Which degree and occupation should I become?

Hey guys,
I really need your help with a career, whether if its in law, finance, computer science or anything else.

- I would really like to travel all around the world
- Interacting by people eg. meetings, dinners etc. should be a major part of my career (I really love to be around people)
- I really LOVE MONEY (probably like everybody else here)
- I think I can handle a 80-100 hour week when I’m young, but once I get older I want time, for a family

My favourite subjects are:
- Social Science (I like economics and discussing about politics and how they can affect things)
- Philosophy (really love talking, even if it’s about abstract theories)
- Computer Science (I got A’s in all my exams, It’s a nice hobby IDK if I want to do it for a living though)
-Business related classes
- Languages (mainly because you use them for talking)

The subjects I don’t really care for (I don’t feel bored by them, having said that I also don’t enjoy them.):

- Biology
- Earth Science
- Music
- basically all classes which aren’t listed in the 2 other charts.

I need to say, that I don’t really know anything about Biology or Music, there are far more knowledged people than me in that classes, but still I belong to the people who get the best grades, the reason for that is that I’m really great in Bullshitting people and selling myself, the only time I fail is when I need to write exams, since they actually test your knowledge.

The subject which I think is pretty boring at least if you’re doing it for a pretty long time:

MATH (sooo boring, also I only get a B-C in Mathematical Analysis, I would probably do much better if I studied, but I think it’s just too boring…)

Right now I’m thinking about getting a Dual Degree in Econ and Computer Science or Politics, or a degree in PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) from a IB-Target.

My only fear is the math part involved in it...
I also don't really care about going to college for a long time...

22 Comments
 

if you like bullshitting people travelling and money I think you answered your own question, you should be a travelling salesman, and it doesn't really matter what you major in from a practical standpoint, but in order to get hired a marketing degree would probably help. if your school doesn't have a business school, then pick a major where you get the chance to debate, reason, and speak in public (PPE sounds interesting, just not sure if it affords that opportunity).

some alternatives

  1. ambulance chaser (personal injury atty): money + opportunity to bullshit, but no travel (you're grounded to your immediate locale) and more school

  2. management consulting: this might be perfect, money, bullshit (sorry consulting bros) & travel.

  3. auditor: not as much opportunity for bullshitting, but you do get to travel and the money's aight

ok OP this post had a fair amount of snark in it, but what I'd do if I was unsure is ask around people in your network. ask your parents, ask your professors, hold informational interviews.

I used to have the same attitude about math, but if you are naturally gifted at math, your profs have likely sucked. I got B's & C's all through high school, got to college to take calc again, had a great prof, got an A easily. my point? don't give up on math, having higher knowledge of math can never hurt you in my opinion. it may be wasted time, but it's much easier to learn math now while you're young so take advantage of it. @"IlliniProgrammer" and @"Skinnayyy" can comment on the math part of a CS degree, so if you HATE math, I may steer clear of that. as for econ, more math.

all of that said, if you go to a good school and get a degree like you're saying (econ, PPE, etc.), you'll be fine. your attitude will probably change over time so just focus on doing well in school and exposing yourself to other professions, you'll figure it out eventually.

 

Depending on your school you may or may not have to take as much match as I did for a CS degree, but I had to take Calc III, linear algebra, differential equations, 2 algorithm classes, and another high level math class. Basically I was 1 or two classes short of a math minor if I wanted it, but I REALLLY didn't want to take any more math classes at this point.

I agree with @"thebrofessor" about the management consulting. It pretty much hits all your boxes. Having a dual degree will also probably help you out here as well.

make it hard to spot the general by working like a soldier
 
Best Response

So CS (as well as every engineering discipline) involves some math.

That said I thought math was mind-numbingly boring in high school. When you get to Calculus it gets a little bit more interesting. The teachers also get a little bit smarter too, so they are a little but smarter about keeping you engaged.

CS boils down to Boolean logic and algorithms. As part of a serious bachelor's degree- one that will train you to be a moderately good programmer, you will have to write algorithmic proofs showing that stuff works (EG Soundness and Completeness- a little like necessary and sufficient). Proof by induction (a recursive proof) and proofs by contradiction are par for the course.

I think it's really exciting stuff, but most people either find it very confusing or a lot of work or very boring.

The average person in the US earns ~$40K/year. If you want to earn more than the average American, you have to be able to create value for the economy that the average American can't create. For doctors, programmers, and engineers, the value prospect is extremely clear. We can do stuff that other people can't to help create economic value.

 

Math classes named "analysis" are usually proof-based (at least at my school) and require skills pretty relevant to Computer Science and algorithms. If OP doesn't like it, he probably won't have too much fun in CS.

 

@"vik2000" I highly doubt that I'm stupid, I got accepted at a go8 (Australian Ivy League) as well as in a target school in Singapour, all three of them are pretty fucking difficult to get into, especially as a foreign (I'm german)

According to my "low" understandment of maths, I've studied in the US for about a year, your math classes are pretty easy I got an A in trig, my classes are so much more difficult than the american equivalent.

