french gospel music

french gospel music

what i wanna be when I grow up!!?

i am about to loose my mind.
I am a 17 year old, it is summer time and I am about to start my senior year in highschool!
I'm a very bright student and highly self motivated.
I've gotta tell ya, I'm good at a lot of things but the things that interest me the most are mathmatics, music and business.
I've been thinking about what I want to learn in college.
I'd love to work in a field where I could use my skills in math (I've already taken Calculus and I'm currently taking Statistics (love it!) as a summer course), I really love to sing and write music so I'd love to have an album or something (gospel, since I love church!), and I love managing and just working in business! I'd love to be an entrepeneur. AND i'd also like to learn french, I've completed 3 yrs and I will be taking french in my senior year but i'd really like to be fluent in the language!!

any suggestions for someone like me??!
(major/minor choices for college)
i'm female**

Don't lose your mind, Dafnie - this is actually a good position to be in at this stage of your life. I love students like you, who are generally enthusiastic and have lots of things that they enjoy. The ones who bother me are those who can't find anything which interests them at all!

To begin with, don't worry too much about making a decision on this. The most common major for college freshmen is "undeclared", and a high number of those who do state a major change their minds at least once before graduating. There are a lot of fields to which you probably haven't yet been exposed, and you may end up falling in love with one of the subjects you have to take as a general education requirement, something you take to fill a hole in your schedule, or something you take just because your roommate talks you into taking it with her. Also, several studies have shown that most people go through between 5 and 8 careers (not just jobs) in their lives, so you may get a chance to do all of these things at some point.

Since you are a good student, the chances are good that you might go on for a graduate degree of some kind, so you might not have to do everything at once. For example, you may want to be a math major, with a music minor, and go on for an MBA later on (you can get a master's degree in business even if your undergraduate degree is in something else, but the same isn't true of the other subject matters that you mention. Or, if you are going into college with AP credits, you might be able to do a dual major and a minor - a lot of our Honors students do that.

Personally, if I had your interests and abilities, regardless of what else I decided, I would definitely do the math major. It opens up so many opportunities for you that you wouldn't be able to do without it. I teach business (marketing), and I see so many jobs offered that most of our students wouldn't be eligible for because their math skills aren't strong enough. Also, I've heard companies say that they always worry that students chose to major in marketing because they were afraid of math - if you had a math major in college, you would never have to worry about that.

I started college as a music major, and I think it is absolutely right for some people, but you don't really need to major in it to become a performer. Most of the ensembles on campus will accept any student who gets through the audition, regardless of major. You may choose to go in this direction, but unless music is your life, I'm not sure this is really what you want.

As far as French goes, you may also be able to continue that. Some schools have a language requirement among their general education courses these days, since the world has become a more interconnected place and they want students to realize that.

My advice would be to pace yourself. As I said, I love students who want it all, and people like you usually get much more out of their education than do other students. However, the danger is that you will try to do everything at once and burn out. Keep in mind that you will want to have a life outside the classroom as well, whether it be church or musical activities, or just hanging out with your friends. Every once in a while, remind yourself that rather than doing everything at once, you can do them sequentially. Give priority to things you may not be able to do again later. For example, I really encourage students to study abroad, because they may never again have a chance to leave their jobs and families and spend 6 months in another country. Don't drop your team sport, if you have one, because it becomes much harder to find a team to play with when you are 30 or 40! There are, however, a lot of things you probably CAN do later on in life, so you don't have to do it all right away.

Good luck!