Needless to say, you cannot easily become a scientist or engineer without actually having seriously studied science or engineering. But within the social sciences plus history division, it’s easy enough for politics majors to end up working with economics majors on Wall Street, or sociology majors to sit next to history majors in law school. If you have a burning passion for a certain department, it makes sense to pick that one. But for the undecided and fence-sitters, don’t worry: major selections don’t predetermine entire careers.
Even within Princeton, it’s easy enough to study the same thing from different departmental perches. Again, if your passion is political theory (and it should be), it would be silly to pick a different major just for kicks. But within reason, you can study similar topics using slightly different methodological approaches, whether it’s economic history, political economy or urban poverty.
So the undecided social-science-inclined students can’t go wrong with their major choice — but you can, and people do, pick a major for the wrong reasons. The first temptation is to focus solely on what your major can do for your career prospects. It’s a valid consideration, but it should never be the only one. Many people think that certain majors provide golden tickets for life after Princeton — unfortunately, no such tickets exist.
The second temptation is to pick a selective major, based on the assumption that its selectivity implies that it’s better than other majors. I’m talking, of course, about the Woodrow Wilson School. As a particularly pejorative caricature puts it, Princeton students are trained to jump through every hoop presented to us like thoroughbred dogs at a show. This sort of momentum might just propel you through life, on from Princeton to law school or business school, to the corner office and finally to an early retirement on your own private island. Then again, it might not. If it doesn’t — and even if you were to continue on this breakneck dash and actually arrive at the top income tax bracket — it is worth stopping somewhere along the way to study what interests you. That might be public policy, but that also might be psychology or the American Revolution. The selective nature of the Wilson School does give it certain advantages over another non-selective major in public policy, but that comparison only matters if public policy is actually what interests you.
(For the record, I bear no grudge against any department in particular. Although I’m a political theory student in the politics department, I was neither rejected nor wait-listed by the Wilson School.)
Even within all the non-selective majors in general some people informally rank social science majors in terms of prestige or average intellect. Economics tends to go near the top, for instance. But I know majors from across the board in elite law schools, top Ph.D. programs and highly desirable jobs. My analysis is admittedly unscientific, so it’s still possible that these people are just outliers and that every department has to have a few smart cookies. But few people will be so status-conscious as to profile you based on your major. Those who do are probably not worth associating with anyway.
It’s incredibly cliched to say that you should study what you love. It’s also wrong — specialties in underwater basket weaving will get you nowhere. But there’s plenty to be learned at Princeton, even if some of the subjects aren’t directly applicable in the job market. Finding a way of understanding the world and, more immediately, exploring it in a senior thesis, is underrated. It’s worth trying to figure out how and about what you’d like to spend your next two years thinking, reading and writing — rather than worrying about how a major will “look”.
On that note, it’s worth considering exactly what different departments ask of you. This doesn’t mean finding the department with the fewest or easiest degree requirements and making a beeline for it. It means thinking about what kinds of courses will be filling your course schedule. If those fields are all interesting to you, then you’ve probably found the right major. Likewise, it is important to consider whether having extra space for classes outside your major is important if one of your potential majors curtails your electives.
What I hope that sophomores and freshmen in the social sciences and history take away from this particular column is that the best way to think about major selection is to think about how and what you like to study. There are plenty of bad reasons to pick a major — social status, resume-padding or positioning for the job market. If, after asking the right questions, you have an obvious major choice, then more power to you. If you have two or three after asking the right questions, you still have to pick one — but you can know it won’t dictate the rest of your life.
Brian Lipshutz is a politics major from Lafayette Hill, Pa. He can be reached at lipshutz@princeton.edu.
Read More
5Terra Advisory must distance itself from human rights abuses
Kristin NagyIt’s clear that 5Terra is making the wrong choice by failing to fully investigate their own plans and attempting to build a talent pipeline between students and PIF companies, putting Princeton’s values of service and ethical leadership at risk by wading into possible involvement in human rights abuses.
It’s clear that 5Terra is making the wrong choice by failing to fully investigate their own plans and attempting to build a talent pipeline between students and PIF companies, putting Princeton’s values of service and ethical leadership at risk by wading into possible involvement in human rights abuses.
Didn’t draw into your residential college? This rule says you probably can’t next year, either.
Jerry ZhuRising seniors who apply to their college’s draw receive an additional 0.1 points to their draw weight for every year they’ve lived in their college, ensuring that those who successfully drew in in their junior year get priority. The University must abolish this unreasonable rule to restore fairness to the room draw process.
Rising seniors who apply to their college’s draw receive an additional 0.1 points to their draw weight for every year they’ve lived in their college, ensuring that those who successfully drew in in their junior year get priority. The University must abolish this unreasonable rule to restore fairness to the room draw process.
Princeton, stop using ChatGPT
Ava JohnsonWhen chatbot tools like ChatGPT are consistently used in place of basic critical thinking and simple mental tasks, we lose our ability to complete these tasks ourselves.
When chatbot tools like ChatGPT are consistently used in place of basic critical thinking and simple mental tasks, we lose our ability to complete these tasks ourselves.