(Warning: this comment contains an uncharacteristically high level of cynicism.)
This is one of those areas where the propaganda is false. Roughly speaking, society actually expects you to decide what you want to do as soon as possible, and do it, without wasting any time. (I suppose this is actually an improvement over previous eras, in that you actually get to make the decision yourself, rather than it having been determined by the circumstances of your birth.)
You’ll hear a lot of propaganda to the contrary, and all kinds of fuzzy anecdotes from high-status people about how they took forever to decide; perhaps an apparently successful 45-year-old will say at a dinner party that they are “still trying to figure out what [they] want to be when [they] grow up”, and everyone will politely chuckle. Don’t believe a word of it. It’s either false modesty, or else the person doesn’t have as much status as you think, and the chucklers are actually contemptuous.
Another myth is that your 20s don’t count, and you can write off that period as your “youth”. That may have been true for George W. Bush, but it isn’t true for you.
In general, do not believe any claim to the effect that you have “plenty of time”. The truth is that you can go from precocious to remedial in a subjective instant. The slightest snooze will turn you into Rip Van Winkle. One moment, you will hear (for example) “oh, don’t worry, grad school is a long way off”; and then suddenly, a moment later, it will be “you know, you’ve been in grad school for quite a while now...”. (Or whatever the corresponding equivalent is for paths not involving grad school.)
It isn’t just society that does this to us; it’s nature itself. Death will no doubt come as quickly as grad school (unless we do something about it). When old people speak implausibly about how the 1950s were like yesterday, or people who knew you as a child condescendingly remark on how fast you have grown up, they may not just be trying to bolster their status and undermine yours; they may also be telling more than a bit of the truth.
In short, we’re all about to run out of time; so we’d better hurry the @#$% up and do something, fast.
(And don’t write anything like the above in a college admission essay!)
Pretty much what he said. Also: even if you really don’t know what you’re going to do, pretend otherwise. It’s okay- in fact downright expected- for undergrads to change their mind and switch majors, but there’s a definite stigma attached to being ‘Undecided’.
Pick something that sounds interesting as a major- flip a coin if you have to- and verbally, publicly commit to it, for at least one semester. Confidence and decisiveness are not unattractive qualities, to admissions officers or anyone else.
Do you think it would be unsafe to claim interest in intelligence enhancement? I’m very interested in either working on that or something space related like astrophysics.
No, that should be fine, but I think it might help at this stage to get a little more general: when you say “intelligence enhancement” are you thinking psychology, neurology, programming, education, some combination of the above...? The universities you’re applying to should have a list of the majors they offer, it might behoove you to pick the closest match to your interests and tailor your approach accordingly.
Edit: “something space related like astrophysics” … okay, I feel I have to ask the obvious question: what do you imagine the career a degree in astrophysics will get you is going to be like? Just in general.
It may just be me, but this seems to not actually answer the question.
Assume for a moment that you do get an aerospace degree and work for one of the companies you’re thinking of. Furthermore, imagine having been there a while—long enough to get the hang of things and see what your career prospects are for the future. In that situation, what could make you say “this was not at all what I thought this job would be like, and if I’d known it was like this I would have done something else”? What could make you say “this is exactly what I signed up for and I’m glad I chose it”?
That’s more difficult. His question did say “in general” though. I would have to think about this more but off the top of my head I would regret the decision if I ended up spending the majority of my time on funding related issues. I also think I would enjoy it more if I had a fair number of people working on similar problems alongside me. I’m not sure I can predict either of these things though. Additionally, I probably wouldn’t enjoy myself if it were either very above or very below my ability level, which I don’t anticipate.
One problem is that, so far, I’ve never really not enjoyed anything school work related. I’ve been annoyed by work loads but there aren’t any classes I regret taking. This makes it hard for me to think of intellectually stimulating tasks that I would regret undertaking.
I’m vaguely in the process of thinking of a way to make it more specific and less crazy.
Unfortunately though, I’m a bit like Tracey Davis: quite ambitious, but not completely sure of an ambition.
For a second I thought you were going to say
(Also, bear in mind that Tracey Davis is eleven.)
