What Should You Major In?

Zoe Samuel

5 Min Quiz

Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

You're smart and ambitious, and you're going to college come what may! But what should you major in to best keep your studies interesting, and set you up for the life you want? Take this quiz to find out!

How academic are you?

Extremely academic

Not at all
Super academic

Pretty academic

Do you love money?

No, but I need to make a good living

It's not my priority
No

Above all

Are you good with your hands?

Very good

Extremely good
Not good

Occasionally good

Do you play well with others?

Only if they are also educated

Only sometimes
Most of the time

Yes if there's a structure around us

Do you suffer fools gladly?

Not at all

Yes, I'm tolerant
Most of the time

Only sometimes

If sticking to your family background is important, what is that background?

Academics and scientists

Tradesmen
Lawyers, designers, writers

CEOs

How are you with numbers?

Very good

Quite good
Weak

Stupendously good

What sort of smart are you?

High IQ smart

Street smart
Book smart

People smart

Are you willing to move for the right job?

Yes, frequently

I'd prefer not
If I must

Yes, but not too often

What is academia to you?

My safe place

The worst sort of pretentious misery
Good for a short period of time

Not aggressive enough

What's a company you admire?

Google

Balfour Beatty
McKinsey

Coca-Cola

Whose career would you like to have?

Francis Crick

Charlie Ferer
Paula Vogel

Steve Wozniak

When you give your prize acceptance speech to the mirror (as we all do), what prize is it for?

The Nobel

A humanitarian prize for giving back to my community
The Pulitzer

The Stevie

Do you want a lot of time off?

No, but I like predictable hours.

I want to be flexible even if I work hard.
I want a portfolio career where I have time off to write and travel but also work very hard.

I like to work in spurts, going nuts when there's a project and taking it easier between.

How do you learn?

By trial and error

By doing
By listening

By reading

What's your greatest fear in your ideal profession?

Not making my mark

Not maintaining the health I need for it
Not finding sustainable work

Not making a huge pile of money

What's hell to you?

A manual job

A desk job
A repetitive job

A low paid job

What's heaven to you?

Nerds. Geeks. Boffins, as the British call them. They're my peeps.

Getting down and dirty and building something that lasts
Brainstorming new ideas with my peers

Seeing a product take the market by storm

What social ill would you like to help fix?

Disease

Low quality of life despite hard work
Ignorance

Poverty

Who would bore you to be around every day?

Stupid people

Pretentious people
Non-creative people

Poor people

Are you a philosopher?

You have to be, once you reach the top of my profession

I am, but in a practical sort of way
I am all philosopher. Or am I? Am I even here?

Ain't nobody got time for that

Do you like it when there's a right and wrong answer?

Yes, but I like when no one knows what it is yet.

I sure do!
I don't. I like figuring out systems that produce multiple answers that are right or wrong depending on the circumstances.

I like it, but only when there's several of each.

Do you want to spend a lot of money on your degree, if it'll bear returns?

Probably

Nope
It won't bring me returns so it's just something I'll do for me, if at all.

Absolutely

What percentage nerd are you?

100%

20%
50%

30%

Are you sporty?

Aggressively un-sporty

Very
Not very

Quite

What's a good reason to travel?

To research

To relax
To get inspired

To do business

Do you think laterally?

I do lateral and linear as needed.

I'm a linear thinker.
Lateral is my great strength.

I can but prefer linear.

Are you good at self-motivation?

Only OK

Quite good
Outstandingly good

Very good

Do you mind whether other people understand what you do?

Not at all. It's super arcane.

Yes, what I do should be self-explanatory.
I don't mind but I do wish they wouldn't think they know it, or that there's nothing to know.

I only mind because I have to work with them somtimes.

Do other people value what you would like to do?

They don't understand it enough to value it sometimes.

They do, but only when it's not done well do they realize how much.
What I want to do is very under-appreciated.

They worship or loathe it, very little middle ground.

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