if you were a student today what major would you choose

[Dogma]

Graduated with Computer Science, which I'm very happy with (...close to double majoring with Mathematics.)

If I had to choose another... Computer Engineering

Edited August 26, 2014 by dogma

[charsibb]

I was a CS student (loved calculus!) through phases 1 and 2, worked through phases 3 and 4, and basically got out before phase 5 kicked in.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_information_system

 

It's all about using computers to solve interesting business problems. It needs to help (1) increase revenue, or (2) reduce expenses, or (3) better yet, both.

 

The whole point is solving business problems. The software and hardware are just tools. Means to an end. The ultimate goal is profitability.

Edited August 26, 2014 by charsibb

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

I didn't have a plan going in originally and this is the true story of how I ended up with a biology degree.

 

Coming out of high school, I applied to FSU, UF and USF and the former two wanted me to attend summer classes. I was a young man at the time with no immediate plans for my future, so of course I was all like "summer school? **** that!". So obviously I chose USF. I made my way to freshman orientation as an undecided major. After listening to several speeches and getting herded through all the orientation nonsense I started wandering around the Marshall Center. A beautiful girl caught my attention: a sultry creature with supple tan skin, eyes cerulean as the oceans off a Caribbean beach and brunette hair with enrapturing streaks of burnt umber. Chick was stacked too. (BTW, this is the point at which I knew I made the right choice of college). So I struck up a conversation about her elaborate tramp stamp, which was apparently symbolizing a Capricorn fire goddess. Okay cool. I wound up walking around and talking to this girl for a while, must have been a couple of hours, and next thing I know, I'm in a poorly lit room with a piece of paper in front of me that had two lines: one line read "Pre-Med" and the other line read "Microbiology". So I'm like "what the hell just happened?" No way I was going to be a doctor so I wound up initially as a Microbiology major.

 

I never say my brunette beauty again (maybe she's a doctor now?), and I'm not 100% sure she was even a real person since it all was so **** serendipitous, but it worked out great for me. By my Jr. year, the professors that taught the upper level Microbiology courses did not receive tenure, so I had to switch to regular biology. As a consequence, my grades improved dramatically and I graduated with a 3+ GPA.

 

Would I do it differently? Yes. I would have got the digits. Live and learn.

[WoolyBully]

 

Same as I did: Management Information Science (MIS). It's a business degree and you learn technology as well. I can't find enough people to work in IT there are so many positions. They still have foreign people come work these jobs. Pay is around 50k right out of college. Most are in the 100's within a few years.

tell me more about MIS? I'm having a hard time settling on a degree. I'm interested in natural science (not chemistry), and computers (hate calculus). 

 

When I graduated - shortly after dinosaurs ruled the earth (MVS 370/JCL/COBOL/REXX/SAS/DB2...ring a bell wiff any o' y'all?) - USF was a pipeline to GTEDS (GTE Data Services....but it's pronounced "Verizon"). MIS was (is?) a blend of bidness & computer technology (in particular, software development, systems analysis and design). As it turned out, though I didn't plan it that way, I got in just before the grand Y2K experience and rode the last of the mainframe waves to shore. A lot of it depends on where you are and the direction the business is going. After Y2K the great outsourcing & client/server venture got traction and it became very easy to replace on-shore resources with highly skilled (in that field) offshore resources (cost savings). I spent my career working (development & support) on business systems (accounts payable, accounts receivable, order entry, inventory management, customer support / research, database management, etc.), so nothing sexy, cool or making for interesting cocktail party conversation. See the documentary "Office Space" for reference.

 

More than a few guys found out that they really don't like software development (slingin' code, fixing other people's questionable solutions in the wee small hours of the morn,   ) so they opted for project management or program management after a doing time in the trenches. Gotta remember, coding in school is considerably different than real working code at the office. I always liked the development and analysis part of the job, sort of liked the project management aspect but not enough to continually chase the "next best thing".  If you work for the right company - and more importantly - the right management, MIS is not a bad way to go, and there's flexibility to go either farther into the bits-n-bytes or turn the corner and go more business-centric (less techno). 

 

Then again, that was way back when. I don't know what the MIS program has morphed into over the years, other than the change in technology. 

[MonsterBullMCMXC]

I graduated 08/2013 with an Economics degree and while I am struggling to find a worthwhile job, I wouldn't switch to anything else.

[charsibb]

 

 

Same as I did: Management Information Science (MIS). It's a business degree and you learn technology as well. I can't find enough people to work in IT there are so many positions. They still have foreign people come work these jobs. Pay is around 50k right out of college. Most are in the 100's within a few years.

tell me more about MIS? I'm having a hard time settling on a degree. I'm interested in natural science (not chemistry), and computers (hate calculus). 

 

When I graduated - shortly after dinosaurs ruled the earth (MVS 370/JCL/COBOL/REXX/SAS/DB2...ring a bell wiff any o' y'all?) - USF was a pipeline to GTEDS (GTE Data Services....but it's pronounced "Verizon"). MIS was (is?) a blend of bidness & computer technology (in particular, software development, systems analysis and design). As it turned out, though I didn't plan it that way, I got in just before the grand Y2K experience and rode the last of the mainframe waves to shore. A lot of it depends on where you are and the direction the business is going. After Y2K the great outsourcing & client/server venture got traction and it became very easy to replace on-shore resources with highly skilled (in that field) offshore resources (cost savings). I spent my career working (development & support) on business systems (accounts payable, accounts receivable, order entry, inventory management, customer support / research, database management, etc.), so nothing sexy, cool or making for interesting cocktail party conversation. See the documentary "Office Space" for reference.

