Need Career Help

[Shady11]

First of all, sorry if this seems pathetic or annoying, I'm just worried.

I'm about go into Grade 12, have to choose my courses soon, and I really don't know what I want to do. I'm not too good with Mathematics but will be taking Data Management as it's good to have at least one Mathematics class, Im not too good with Science either, but I will be taking Biology and a general Science. The problem is by not being too good at either of these branches of classes, and not being able to take the big classes (Calculus, Functions, Physics, Chemistry), I have to severely lower my possible choices of jobs.

I am quite good at English, excelling at it, but do not enjoy and do not feel I am too good at something like journalism or reporting. I am quite good at the Social Sciences, I enjoy them, but I feel they might not lead me into something too good? I mean, the main thing it leads to is being a professor, and I don't know if I'm up to teaching...

If anyone could give me any help, or somehow point me in a direction or help me open my eyes, I would be VERY grateful.

Thank you for your time.

[ahos77]

Hi Shady11,

Welcome to the forums!

The social sciences can actually lead to a wide variety of jobs. Besides teaching, you can go into research--this includes government research that determines what social policies should be enacted, where public funds should be allocated, whether or not certain government programs are doing a good enough job, and much, much more, as well as private research for companies that want to know how well their product is doing, what their target demographic should be, what new products would be successful, and more. Then there's also academic research, which can be for schools or museums, for example, and can be used for textbooks, academic journals, shows, lectures, and more. Social sciences can lead you into marketing, communications, business studies, law, politics, education (even non-teaching positions), a variety of management positions, psychology, government, human resources.... Studying social sciences prepares you well for most professions out there.

Now, if you're starting to feel overwhelmed by all the options the social sciences affords you, don't worry; you have more than enough time to figure out what you want to do in life. Did any of the above things I mentioned strike a chord with you, seeming more interesting than the others? Is there something (or a few things) in the social sciences that you like best?

This site might help you out: the Majors & Careers Profiles at CollegeBoard.com. They have a whole section on careers that fall under the social sciences.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Shady11]

Thank you so much for the quick and extremely insightful reply, you are wonderful.

The only thing I'm wondering is, will having Biology and Data Management enable me to go perhaps a bit beyond the Social Sciences? If that makes any sense. Or would I have needed to have Physics and Chemistry to go any further?

Thanks again.

[ahos77]

You're very welcome!

I'm not sure if I quite understand your question... I need just a lil more before I can give you a good answer. You say "go beyond the social sciences" as if you'll be held back by studying just them. Are you worried about being held back from admittance to certain universities next year? Or career-wise, that you won't be able to apply to as many jobs as if you'd studied chemistry?

Also, are you planning on going straight into the work-force after graduation, or going to university? (This will help me give you a better answer.)

[Shady11]

Yes, I'm a bit worried by both lack of admittance from certain universities, and a bit of career wise. I guess money also comes into factor a bit, as I'm not expecting to live like a king but from what I've read to make decent money in social sciences you have to have things published and be a somewhat big name and the like.

And I am planning to go into university after this year.

Thank you again, you don't know how much I appreciate your time.

[ahos77]

Hi! Again, you're very welcome. Hope this helps!

First, career-wise:

The phrase "publish or perish" is more applicable to social science careers in education and research. Being published and becoming a renowned social scientist gives you more prestige, which in turn gives the school/institution paying your salary more prestige, which keeps them happy. But will taking Physics and Chemistry courses in college help you get published? Not likely. One, if you end up going into Egyptology, then physics won't really help you (unless you want to combine them to write papers on how the pyramids were built, but then, hard core physics classes are probably overkill). Two, research papers tend to be highly specialized. What you would write in a research paper wouldn't usually be covered in an entry-level science course.

