OT - College major
Question for all you fellow MGoNerds. I'm about to complete my Community College of the Air Force generic associates degree. I'm contemplating what to pursue my full bachelor's degree in after that. I'm soliciting suggestions for majors from all of you. My associates will have a slight emphasis on business and management, but I have almost no interest in majoring in Business Admin. My interest is piquing towards astronomy or some related field of study lately. I'm looking, since I'm in the Air Force and not buckled down to one location, for a reputable school that offers online courses and/or degrees to complete this. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for what school might be best to pursue this with? I'd really like to avoid being a Phoenix, and I don't want to "attend" an online school like UMUC, that has "university" in their title twice.
Hopefully this breaks up the drudgery that is the lack of commits to UM.
/obligatory GO BLUE!
January 30th, 2012 at 12:43 AM ^
Political Science at the University of Michigan. Like the true leaders and best like myself do.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
Same here, except with a minor in German. What year are you srzeppa27?
January 30th, 2012 at 12:47 AM ^
It seems to have the same amount of math as astronomy, but you will get a job.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:32 AM ^
Seriously, with computer science you can get a job in pretty much any area that you want to work in. Then, if you decide that's not for you, you can just move to another area of work.
January 30th, 2012 at 9:18 AM ^
Poli Sci - sure, if you want a job in a govt position, which, with the way the world is heading with greater regulation, is more and more of a reality
Law: IF you go to a top 20 law school and IF you go to a top 20 law firm by revenue, yes. Lawyers are salesmen, always looking for the next client / ways to increase the engagement scope of the current client. Its better to do this at a larger firm where you have resources than a smaller shop where clients ask "what have you done?". CAVEAT: you can get a govt job as a lawyer, too.
Medicine: ONLY if you can align yourself with a firm that focuses on CASH paying customers. Obamacare (fact of life people) will severely limit the $$$ doctors earn. Find a partnership in wealthy senior living areas (CA, AZ, NV, TX, GA - FL is very competitive) and you will do well.
Finance: Banking is NOT the business it was even in 2005/2006. IPOs? yeah, what equity desk can/wants to sell anything but FACE or some crap social/tech company. DCM desks are gone, Hedgies are looking for quants or GS' highest performing team. PE is on life support, LPs are very discriminating.
*** Other: Leanr Portugese - Learn Madarin. International development with Brazil or China is an interesting opportunity.
This is a very difficult job market, but if you take a view of "how will the govt impact my career field?" "how will foreign competition impact my career field" that is a good first step.
Good luck. I work with a former General, he has a tremendous skill set and recruiters LOVE former armed forces officers (Lieutenant and above).
Most important, SAVE your money - don't get caught up in lifestyle competition during your career.
January 30th, 2012 at 12:55 AM ^
Construction Management! No astronomy but a lot of math and engineering.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:00 AM ^
This blog really is going to shit.
January 30th, 2012 at 7:29 AM ^
cracked my shit up. Thanks for the morning chuckle, aaamichfan
January 30th, 2012 at 1:03 AM ^
Astronomy seems like a dying field given all the recent cuts to NASA, a Poli-Sci degree or something in business would without a doubt be the safest bet. But hell, you're young and motivated; if you feel strongly about the astronomy field just go for it. If you go to a good school and work hard, then your degree choice won't effect you negatively, you will eventually get a good job whether it's in your prefered field or not. I think you could be an air traffic controller or something of that sort at the very least. Even if you don't end up working in the astronomy field the rest of your life you will know that atleast you went for your dream and you won't have any regrets as you get older.
I'd say go for it man.
GO BLUE!!!
January 30th, 2012 at 9:10 AM ^
Newt's promise to put a community on the moon within 8 years? Who says NASA is dead?!?!
January 30th, 2012 at 1:12 AM ^
my strengths are math and science. But I'm past 10 years removed from high school, so taking any advanced math or science courses will murder my brain at first.
While I'm at it, hey Braylon Edwards with the stupid beard, yeah I'm talking to you. The offseason OT rules are in affect. I'm pinging off of fellow intelligent human beings for their advice. Given that a large portion of MGoUsers are current UM or other major school students currently, this is not violating many, if any OT rules. If you know you aren't going to like a board thread, don't click on it. Quite simple, actually.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:15 AM ^
You could go to state and learn how to milk cows... and that's just the women.
<br>
<br>Yeah it's been a rough night.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
Computer Science would be my vote. If you can be meticulous and are a good problem solver, there are a LOT of jobs out there. Every company needs programmers... Oh, and it pays pretty well too!
January 30th, 2012 at 1:39 AM ^
Aerospace Engineering
January 30th, 2012 at 10:47 AM ^
A MILLION TIMES, NO.
Do not put yourself through trying to complete an aero degree online with about 10 years removed from your last math and science classes. It's hard enough at Michigan, where you have people available in person to help you, and if you make it through without tossing yourself off a cliff the job field is very small and extremely competitive.
Mechanical engineering or computer science are much better options if you'd like to be in the engineering field. There are more resources with which to teach yourself the material, and since you won't be pigeonholing yourself there are a lot more jobs available.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:43 AM ^
If you want to have the most sex in college and then none whatsoever after you graduate, try English.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:53 AM ^
Happily married with children.
But I would tend to agree that's a definite course for a lack of intercourse. See what I did there?