 

More than a few guys found out that they really don't like software development (slingin' code, fixing other people's questionable solutions in the wee small hours of the morn,   ) so they opted for project management or program management after a doing time in the trenches. Gotta remember, coding in school is considerably different than real working code at the office. I always liked the development and analysis part of the job, sort of liked the project management aspect but not enough to continually chase the "next best thing".  If you work for the right company - and more importantly - the right management, MIS is not a bad way to go, and there's flexibility to go either farther into the bits-n-bytes or turn the corner and go more business-centric (less techno). 

 

Then again, that was way back when. I don't know what the MIS program has morphed into over the years, other than the change in technology. 

 

 

LOL, remember it well.

 

I was an MVS/XA sysprog on a 3090-600. We also had a 3081, a 3083, a NAS, and an Amdahl. Oh, and I had a 4381 as my personal test machine. Also went the project management route - was the lead when we upgraded XA to ESA and installed IBM's first 3090-800.

 

Fun times!

Edited August 28, 2014 by charsibb

[Jihme]

women

[oldbull77]

Long ago, in what seems like another lifetime, I graduated from  (what was then) St Petersburg JC with an AA degree - and dodged the draft  by entering the USAF, where I was trained as what would now be a combination paramedic & physician's assistant.     Came home from a war, and 4 months later was a Jr at USF, with no idea what I wanted to major in - other than I knew I didn't want to go to med school.  I'd had all of medicine I could handle (some of it still haunts me 40 years later).

 

So I took a major, that interested me, about as far from medicine as I could get - Political Science.  Never even gave a thought to whether it would lead to a job.  After graduation, got a job in an industry that only cared that I had a BA degree, in which I spent 7 years working.

 

Then on a bet, and with a hangover from getting good and drunk the night before, I took the LSAT - and won the bet by scoring  in the 90th percentile.  Next thing I know, I'm getting invites from law schools to apply.  30 years later, I'm about to retire from a legal career with the State.

 

I'm often asked what major I'd recommend for someone wanting to go to law school.  My first response - do something else instead.  Unless you are 'called' to the law - much like being 'called' to the priesthood - you aren't going to like being a lawyer. 

 

Second,  there are already too **** many lawyers - and not enough legal jobs.   So unless you want to do something else - and just also happen to have a law degree - don't assume you will be employable after law school.  For example - having a law degree, and being an attractive blond, seems to be a ticket to a job with Fox News !

 

Third, it doesn't really matter what undergrad major you choose - just do well in it.  Which is far easier if you are majoring in something you really enjoy, rather than a major you don't particularly like, but you think it will lead to a job.  My best friend in law school had a BA & MA in Fine Arts.

 

When I retire next year,  I'm planning on going back to USF for a Master's/Phd Degree in Political Science - maybe embarking on a teaching career - and having a law degree so I can handle my own traffic tickets.  But I haven't really decided, yet, what I want to do when I grow up.

[charsibb]

Long ago, in what seems like another lifetime, I graduated from  (what was then) St Petersburg JC with an AA degree - and dodged the draft  by entering the USAF, where I was trained as what would now be a combination paramedic & physician's assistant.     Came home from a war, and 4 months later was a Jr at USF, with no idea what I wanted to major in - other than I knew I didn't want to go to med school.  I'd had all of medicine I could handle (some of it still haunts me 40 years later).

 

So I took a major, that interested me, about as far from medicine as I could get - Political Science.  Never even gave a thought to whether it would lead to a job.  After graduation, got a job in an industry that only cared that I had a BA degree, in which I spent 7 years working.

 

Then on a bet, and with a hangover from getting good and drunk the night before, I took the LSAT - and won the bet by scoring  in the 90th percentile.  Next thing I know, I'm getting invites from law schools to apply.  30 years later, I'm about to retire from a legal career with the State.

 

I'm often asked what major I'd recommend for someone wanting to go to law school.  My first response - do something else instead.  Unless you are 'called' to the law - much like being 'called' to the priesthood - you aren't going to like being a lawyer. 

 

Second,  there are already too **** many lawyers - and not enough legal jobs.   So unless you want to do something else - and just also happen to have a law degree - don't assume you will be employable after law school.  For example - having a law degree, and being an attractive blond, seems to be a ticket to a job with Fox News !

 

Third, it doesn't really matter what undergrad major you choose - just do well in it.  Which is far easier if you are majoring in something you really enjoy, rather than a major you don't particularly like, but you think it will lead to a job.  My best friend in law school had a BA & MA in Fine Arts.

 

When I retire next year,  I'm planning on going back to USF for a Master's/Phd Degree in Political Science - maybe embarking on a teaching career - and having a law degree so I can handle my own traffic tickets.  But I haven't really decided, yet, what I want to do when I grow up.

 

Cool story

 

Unless you really want to go tenure track and teach full-time, you don't need to go back. Your JD is an acceptable terminal degree for many programs. Test the waters by adjuncting, It's a fun, low-risk way to find out how much you like teaching, and you don't need to wait until retirement. You can start in January if you find a school that needs you.

 

Good luck!

[Bullrush33]

2004 Finance/Econ grad.    I would get a double major with Accounting/Management Information Systems.   When I got out I really had no skill set like you do with an accounting degree. With the everchanging database management there is always a need to control and manage the information more efficiently. Worked at Frankin Templeton Investments 2005-2009 as Customer Service Rep to get in the door. Was a great first job and learned a lot about the market and mutual funds.  Then got promoted Anti Money Laundering Associate.  In the financial market as a non sales person the potential is very limited especially in the Tampa bay area.    Now work for the Federal government at the Department of Veteran Affairs 2009-present, rate compensation claims for Veterans.  Finance is a marketable degree but you really need to be intentional as to what track you want to be in and then make job decisions based on that rather just taking any job that comes along.