Am I backing myself into a corner with these university courses?

you gotta tell us where. is it free?

and you should at least do one or two hard science or math based courses. a stats course would be solid for any field in the humanities (the ones that haven't been infested with postmodernists anyways)

learn a second language and you would be set if you have above average social skills.

>>18540780
New Zealand so it's not too expensive. I take physics but I don't think it's for me. I had my go at German and Japanese a little bit for two years and I discovered I learn languages fast so it's a possibility but I wouldn't know what ones to take.

>>18540780
What's an example of a postmodernist field?

>>18540812
Lit, sociology, and increasingly history.

>>18540749
Holy shit are you me?
Except psychology

Hijacking the thread here, am I fucking myself over with Economics? I just chose it because it's semi-related to history, which is my favorite, and that it's part math so it might be something that has demand.

>>18540866
Have you taken economics before?

>>18540887
I'm going into first year like OP. I have taken it in high school at least.

>>18540749
Stateside, reporting from the Cali UC system.
Economics - Viable, but you probably want a masters. Do business ( I hate to say that) if your just going to do bachelors.
IR - totally useless
phychology - useless with a BA totatally viable with a masters or PHD.
Anthro - useless as a BA, definitely need a Masters or PHD because it's a research based field, you also should be good at writing, top of your field, and like academia if you're seriously considering this.

Check out College Board's website they publish statistics on the employability of different degrees. I can dig it up if your having trouble.

Coming from a person who studies a mostly unemployable major.

>>18540866
>demand

wrong way to think of non-eng/comm. bachelors degrees.

you have to take a risk of you are not inclined towards STEM (for whatever reason) but are still of 1+ SD above average IQ; BAs are the trickiest and least direct way towards a career but if pulled off are typically the best all around in QoL and fulfillment short of striking big with a creative discipline or business.

you yourself and body of knowledge are the product, not so much your applicable skills/labor

>>18540899
So it's basically drop IR and specialise in one course as a mssters in the second year? I just really want a career path where I'm indispensable and not a job where it didn't matter who I was because it'd be done just the same (I say this from a view on my part time job and the typical generic office jobs).
I wouldn't mind doing anthropology even with it being writing intensive since I write well (I do English scholarship).

>>18540916
Need more information on what you're interested in and good at.
Just be real with yourself in terms of how good at school you are, and how much money you have access to finance your education. A lot of people take out massive loans and find out later there were much better ways to find job they like.

It's also hard if you're coming straight from HS, because it's unlikely you know what your interested in or what skills you actually need.

You can take mostly whatever you want in your first year, most schools have GE requirements to take stuff outside your field, so if you wanna take an Anthro course or IR course, it's not a complete waste if it gives you an idea of what you want to do.

Being good at writing is huge in a variety of fields.

Just to note most of these things I really did not become aware of until pretty late in my education. One of the best classes I took was actually on education and understanding the issues within the US education system and what that means for employability.

>>18540927
My interests are scattered, two years ago I had no idea of what I wanted and now I'm slowly picking up options that are far from each other.
I like economics for its impact on everything as well as its presence in politics. I really enjoy watching the news and finding out everything political wise but that's a career to match the children who dream of being astronauts.
Psychology is an interest of mine that I have little knowledge in already since my school doesn't offer any similar course.
I like anthropology because I take classical studies and comparing past societies to today is important.

I'm sure there would be even more possible courses if I looked deeper into what universities offer. I'm good at accounting but for the love of god I would not pick that as a course.

The other huge piece of advice I would say is talk to you're professors, and especially TA's. They're people who have been in the field for a while and can give you real advice about what going on, graduate students are great, they're often not that much older than you and very approachable, and have dealt with the same questions you're dealing with, and made the choice to go back to school.

>>18540901
Guess I gotta work hard. I also plan on getting masters afterwards, does that make my prospects better?

If that doesn't work, I've always thought of being a teacher. I'm pretty good at English, and I think it was TOEFL that offers an 8-month course so that you can teach English abroad. Is this a good plan B?

Another reason I chose economics is that maybe I can apply for gubermint position and work my way up. Y'know, be the change you want to see in the world. Especially if I plan on going back to the motherland.

This anon >>18540964 isn't me btw. Neat coincidence.

>>18540985 ( same dude btw)
Actually teaching English abroad is a pretty decent side gig, especially if you're the slightest bit bilingual. A dude from Belgium who's staying at my house has been traveling abroad and doing just that, and attest to the constant demand for English teachers. You don't need much ore than a BA for it either.

If you wanna teach K-12 you need certs, it changes quite a bit between states, in california you need credentials and essentially 6 years of education for K-12, and the pay is poor, the hours are long. Alternatively you can look into alternative certification programs like Teach for america, but be careful those paths have thier own issues.

Alternatively, just been really good at your subject, get into grad school and you're on track to teach at the university level.

Basically, just don't do anything to ruin your GPA your first year while you're figuring it out.

>>18540985
This is OP checking in.
Damn we have similar problems and it's only recently that I considered being a teacher for the same reasons, it puts you in a position where the output of your teaching comes from you personally that couldn't be given by anyone else in the same place.

>>18541030
If you want to be a teacher you make sure, you'll be a positive force in the life of the children, okay?

>>18541033
Absolutely, I hold onto the memories of my best teachers as inspirations.

>>18541009
How about going to Japan, Korea, China, Middle East? I read somewhere that the pay is good, they have high demand for English teachers, and that they don't need that much certification, as long as its not high school level kiddie shit I guess. Only things I'm concerned about is that I hear Japs and Koreans work their employees hard, I don't wanna get abducted in China, or get accused of dealing with drugs in Middle East.

>>18541030
You should look up teaching English abroad. It's not surprising that its on demand out there. I believe they don't demand much in credentials. I think I saw one certificate that you can take in 8 months training.

>>18541047
Are there many courses in university to utilise for being a teacher overseas? Even if it was something to fall back on.

>>18541064
Hey, I'm also an incoming freshman. I know jack shit except that English gig. I asked my father about teaching and what he told me is that you can teach stuff in high school as long as you're a professional in that field. I don't know about that.

Sometimes there are actual teaching courses offered in some uni/colleges. I know there's one where I'm going. Look it up for yours.

>>18541078
It seems they do have a "teaching English to speakers of other languages" course. How professional and respected is teaching overseas though? I hear cases of both people who are winging it as a last resort and people who are highly qualified.

Now that I think about it, is teaching overseas a common goal for people leaving highschool? I see lots of people going for all sorts of jobs but little to do with teaching, looking online it seems to be the dream of many people who want to change their life past 30.

>>18541098
I dunno about respect, but it is on demand, so I'd say it is pretty respectable. At least you're not profiting from someone's misery. That's not respectable. I'd go at least for those certifications like TEFL instead of winging it. Altho I sometimes read about those that work only with high school-level English, but I doubt that.