For social sciences, research papers tend to work something like this: "Hm, I'm intrigued by the Italian immigrants that flocked to Buenos Aires in the late 1880s - early 1900s. I'm going to go read more about them..." (You go read, and read, and read--and maybe you travel to Buenos Aires to experience it in person--then...) "Wow, that's pretty cool how much of an influence these immigrants had on Buenos Aires culture, basically creating a new mixed language--lunfardo--and dance, the tango. I'm going to read more about them..." (You go back to the library and check out a new, gigantic stack of books.) "Wow, I didn't realize the tango was born out of the saga of crime and poverty in the new barrios. I'm going to write my paper on this and relate it to .... the urban rap and hip hop in the US, compare how each started as urban forms of class expression, explain how each became appropriated by mainstream society, and why that's important in terms of a society's cultural evolution."

Okay, so I kinda just made up that research topic on the fly, but I hope it helps you see the research process. Nowhere in there do you need biology, chemistry or physics. And if you decide to relate it to one of those, you can go to the library and learn what you need on the spot. Now, if you want to make a living working in environmental studies, then you'll need the science background, but this is up to you. Personally, I say study what interests you then make the career out of that. If you're interested in your career, you're bound to excel more at it than if you try to go into something you aren't too fond of. ALSO, most people who major in the liberal arts do not spend their careers writing research papers and needing to get published. In fact, this is a very small percentage of people, and those tend to be working in academia.

But now, university-wise--will not taking more science keep you from getting accepted?

Maybe, sorry. But only the university's website can tell you that for sure. Tons of schools don't have that requirement, but some do. Save yourself from stressing and go to the websites for the universities you like, to find out for sure.

You can major in the social sciences and still end up in a career where you make lots of money. For career success, it's really less about what you study in college and more about what job experience you get during and after. Become a marketing manager and make over $100K per year, or work your way towards becoming a CEO and make even more. You could also make a great salary in general operations, public relations, human resources, market research, advertising, and more.

What's nice about majoring in engineering is you're more likely to find a high paying job right out of college, that's true. But when you're working 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, it's really important you love what you're doing. Studying social sciences might not hand you a career straight out of college, but it doesn't mean you'll be held back from finding a lucrative career--those links I included show you that. It's more about how you use your education to prepare yourself for the workforce. Employers don't actually usually care what you have your degree in; what they want to know is whether you'll be a hard-working, capable employee--which is something you prove through internships and work experience.

I hope this has helped; I apologize if it's a bit long. Feel free to ask more questions that you think of!

[Shady11]

Wow, that was beyond an amazing and insightful reply. I learned A LOT from that post. You have just filled me in with a ton of information. Thank you for taking the time to write all of that, you are an amazing and helpful person. Five, ten years down the line you may not even know how much you may have helped me just by posting in this topic, so thank you VERY much for that. I feel a lot better about my chances in life now in a career sense all thanks to you. PM if you ever need help with anything as you deserve something back.

If any more questions come into my head I'll be sure to come back to this thread, but for now, you deserve a bit of a rest from me haha. Thank you again my friend, you're a great person, I truly wish you all the best in anything you do.

[ahos77]

You're so welcome. Don't hesitate to ask more questions (however big or small) if you come up with more.

Best of luck with everything!!

[Shady11]

I'm back with a couple more questions if that's alright.

In terms of going into market research, do you need a lot of mathematics? As just to state again, I'm not the best with mathematics and will have to put 500% effort into my data management class to achieve a very good mark. And on a stupid question note, how do the social sciences, opposed to all business and mathematics, help me get into this career?

My other question, is there any other fields similar to the social sciences? Just so I can fully think this out before I submit my courses.

Thank you again. I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm just really worried and want to do this properly.

[ahos77]

Hi!

Market research is very statistics-based. Statistics is not a hardcore math class like calculus; rather, it's more of a mathematical science that involves gathering, sorting and analyzing data. I had a lot of friends in high school that hated math but actually loved (and did well in) statistics, which sounds like it might be similar to the data management class you'll be taking. Here's more information on being a market researcher (put out by the U.S. gov) that explains what the job is like, what skills are helpful to have, what education and training is needed, and expected salaries and job growth in the U.S. (and if you aren't in the U.S. most of the info should still carry over).

