I started off as a “Poly Sci” major because growing up I was a C-SPAN nerd. I actually enjoyed watching Congressional hearings, watching “Firing Line” and reading National Review. It was a little difficult being the resident conservative ogre in a school of pc, doctrinaire liberals, but it was kind of fun be the “contrarian” in most of my classes.
One day I strolled down to the Career Counselor’s office at SUNY Stony Brook and looked at the job offerings/listings applicable to respective graduating majors. There were two binders, a thick Blue binder for Math, Engineering, Physical Science, and Computer Science Majors and a rather thin Red binder for Liberal Arts Majors. The Blue binder had listings for Research Chemists, Nuclear Physicists, Electrical Engineers all offering more than $50,000/year salary (1990 dollars!). The Red Binder had job advertisements such as “Sears Roebuck Sale Representative”, “Telemarketer”, and “General Manager for McDonalds”, all making near-minimum wage and/or commission.
The next day, I went down to the admissions office and changed my major to Computer Science. I have never been sorry or unemployed since then...knock on wood.
Fingas, that flash of genius seems to ellude so many “students” in this age—actually looking at the output before expending the input. Yet it should be common sense.