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.
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.