Please help in choosing major

[Weber Kendrick]

Hi guys, I'm going to college ( to be more specific, it's Florida State University) and i still can't choose my major. At first i choose Computer Science because i like working with computer. However if i study CS, i'll have to work all day on the computer, which is very harmful for your health from my perspective and i have to do a lot of maths. I decide to change to Media Production. My mom said it's a degree-free job so that's not worth her $200,000 and she asked me to find out more about the job, chances after graduating. So i make a little poll here, since you guys are experts in this field, please help me choose my major.
Here is the curriculum of the school Media Production Courses spend a couple of second to read it and give me your advises :
_So according to the link, What will i be able to do after graduating from college ? Can i work for company like Pixar, Universal or any other company in film making ? i want work like editing video, making effects, sounds or the major that i gave you guys is just for the one who working on television like broadcasting, pointing the camera
_Do you guys like your job ? How much do you pay working a day? tell me more about how you have fun with it.
_And about the salary ? How much do you earn a year ( just as an employee) ? How about Freelance ? _What do you guys do in freelance ?
Tks you guys a lot for spending time reading my sit. :-)

[David W. Jones]

The very first thing you should get is a business degree, which is useful in any field.

Hey, anybody can pickup a camera and shoot, but very few of those people actually know how to manage their business.

By the way, we have media programs at our local schools as well, which are packed full of kids who want to be the next big movie director, or hot TV news anchor. Most of the grads are still living at home and willing to work for free just to put a demo reel together, because in reality, there are very few job openings in the field.

For what it's worth, my niece just graduated from nursing school, and had a job offer right off the bat.

Hate to say it, but your mother is correct! Pick a field that is alive and growing. Not one on the decline.

All the Best!

Dave

[Weber Kendrick]

Originally Posted by David W. Jones

The very first thing you should get is a business degree, which is useful in any field.

Hey, anybody can pickup a camera and shoot, but very few of those people actually know how to manage their business.

By the way, we have media programs at our local schools as well, which are packed full of kids who want to be the next big movie director, or hot TV news anchor. Most of the grads are still living at home and willing to work for free just to put a demo reel together, because in reality, there are very few job openings in the field.

For what it's worth, my niece just graduated from nursing school, and had a job offer right off the bat.

Hate to say it, but your mother is correct! Pick a field that is alive and growing. Not one on the decline.

All the Best!

Dave

Thanks. How about Bachelor of Fine Art in Animation and Digital Arts. here is their curriculum Click here for a sample course listing for the BFA in Animation and Digital Arts / BFA in Animation and Digital Arts / Programs - College of Motion Picture Arts
Is that field have more chance than Media Production ?

[Mark Williams]

First get out of your head that a degree is a guarantee of a job. Especially in today's employment climate. The best thing you can do is research the job market and structure your curriculum to enhance your employment potential. Now that may mean NOT going the career direction you had desired. But you have to be flexible if you want to be successful. The majority of people who chase after their "dream job" many times have a difficult uphill battle to fight. Not that it can't be done but you have got to figure out if you have what it takes to travel that course.

I'll relate a quick story about myself. I graduated with a journalism and business degree in 1978. Couldn't for the life of me find a journalism job which was what I really desired to do and became pretty depressed about it. I decided to re-evaluated my employment possibilities and a year after graduation ended up taking my first job with the federal government in an unrelated field. After a while I actually ending up liking it. I asked my boss one day why he hired me instead of someone else. He replied that my business and journalism degrees indicated to him that I had the training to solve problems and communicate coherently, both of which he considered desirable skills.

[David W. Jones]

Originally Posted by Weber Kendrick

Thanks. How about Bachelor of Fine Art in Animation and Digital Arts. here is their curriculum Click here for a sample course listing for the BFA in Animation and Digital Arts / BFA in Animation and Digital Arts / Programs - College of Motion Picture Arts
Is that field have more chance than Media Production ?

You do realize that much of the animation work is being outsourced to other countries because of the rates.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by David W. Jones

The very first thing you should get is a business degree, which is useful in any field.

That's funny... that's exactly what I was going to write just by reading the thread title.

Agreed 100%, get a business degree.

Hate to say it, but your mother is correct! Pick a field that is alive and growing. Not one on the decline.

Yep, listen to mom!

[Bill Koehler]

Originally Posted by Weber Kendrick

...At first i choose Computer Science because i like working with computer. However if i study CS, i'll have to work all day on the computer, which is very harmful for your health from my perspective and i have to do a lot of maths....

Any profession you choose because you think it will be easy and pay well...just remember there will be a thousand people ahead of you applying for that job. A big part of the value of choosing curriculums that are hard - really hard - is that they eliminate a lot of competition right up front.

I remember my older brother going through this. Our Dad suggested Engineering. If it turned out he didn't like it he would still be making enough to be able to afford to go back and study whatever he finally did decide on. So my brother took his advice, went into Mechanical Engineering, loves it, and has been very successful with it.

I have a niece who also went through this. I suggested Engineering - my Dad had passed away by this time. She rejected it precisely because "oh, that's hard!". Her life has been a lot less than she expected.

Welcome to life in the real world.

[David Barnett]

I'd suggest Web Design &/or development. To actually learn code, but still have the creative freedom as well. HTML, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, PHP.

