#and now I'm going back to studying econ haha

[acadec]

ITS OUT ITS OUT ITS OUT

OUR CHANGING CLIMATE

Yes! I'm so excited for next year! So so glad it was environmental

[realtalk-princeton]

I'm having difficulty choosing a major. I'm torn between mol bio and Econ, I've taken courses in both and am just far more interested in the things I learn in my sciences classes, but I don't want to go into research or medicine, I want to go into business and looking at sample jobs it seems like they all want econ-like majors. Idk what to do, could I major in bio but take many Econ classes and maybe an SML certificate, Or smarter to just be Econ (even tho I don't enjoy studying it as much)

Response from Nick Carraway:

I can’t imagine being happy as a mol major if I didn’t enjoy research. Core lab was literally like death, and if you’re not at all interested in doing research, you’d likely hate it even more than I did. Other mol required departmentals like genetics and cell dev are also pretty shitty haha. Other departmentals are really great, but these 3 were not great and are all absolutely required. Also, probably 90% of mol majors do a lab-based thesis, which it sounds like you would also hate! I would caution you against declaring mol just because the concentration here is pretty research heavy. When you say you’ve taken classes in both econ and mol, does this mean you’ve taken the intro courses in both? I feel like enjoying mol214 is not the same as enjoying a concentration in mol.

Wow I’ve probably never written such an anti-MOL post haha. I actually love mol bio, and I absolutely wouldn’t declare anything else. But idk if you’ll like it…

I can’t really speak to the econ or business side of things, but I’m sure you can go into business with a mol degree if your grades are up there (and you took econ classes, did business-y internships). I would sit down with a dep rep from both MOL and econ and discuss this with them. It’s definitely not an easy decision! Other contributors please add to this if you have further insights; I feel this post wasn’t all that helpful…

Response from Maybach Renntech:

As an ECO major, I actually do not recommend the major based off of this limited description lol. I guess this is a weird answer now because two people have argued against both the two listed majors, but allow me to explain.

It is a very poor choice to major in ECO just because you want to work in business. First, ECO IS NOT the same as BUSINESS GUYS!!! Most of the ECO courses here are not at all DIRECTLY related to working in business. I don’t know what internships or jobs you are looking at, but many do not have a strong preference based on major. However, you will need to demonstrate sufficient quantitative abilities generally if you are an English major for example. However, I would need more information on these “sample jobs” in order to really give a full opinion. Yes, some people major in ECO at Princeton solely to get finance or consulting positions. But based off of what you are saying in this post, I think it would be a very poor choice to A. major in something you don’t like, B. study very hard and uninteresting topics that will not be relevant to your future job nor make you more attractive to employers, and C. make you do very annoying things like a senior comprehensive exam.

Entrepreneurship classes are much more aimed for business and startup people. Even the ECO accounting class offered here is financial and not managerial accounting. I would recommend the certificate maybe depending on interests.

I would try and go back to the drawing board for choosing a major based off of your post. Choose something you are passionate about and have less of a concern about future job prospects. You are setting yourself up for a much better time if you are putting hours of hard work into something you actually care about. If you don’t believe me, all you have to do is look at the Princeton 10-year salary alumni statistics and others numbers to reassure you. People out of this college make good salaries (average 175k I believe) regardless of major. People choose a variety of careers regardless of majors (check department websites for this). Just as a random example, I know people majoring in Spanish or Sociology who go on to work for Goldman Sachs lol. What is far more important for getting a job in business is relevant work experience and passion for the field rather than something as trivial as your major.