I double majored in history and classical languages. I specialized in medieval intellectual history and in secular Latin poetry.
My MA is in political science. Political science is a mongrel discipline. My training is on the quantitative side: we use the same theoretical and empirical tools as economists. More than anything else, my MA was a crash course in a few subfields of very applied math.
Now I’m in my 2nd year of a PhD in a perverse combination of the two fields. I use the tools of formal theory to gain traction on problems of ancient governance, political economy, and interstate relations in late Roman Egypt and early medieval India. So I get paid to translate ancient texts and do game theory. Life is good.
BS in Comp Sci. I started out as undeclared because of the school’s requirements. Freshmen weren’t allowed to declare Comp Sci. You had to first maintain at least a B average in several Comp Sci courses (I don’t recall how many) and at least a C in some math courses.
I think my original major was actually called something like “Undeclared Computer Science” as a description of people who intended to declare Comp Sci when they’d met the requirements. A number of my classmates from the first few semesters ended up as business majors.
BS in civil engineering (shocking, that). Eventually I figured out that I didn’t really like being an engineer, so I went back and got an MS in hydrology. I’m now working on a Ph.D. in hydrogeology.
I could change my name, I guess, but then I’d have to remember it. I’m not sure that would work.
Started in 1992 as a petroleum engineering major because they offered me the most scholarships.
Switched in 1993 to civil engineering, emphasis in river/harbor engineering because that’s what I really wanted to do.
Went to school part-time, full-time, not at all and worked part-time, full-time as necessary since I was on my own with no parental support.
Switched in 1997 to biology because I liked studying the things that lived in the water more than I lliked to study the water.
Graduated in 2000 with a BS in biology (conservation/ecology/marine biology) with minors in chemistry & math.
I started out in Political Science, with the intention of going to law school. Then I switched to Journalism, and had a raging mysoginist as an advisor, and wound up switching to English (medieval and Renaissance lit, specifically).
BA in Liberal Arts. But if you if you want to get annoyingly pedantic, it wasn’t my “major” per se, because there are no majors at the college I attended, there is simply The Program (which, I feel compelled to add, includes six semesters of lab sciences and eight semesters of math).
I minored in drinking - figured I was taking all the classes I needed, so might as well.
I’m still in school and still have a few years left. So far I’ve majored in:
Psych, then realized I hated it.
Then nursing. Then realized I hated it
Now I’m majoring in History, although I hate it with an absolute passion. I’m trying to talk the wife into letting me join the Army and try to fly for them. It isn’t working, so far.
It’s sometimes a debate in social situations whether to tell people that one studies computer science - in which case you get the usual, “can you fix my Windows for me?” type of questions - or maths - in which case you get the, “wow, you must be so clever. <backs away slowly>” response.
Started as undeclared engineering, then declared as electrical engineering first semester of my sophomore year.
First semester junior year I dropped two of my EE classes and switched to biomedical engineering second semester. Had to take extra classes each semester, and my senior year I took a class while I was taking the pre-req for it’s pre-req…that was a lot of fun, I’ll tell you.