First things first, what school would you guys attend?

a go8 (australian ivy league and target) National University of Singapour University of Zurich EBS University of Toronto?

I would like to go to the one in singapour, since it would be awesome to work on my mandarin skills. Or should I stay in germany and stick with the EBS? Does the international exposure (1 year in the US, Studied in Singapour, 1 year somewhere else) make me more valueable?

 

First of all, admitted to any school is a not proof that you are not stupid. There are plenty of idiots here in Berkeley simply as it's a large school. Second of all, it doesn't matters if you have aced math in the states, but it matters that you genuinely have interests in this subject.If not, then CS is definitely not for your since the algorithm alone would probably kill you, and let's face it, CS jobs on general are boring, and travel? Forget about it. NUS is a good place to do exchange program but i won't recommend getting your bachelor out there. In fact if it is up to me, i will go to University of Zurich, which is notorious for its strict requirement for your academic efforts. At least you won't be wasting time i can tell you that.

 

Depends where you want to work and live.To be honest University of Toronto is probably the best pick, but any of the schools listed could have want you want since you don't want to do in the future.

 

I actually want to live in one of these places,

Berlin Zurich Vienna Frankfurt Bahamas English speaking Canada New Zealand Australia London Maybe Singapoure (I'm going to do an exchange year there) Or maybe the US, but I highly doubt that I will get a job offer there as a foreign.

What do you think, which schools are Targets (MBB) in these countries?

 

New Zealand is gorgeous, especially Queenstown.

You need to do some research about salaries and job opportunities for different careers in those different places. They were not all created equal.

 

An Australian Ivy is the equivalent of the Big Ten or the SEC in the US. UNSW for instance is the equivalent of a UT Austin or UW Madison, and in fact has exchange programs with schools like these. These are perfectly respectable schools, but nobody in the US uses them as an "I'm smart" card.

They have a lot of very smart people there like all schools. And no school is any more special than any other. But please don't act like a UNSW entitles you to think you're smart when you have Harvard/Stanford/Oxford/UMich/Berkeley alumns on this forum who don't consider themselves all that smart or good at math.

 

I'm not saying that I'm smarter than everybody else, all I was trying to say is that I'm not as stupid as some might think I am, instead of bullshitting you could say that I'm good in "selling myself". Another comment to the schools, they might not be considered elite in the US or UK, but certainly in places like Australia/Switzerland or Germany, or do you think that there are many people who graduate Harvard and want to work in Germany?

 

Leaving aside the discussion of your intelligence and stupidity, choose a school where you want to live eventually. Your list seems to imply that you want to live somewhere on the planet earth. You may want to narrow that down a bit. As a general rule you'll have a much easier time landing a gig after undergrad near your university. There are exceptions and anything is possible but I generally don't gamble on the outlier. I don't really know anything about schools in Australia but I'd assume if you go to a top school in Oz you'll have a much easier time landing at Macquarie in Sydney than you will at Evercore in San Mateo or GS in NYC, although doors may be open in APAC with language skills. It doesn't mean that if you go to school in Europe you can't eventually end up in Singapore or vice versa, but it will be easier to land your first job near where you go to school and then try to move around. You may also want to consider the personal implications of going to university half way around the globe. That may be difficult on personal level.

You can also just choose a business major, finance for example, economics if the school doesn't offer undergrad business, and it will leave your options open (at least in the US as I don't know too much about other parts of the world other than a bit about the UK) and it won't be too math intensive if you're not a big math fan. Then get some internships in consulting, IB, etc and figure out what you like.

Basically choose where you want to end up, get into the best school possible there, put your head down and work hard and figure out what you want to do.

 

K, did some research these are the places I came up with:

London (I really love London!) Sydney/Melbourne (my family is moving there) Singapur (sounds pretty nice from what I read in the Internet) Berlin (coolest city in europe)

and there are the degrees I'm looking into: law (not that many jobs available and pretty though to get in a good school) econ (seems like a great fit, offers job opportunities and has some liberal art classes) CS (I'm really interested in it, had A's in all of my exams) finance (seems boring though and no liberal art classes like econ)

right now I'm thinking about a double major in CS and Econ, or maybe CS and Finance.

I'm thinking about becoming a Consultant or Ibanker (which can be a huge issue in Berlin, since Frankfurt is the finance capital in germany)

 

This is easy. Given your career wishlist, you should absolutely go to school in London.

Also, I followed a path similar to what you're thinking about pursuing: Computer engineering/Finance from an elite engineering/semi-target school in the US. I promise you no high school class will prepare you for a computer science/engineering curriculum. Don't go into Computer Science if you blew in your math courses - you will get eaten alive in the higher level math courses.

Save your GPA, and puruse a degree in Finance.

 

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