If after taking your data management class you decide statistics is not for you, there are tons of other jobs in marketing. You could go into SEO (basically determining and strategically placing keywords that help websites rank higher on search engines, driving more people to their pages), project management, copywriting (basically writing advertising copy), or tons of other areas.

And on a stupid question note, how do the social sciences, opposed to all business and mathematics, help me get into this career?

This is far from a stupid question--not that any exist. Okay, some exist, but this isn't one of them haha. Some people will say that to go into marketing, you should major in marketing or business. Some people say it doesn't really matter what you get your degree in, and other people say majoring in marketing or business as an undergrad isn't actually a good thing, that it's better to study whatever interests you. This reflects the various mentalities of different companies. Some prefer candidates that have a degree in marketing because it means they have a bit of background in the area and won't necessarily require as much training. Some companies prefer candidates that do not have a degree in business or marketing--or they don't care, as long as the person has a Bachelors--because they'd rather train a person with a fresh slate and with a unique perspective he/she can bring to the table.

Sorry, I know that probably made it more confusing. Unfortunately, there's no one right answer about what you should study to go into marketing, or even about what will help you most. The single, biggest thing that will help you get into a marketing career is to do internships while in school. Employers value real world experience SO much more than skills learned in the classroom.

As for what you can study to go into marketing: Subjects like psychology, sociology and cultural anthropology help because they deal with studying people and how people think or make decisions. English or journalism also help because you can end up writing press releases and doing other copywriting. There are so many positions within marketing--and so many different industries that utilize marketing--that I tend to believe it's best to study whatever you'd like to study and maybe minor in marketing, business or statistics. If you think taking French sounds fun, go for it--and then apply to marketing companies where being bilingual will be a huge plus.

My other question, is there any other fields similar to the social sciences? Just so I can fully think this out before I submit my courses.

Schools separate their departments differently, but check out the Majors & Careers profiles page at CollegeBoard.com. I linked to it before when referencing their careers info, but their majors descriptions are very helpful, too. Similar to social sciences--and some schools even pair some of these together--are: liberal arts, humanities, languages, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, ethnic studies, political science, public relations, international relations, gender studies, minority studies, history, religious studies and more--then there's also a whole subset of interdisciplinary studies many universities offer.

I hope this helped and that I didn't just make things more confusing. Basically, you can go into marketing with any degree. Some companies will prefer a marketing or business degree, some won't care and some prefer you not have a marketing degree. In my humble opinion, study whatever interests you the most--and do as many internships as you can get your hands on. Work experience is what will put you ahead of other candidates.

Let me know if this semi-answered your questions or if you have any more!

[Shady11]

Once again, thank you very very very very very much. Completely answered my question and again I appreciate you taking up the time to type up all of that. I'm going to go ahead with Social Sciences and see where that takes me.

Thank you very, very much. I will drop by every now and then to let you know how I'm doing and what I'm deciding to do. I owe you a lot, thank you.

[ahos77]

No problem! Best of luck with everything you pursue.

[Keena -Career Realignment]

The question is not what will give you a "good" job! Please - you are young enough to avoid the trap that most adults fall into! The trap is that people get into a job because they don't know what else to do and they sort of "fall into" it, or else they pick it because there are lots of jobs in it now (not when they get out of school), or else they think they can make a lot of money at it. All of these get old after awhile. The next thing you know you're middle aged with a family to support and a mortgage and debt - and you hate your job, you feel stuck.
This is awful! Avoid this from the start! Choose instead what you are passionate about. Not something that is a passing phase, but something you have been deeply interested in for several years. Something that you think you could go deeper into and not become bored with. Also, you may want to do some soul-searching on your purpose in life. This will give you a great headstart in finding a direction to explore.

Good luck!
Keena