Haha. But I don’t think it’s THAT uncommon to be unsure of what you want to do as you enter college.
(Warning: this comment contains an uncharacteristically high level of cynicism.)
This is one of those areas where the propaganda is false. Roughly speaking, society actually expects you to decide what you want to do as soon as possible, and do it, without wasting any time. (I suppose this is actually an improvement over previous eras, in that you actually get to make the decision yourself, rather than it having been determined by the circumstances of your birth.)
You’ll hear a lot of propaganda to the contrary, and all kinds of fuzzy anecdotes from high-status people about how they took forever to decide; perhaps an apparently successful 45-year-old will say at a dinner party that they are “still trying to figure out what [they] want to be when [they] grow up”, and everyone will politely chuckle. Don’t believe a word of it. It’s either false modesty, or else the person doesn’t have as much status as you think, and the chucklers are actually contemptuous.
Another myth is that your 20s don’t count, and you can write off that period as your “youth”. That may have been true for George W. Bush, but it isn’t true for you.
In general, do not believe any claim to the effect that you have “plenty of time”. The truth is that you can go from precocious to remedial in a subjective instant. The slightest snooze will turn you into Rip Van Winkle. One moment, you will hear (for example) “oh, don’t worry, grad school is a long way off”; and then suddenly, a moment later, it will be “you know, you’ve been in grad school for quite a while now...”. (Or whatever the corresponding equivalent is for paths not involving grad school.)
It isn’t just society that does this to us; it’s nature itself. Death will no doubt come as quickly as grad school (unless we do something about it). When old people speak implausibly about how the 1950s were like yesterday, or people who knew you as a child condescendingly remark on how fast you have grown up, they may not just be trying to bolster their status and undermine yours; they may also be telling more than a bit of the truth.
In short, we’re all about to run out of time; so we’d better hurry the @#$% up and do something, fast.
(And don’t write anything like the above in a college admission essay!)
Pretty much what he said. Also: even if you really don’t know what you’re going to do, pretend otherwise. It’s okay- in fact downright expected- for undergrads to change their mind and switch majors, but there’s a definite stigma attached to being ‘Undecided’.
Pick something that sounds interesting as a major- flip a coin if you have to- and verbally, publicly commit to it, for at least one semester. Confidence and decisiveness are not unattractive qualities, to admissions officers or anyone else.
Do you think it would be unsafe to claim interest in intelligence enhancement? I’m very interested in either working on that or something space related like astrophysics.
No, that should be fine, but I think it might help at this stage to get a little more general: when you say “intelligence enhancement” are you thinking psychology, neurology, programming, education, some combination of the above...? The universities you’re applying to should have a list of the majors they offer, it might behoove you to pick the closest match to your interests and tailor your approach accordingly.
Edit: “something space related like astrophysics” … okay, I feel I have to ask the obvious question: what do you imagine the career a degree in astrophysics will get you is going to be like? Just in general.
Well ideally I’d leave school with a degree in aerospace engineering and work for NASA or SpaceX or something.
It may just be me, but this seems to not actually answer the question.
Assume for a moment that you do get an aerospace degree and work for one of the companies you’re thinking of. Furthermore, imagine having been there a while—long enough to get the hang of things and see what your career prospects are for the future. In that situation, what could make you say “this was not at all what I thought this job would be like, and if I’d known it was like this I would have done something else”? What could make you say “this is exactly what I signed up for and I’m glad I chose it”?
That’s more difficult. His question did say “in general” though. I would have to think about this more but off the top of my head I would regret the decision if I ended up spending the majority of my time on funding related issues. I also think I would enjoy it more if I had a fair number of people working on similar problems alongside me. I’m not sure I can predict either of these things though. Additionally, I probably wouldn’t enjoy myself if it were either very above or very below my ability level, which I don’t anticipate.
One problem is that, so far, I’ve never really not enjoyed anything school work related. I’ve been annoyed by work loads but there aren’t any classes I regret taking. This makes it hard for me to think of intellectually stimulating tasks that I would regret undertaking.