back row, and I barely understood a word he said.

I wrote my undergraduate thesis on the verb forms in Beowulf.

I eventually realized that I didn't like linguistics very much -- that what I'd gotten from Tolkien was a sense of language as magic, and there just wasn't very much of that in contemporary linguistics. I dropped out after one year of grad school and that was the end of it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

99. Graduate degree in linguistics here

I majored in German and minored in French and English as an undergraduate, spent a year studying Japanese 6 hours a day for 12 months in a special intensive program, and then went on for a gradutae degree in linguistics.

My favorite part of linguistics by far is historical linguistics and dialectology, and the people who go in for that are mostly former language and literature majors like myself. In fact, I took about half my coursework in the East Asian Languages Department. I wrote my dissertation on (are you ready?) "The Evolution of the Japanese Past and Perfective Suffixes in the Kamakura and Muromachi Periods." This was actually a lot of fun to research, because I got to read all the major surviving literature from those four centuries along with a pile of modern dialect studies, in which I searched (with some success) for survivals of the archaic verb forms.

I had to take courses in linguistic theory, and I hated every moment of them. The people who reveled in linguistic theory were mostly former philosophy and computer science majors.

Like you, I was more interested in the humanistic aspects of language, so I preferred the courses in historical reconstruction, dialectology, sociolinguistics, field methods, and psychology of language.

I ended up teaching elementary and intermediate Japanese for eleven years, and only twice was I able to teach anything even remotely connected with my graduate coursework.

Now I'm a full-time, free-lance Japanese-English translator, and my recent jobs have included everything from directions on how to operate and maintain a dump truck to the program notes and artists' bios for a music festival.

[Maddy McCall]

66. Ethnohistory

history/archaeology/American Indian

[Boudicea]

67. Other, as in miserable failure in college.

I'm not proud of this, but what a disaster I was. However, I'm following the maxim, if you can't be a good example be a horrible warning, and my daughter (entering her sophomore year) is attending on scholarship and doing very well. *whew*

[efhmc]

68. Medical Technology

eom

[bocadem]

69. Aerospace n/t

[Malikshah]

70. Interesting question...

Did Pol Sci for BA, MA in Area Studies and PhD in "area studies"
and yet teach History...should've gotten a clue long ago....

[Boudicea]

71. What is area studies?

nt

[Malikshah]

72. Inter-disciplinary studies

I did Modern Middle East & North Africa for my MA
and medieval Islamic history for a PhD in Near Eastern Studies

None was "technically" a history degree -- but I am considered to be a historian... (I say a wannabe historian)

It just goes to show the artificiality of many of the disciplines in the humanities/social sciences---

Lots of overlap and all

[Boudicea]

73. Sounds really interesting.

Do you teach college, high school?

[Malikshah]

77. College

Went for the MA thinking I'd like to do Social Studies etc at the secondary level--but got fascinated w/ the subject and...

[Ediacara]

75. Earth Sciences - Paleontology

[SickOfSpin]

102. B.S. in Geology

Never used it professionally.

[NightTrain]

76. Media/Communications

Never got a degree, though. After my second year, I decided to take some time off from my education. And I've yet to go back!

[kixot]

78. Mathematics.

I'm just a few electives shy of a B.S. but I'm wanting to expand into a dual B.S. in Computer Science, too, but it's so haaaard!

[GOPFighter]

79. Geography.

And I still get lost occasionally!

[BlueJazz]

81. Mine was Physics

I came up with the formula:

PE/O + Orv.Red + Btr= FRad

[CanuckAmok]

82. I had lots of "Majors", because...

...I went to a military University.

Communications, actually. Just as useless in civilian life as it was in uniform :hi:

[TheReligiousLeft]

83. Religious Studies and History

I'm smashing 4 years of College at the U of Oregon into 3 years, then off to Berkley or Wartburg for 4 year masters of Divinity.

[confusionisnext]

86. Chemistry

BA Chemistry 1998, PhD Chemistry 2003, JD 2006

[SyracuseDemocrat]

87. Finance

Why is there no business category? I'm talking about a category for accounting, finance, management, etc.

[curse10]

88. Music

with an English Lit minor

[Scottie72]

90. Hey where are the natural sciences?

There really should be a a natural science choice for those who took Physics (like me MS in Experimental Nuclear Physics from FSU), Chem, Bio, Geo.....etc.

[CO Liberal]

91. I Studied Electronics at the DeVry Technical Institute

Their school in Union, NJ. I graduated in June of 1973.

[GOPisEvil]

92. Another B.S. in Political Science.

I wanted to go further with my education and do political research, but my grades weren't sufficient enough to get me into grad. school. :evilfrown: Unfortunately, most graduate programs in poli. sci. are full-time, and I can't afford that right now. If by some chance, I get laid off, I think I'll go back to school. Or, if a school offers part-time classes toward a M.A. in poli. sci. long distance...

Edit - I was a history minor as well.

[SiouxJ]

93. Art with emphasis in Graphic Design

Magna Cum Laude :-)

[VelmaD]

95. Social Work...eventually...

I was originally a piano pedagogy major for the first 2 years but then I went undecided for a bit and finally settled on Social Work and that's what I got my undergrad in.

Grad school was in Public Affairs at the LBJ School at UT.

Darth Velma

[bbernardini]

97. Music Education

K-12

[THUNDER HANDS]

98. Print Journalism

And damn, if I wasn't the best young cub reporter in the business for a while there.

Now I'm going back (never got the degree) to get a co-BA in political science and print journalism.

:)

[TXlib]

100. Physics (BA, MS), MBA (Finance)

As much as I love physics, it was probably not going to pay the bills, so I did a transformation in variables, and applied my math background to quantitative finance.

So now, I just keep current with the physics e-print archive.

[GOPBasher]

118. Me too

I have a B.S. in Physics. Right now I'm teaching high school physics. I absolutely love it, but if I ever want to make some good money I'll have to get a "normal," corporate job. I may have to go into engineering or something, so I can stay somewhat in the field I love.

[DemExpat]

103. I'm working for a BS Social science/International studies

Human geography, urban studies, American politics/empire, International development courses.......stuff like like. :kick:

Right about at the half-way mark next month!

DemEx

[Booberdawg]

106. First time

Bachelors in Business Admin

went back 10 years later and earned Bachelors in Accounting and Bachelors in Computer Informations Systems.

And do you think I can find a job NOW????:shrug:

[Cheswick2.0]

109. the first time around...debauchery

drinking and coming up theatre major games including the orginal version of "killer" later played on college campuses all over the country.

[pmbryant]

110. Physics

:bounce:

[FlashHarry]

111. Broadcasting and Film

With a minor in European History.

[GOPBasher]

112. Physics

You should have at least an option for "science majors." :-)

[Hubert Flottz]

113. Music.....................................................................

It was fun!

[geniph]

115. Biochemistry

and why didn't you list the real science disciplines?

[MiltonLeBerle]

116. Bongs.

I forget what kind of classes I was taking.

[0rganism]

117. One college I went to offered a Bongmaking class

Admittedly, it was a student-taught not-for-credit course offered during the second half of winter break, but it was always well-attended. Anyone who attends a liberal arts college knows it's absolutely essential to develop marketable life skills along the way.