Okay, I'm going to college next year and I need to decide on a major...I want to write and I want to one day become a professor, but I also think preserving history is VERY important....So I've narrowed it down to english, history, or historic preservation. Any suggestions??
you don't have to decide as a freshman what your major is gonna be. i'd just take a few classes from each field and then decide. before i got to college, i thought i wanted to go into geology or environmental science...yea, i'm now a economics major. 2 very different fields. so just try out some classes and go from there. and you can always change too, so keep everything open.
Yeah, at my school, you don't have to declare a major until the end of your sophmore year or beginning of junior year, & even then it's easy to change. Take a few classes in each area -- no matter how important it is to preserve history, the required classes for the major may bore you to tears or you may come down with a severe case of writers block. When you decide on a major, the others will count toward your general education requirements. Planning ahead, tho, if you seriously think you would like to be a professor some day, I would suggest trying to do an independent research project (with a professor as your advisor, of course) in your junior year or so. The prof should guide you thru the steps you will need to go thru, & it will give you a feel for what you will have to do in grad school (and, of course, you need a PhD to be a prof, except maybe at a community college that doesn't pay worth squat!).
Why not major in history and minor in one of the others? Or something like that? Definatly explore each field though. And I'm a bad person for advice on this anyway because I plan on being a dual major with a minor as well just so I can get in most of what I want to learn.
MY advice is Major in ENGLISH. Teach the PROPER use of the language. Your only choice then, is wether to go "American" or Traditional. Avoid Slang of course, And Ebonics, and "Spanglish". WTF is "Spanglish"????????
I'd definately take some classes before you declare your major... it may be relatively easy to change, but it still takes effort to do so. When I was in my first year, I wanted to be an archaeology major. Now I'm majoring in human resource management! Classes aren't always what you assume they will be. Personally, I think the English major will have more potential applications in the future, but you do need a PhD in English or History to teach it. What about becoming a teacher for elementary or high school? You could choose your specialty for high schools, and inspire younger people. I don't think it requires quite as much school as a PhD does either (I could easily be wrong though). My English teacher in high school was one of the best teachers I have ever had, and that includes university profs.
History teachers are probably the hardest teaching job to come by, or so I've been told by other teachers. Not that it's impossible, but there are SO many history teachers, and so many amazing ones (I've really lucked out in that department) that you might have to work a little harder for the job. You only need a bachelor's degree in secondary education history to be a high school teacher, and that's only 5 years tops with student teaching. Doctorates take many more years.
Try starting college with as open a mind as you can muster. You might find what now strike you as the oddest things interesting. Think of your first year or two as an opportunity to find out. (This is very unfashionable advice nowadays.) If you're interested in becoming a professor, you might want to seek out a few professors you particularly respect and ask them about the academic life--what it's like, what it takes to become a professor in whatever field, good graduate programs, and the like. Whatever you decide, it's still worthwhile to get a true liberal education.
Why not try a division of Anthropology. Such as Archaeology. With that you can become a professor like you want and also go into preserving historic artifacts and buildings. Archaeology isn't just about digging the shit up. Oh, and if you like writing...you're bound to do that no-matter-what if you plan on becoming a professor.
I agree with the other posters about your not needing to make a real decision yet. I just want to add two things. First, You should make your decision before you start your Junior year. Second, from your list of interests, I would suggest that you take Physics, Math, Astronomy, Biology while you are a freshman. College is a great opportunity to explore. Look at the world outside of your interests while you can. Most colleges have science courses that require little or no math just for that purpose. You have a college full of professors eager to pass on knowlege and passion for their subject area. Don't waste your opportunity to explore.