Video imho you can learn on the side, or take a course or two in it. But heck nowadays kids can buy Sony Vegas for $99 & a decent HD camcorder. That wasn't the case 20+ years ago, hence the reason for majors in it.

For $200k it's a wasteful major.

[Jim Michael]

Most colleges allow you to take a double major instead of a major and minor, you just substitute some required courses for electives and it takes about the same number of hours. So you could take business and art majors and you'd be in good shape to then pursue a graduate degree in either, for instance a teaching path with a MFA or business with an MBA. Since business is not in the same college as art (usually there is a college of Business and a college of Arts and Sciences), you might need to consult with the counselors at your university to come up with a degree program. Another idea is to create a custom major in something that is a combination of art and business - there are some new business models such as Kickstarter that could be the basis of a joint degree. Some universities let you do that. Whatever you do, make sure you get internships each summer. They are key to getting a good position immediately after you graduate. The companies you intern for get to try you out and you gain good experience.

[Weber Kendrick]

Wow, tks guys. Have you guys ever heard of FSU film school ? Are they good ? they said that they're high ranked with Oscar awards and good reputation . Teachers in that apartment said that i could get a better job with MFA in Animation and Digital Arts than Media Production Degree in School of Communication. If possible, i can take Minor in business. How do you feel about that ? I'm not really into Engineering much.

[Bill Koehler]

My point wasn't to choose Engineering, Weber. That happens to be something that runs in my family. I know nothing about yours. My point was if you are shying away from a possible major (CS) simply because you believe it will be hard, your thinking is already flawed.

I am betting your Mom could read my post and get my point instantly.

[Chris Medico]

It depends on the purpose of your degree. If you want a degree more valuable for income earning then you want to choose a technical degree first and a business degree as a minor.

Technical degrees such as engineering have the lowest unemployment and the highest starting salaries.

For sure AVOID any arts, education, or media degrees. Those have the highest unemployment and/or lowest income. These degrees can be some of the most costly to get as well. A double negative in my book.

[John Nantz]

Learn how to work. Get a job working in the fields picking fruit for a few summers. Start with something on the ground like carrots, strawberries, etc., then graduate to trees like apples, cherries, oranges, etc. Piece work will teach you how to work and be a good employee. One problem with kids today is they don't want to work. I can't even get a high school kid to mow my lawn! $10? Not enough. And it isn't very big!

A fellow high school graduate of mine was a really good trumpet player, I mean really good. He was also smart. He got a Masters Degree in music but couldn't get a good job even though he had worked summers in Reno playing trumpet to help put himself through school.

My niece majored in Art, did very well in college, and today is a housewife. Hey, housewives are very important, they just don't get paid much. Another relative had four scholarships to the University of Washington and was actually making money going to school. Switched from Genetics to English, got a law degree, passed the bar right away and is also a housewife. A degree is no guarantee.

In some careers one needs to be in the really top few percent to really make it and the rest are "also-rans". Pro sports is probably a good example but many jobs in the arts are like that too. Everybody it seems wants to be a famous guitar player but how many finally make it? I've got another relative that tried that route but you probably don't want to read how that turned out.

Heck, at one point I thought it would be neat to be an astronomer but at the time there were only something like 9 professional astronomers in the entire US. Needless to say I opted for Plan B.

Didn't you take any aptitude tests in school?

This is a competitive world. Container ships and the Internet have created work competition without borders so you have to be prepared to compete with everybody everywhere else and there are a LOT of very smart people out there who will work very hard to get ahead. (not to mention cheaters) And, to make matters worse, the world's population is really increasing, resources are shrinking, so do the research, pick something that you can be the best at, and go for it.

Bill Koehler had some good advice about difficulty. And I like Dylan Coupers good advice: Listen to Mom.

Realize that in many fields you have to be self employed or compete for work under short term contracts.

One of my profs said: Everybody needs two careers in life.
Sign on the wall in a restaurant in Port Townsend, WA: "Ask a teenager while they still know everything"
An old German saying (on the door of a Hofbrau in San Jose, CA): Zu soon we geht alt, und zu spate we geht schmart (sp?)
Ich bin nicht gut mit meine Deutsch. English ist sehr schwer genuch.

[Weber Kendrick]

Tks guys, i'll consider taking engineer major. It can be rude but i want to know a little about your incomes :) How much do you get paid ? and do you like your job ? Do you regret not taking technical major ?

[John Nantz]

As a suggestion, you can combine your interest of video and photography with just about any career. In engineering one could use photography and I'd think even video as a student in doing reports (written or oral), studies, or even lab experiments. Same thing after graduation with on-the-job work.

In school, take some art or photography electives to boost your knowledge in the area. I had one course in photography, okay, so 2-1/4 and 4x5 view cameras aren't used much anymore, but they helped. Had an art class elective a couple years later and used my photography skill for support of a report I had to write (35mm slides) and got an A+. The teacher said that was one of the very few he had ever given and it was largely due, I think, to the pictures that went with the report. Although I do video as a hobby, photography has helped so many times in my career I can't even count.

It isn't necessarily one or the other. Even if you choose a non-video related field what you learn about video can help. For example, someone here wants to take videos in an operating room of operations. Maybe the company you work for needs a good video of something, with your knowledge you could write a contract with specifications and hire a professional to do it.

So, there are some thoughts. It doesn't have to be all one or the other.