What should I do in college?
Before any of you come at my throat, yes I’ve talked to my parents, yes I have a guidance counselor and no they were of no guidance for my future. My main issue is realizing the “title” of the career that it is that I want to do, and then finding out what type of major it is in college that I need to study.
I really enjoy Chemistry class, and I really enjoy art. I think I’a pretty good artist, and Engineering is very interesting to me. I love watching the show Myth Busters whenever it comes on, but only stay tuned in to watch it if it has something to do with them crashing into things. I’ve always wanted to build my own car, and so I came to the conclusion of a car designer. That’s not really a job for a car company, per-say, but it’s sort of the idea that brought me here. I’m a little lost as to what that actual title would be, because I know that there aren’t just people sitting in an office of a car company just drawing pictures of cars all day, they have actual knowledge of how to make a car and they know how a car works, and they have the knowledge of what would cope together in order for a car to run efficiently and look good.
I don’t know if anyone has seen the car commercial for Audi or Cadillac I think (i’ll try to find a link) but it played during the Super Bowl, and at the beginning, it said “When an artist and an engineer come together to build a car…” and the commercial goes on, that’s they type of job that I want and I’m not sure what the title is, nor do I really know the steps to get there.
I guess my whole point is, I have slight knowledge of what I want to do with my future, but I don’t know the steps I need to take, nor do know what my final goal after college is.
Can you help me decide my future? I understand if some of this might not have been clear, but I’m just really stressed out with college at the moment.
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11 Answers
Take a fourth year in high school or even a fifth year (If you are alowed) and take a full load of summer school. Finish all of your science classes and any that interest you. Work part time at McDonalds so that later on you want appreciate a hard days work for a hard days pay, in the future, when you have a career.
If it helps any I went to College to be an Accountant. That was miserable and I got a degree in economics. I now program computer boxes for beer money.
Generally the first few years of college are doing general ed shit everyone has to do. Really, pick some random thing. You have a few years to choose. Switching your major is easy and pretty much everyone I know has done it.
I think Mechanical Engineering would be a good start for you, or perhaps Industrial Design?
… and there’s a lot of money in engineering design particularly if you look into energy saving and ergonomics etc.
I went to school in Michigan and the universities therevhave so many car related degrees for obvious reasons. Look at course curriculum and majors for Michigan State University or University of Michigan. You want Engineering or Design of some sort. It might open up for you some of the possibilities. You could contact a counselor at a university. It doesn’t mean you need to only consider Michigan schools, I just recommend it because the industry is in Michigan and the surrounding universities support the industry. Once you know what majors you are looking for you can see what other schools around the country have similar majors.
You can also go to a website like TheLadders or directly to Ford or Chrysler websites and look up design jobs and see what requirements they ask for. What degrees are required for the job.
You really need to make a trip to Detroit and go visit a couple of the car makers there. Call to see if you can arrange a behind the scenes tour with the design department and I think you will be blown away by the number of people employed there just to design cars. Minimally call the HR departments and inquire about the types of jobs the have and the experience and educational requirements the desire. There are also many other related car/truck fields that would cater to your interests. The best way to find out is to go to these companies in person and get tours to see first hand what you might be doing in the future.
Just to add, The Ford museum has tours of one of their plants. You need to make sure the plant will be open during the time you plan to visit if you decide to go. The people who work there also might be able to answer some questions and direct you to the right people. They also might be able to give you ideas. The museum is excellent; to do everything there you need at least 2 days. The museum is not primarily focused on the design and how it is done though, so I don’t want you to be dissappointed. I still think you would enjoy it though. @Cruiser gave some more great suggestions.
I see a trip to Michigan in your future.
Sounds like you are looking at Industrial Design as a major to me.
Learn all the mathematics you can cram into your head. If you can enjoy it, so much the better. Get as good at it as you can manage. Learn as much computer science as you can manage. Get good at at least one programming language.
Nearly every worthwhile field requires a good grasp of mathematics, and the more of it you know, the more likely you are to think of some weird maths property you can apply to what you are doing (thus inventing some billion-dollar innovation). Also, knowing how to program makes nearly everything easier.
It’s vanishingly unlikely that whatever you think you want to do now (if anything) is still what you will want to do eight years from now. Thus you should learn things that are widely applicable and not so easy to pick up on your own. Hence, haunt the mathematics department.
Mechanical engineering. If you like art and design possibly architecture. You will probably change your mind several times. since I was a little kid I wanted to be a geologist. Two years into my geology program I decided it was not what I wanted and I had been planning it since I was about 9. Some careers may seem amazing to you but there is no substitute for talking to real people doing what you think you want.
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