January 30th, 2012 at 1:55 AM ^
What exactly are your career aspirations? Even a broad assessment can go a long way in terms of getting the appropriate advice.
January 30th, 2012 at 1:55 AM ^
a) Probably the major best suited to study online, and if there's any kind of professor that's willing to experiment with online courses, it should be comp sci profs.
b) Fits in well with your math/science interests. Especially if you go into financial computation or cloud computing. Something tells me you could utilize programming skills towards astronomy if you want.
c) High demand for jobs.
January 30th, 2012 at 2:41 AM ^
The advice that I kept getting was "study the field that excites you," which sounds great and is definitely something to keep in mind. Honestly, though, you're playing with fire if you select a major that isn't in high workforce demand from a college with minimally competitive admissions. If I were you, I'd research this carefully. Online colleges have been getting a lot of heat lately for failing to get their students "gainful employment" and this downturn has left a whole lot of people with degrees like astronomy unemployed. Just having a college degree is no guarantee for a good job (or any job).
<br>If I were approaching this again, I'd start with my interests and passions, but rather than exclusively using them to come up a major, I'd use them to come up with a list of several possibilities that I'd enjoy and then think hard about the career prospects for each one.
<br>Sorry if that's kind of a depressing way to approach this, but it's a surprisingly high-stakes decision.
January 30th, 2012 at 5:34 AM ^
January 30th, 2012 at 5:50 AM ^
January 30th, 2012 at 10:27 AM ^
When's he visiting? Is he gonna bring Dunn with him?
January 30th, 2012 at 10:40 AM ^
I can only imagine his take on his major options.
January 30th, 2012 at 7:37 AM ^
January 30th, 2012 at 8:09 AM ^
I would also suggest computer science or some kind of engineering. I went to Ross undergrad and while I excelled and found a great job, I hugely regret not learning how to program. That's the skill in the hottest demand for the foreseeable future.
You can always learn the business skills later/on the job since they are so much easier to learn. You can't really learn programming easily again. Programming just opens so much more doors in your future especially if you get an MBA later.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:32 AM ^
Just to throw in my 2 cents about the University of Maryland University College thing, the reason it has two Universities in its name is because of the way the University system used to be run/is still run in Europe. Essentially a University was a collection of colleges, each specializing in one area, that collaborated. In the US now days this has gone by the wayside, but even at Michigan there is still the College of Engineering with in the University of Michigan. So the University College has a broader scope and teaches classes that are also taught through the other Colleges within the University of Maryland. The University College name is still used widely in Europe (University College London is a fantastic school), so don't let the name throw you off of a school that is actually quite good and has a lot of experience in distance learning.
January 30th, 2012 at 8:36 AM ^
What does this have to do with us losing recruits?
January 30th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^
Computer Science, Accounting, Finance... You can minor in Astronomy (or double major, if you love it), but I would suggest a more practical degree (sorry Astronomers).
January 30th, 2012 at 9:12 AM ^
You could look into AOSS (atmospheric, oceanic, and space sciences). It's a less common major, and it really has nothing to do with astronomy, but if you are interested in math/science and are interested in space/aerospace applications it may be a good thing to look into. I didn't take it myself but from what I know of it and from what you are saying your interests are, it may just work for you.
I was an aerospace major, and that may also be of interest to you, but it does have some pretty math-intensive courses so you may want to brush up on your math before taking any aero classes. Any engineering major will be pretty math-intensive, but computer science less so.
I would also think you could set up a counseling meeting with someone at the EAC. They are usually pretty helpful. With your interests/strengths I would advise you to go into some form of engineering or another, as it seems having an engineering degree is the best way to land a job in the current market.
January 30th, 2012 at 9:30 AM ^
For the love of all things holy don't do soociology like I did. Ya you may get to party and sex your whole way through, but the job search after you graduate is pretty much the most depressing thing since last night when 3 recruits stomped on our mgodreams at once
January 30th, 2012 at 9:43 AM ^
Given the nature of the blog I tried searching around the Big Ten for you. IU (my university, actually) has offered online degrees, but is retooling how their system works and only half their website is updated and was pretty confusing. Iowa offers a limited number of online degrees (and nothing you mentioned, except a BBA which you specifically said you had no interest in). Illinois has a pretty big list, including Computer Science and Mathematics (although those are both administered through their Springfield campus). From UIUC, they offer a degree called Earth, Society, and Environmental Sustainability. Northwestern offers a bunch of online degrees, including Economics, Information Systems and Mathematics. Minnesota offers several degrees, but all in business concentrations. Penn State offers Information Sciences and Orginazational Leadership degrees, among a few others. Nebraska offers Management Information Systems and some others.
Other than that, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio, don't offer undergraduate degrees online, from my quick searching.
January 30th, 2012 at 11:01 AM ^
As an astronomy PhD student, you can't really be an "astronomer" for a living unless you get a PhD, or maybe a masters. You *can*, however, use that degree to do other things- you gain computer science skills, data analysis skills, physical intuition, and maybe even some engineering/electronics skills.
If you're looking for something you could do (at least the majority of) online, I'd aim toward something like computer science like a few other folks said. I wish I had taken more computer science courses in my field, and ohmygod the jobs. And if you decide you want to continue your education later, computer science degrees are super applicable in just about any other technical field. Astronomy is a difficult one to do online past the first few courses- I had a lot of physics labs, astro labs, and it definitely all required working with people quite a bit.