Lesly Hernandez

5/13/2016
You Won't Regret it
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" If you tell me you have not heard that question at
least twenty times, I know you are lying. From the moment you get into elementary school that
question just keeps on coming up. Now, if you were like me, every time I was asked that
question my answer always changed. Every year I wanted to be something different, at times
even things that were pretty ridiculous. Eventually I would just start saying I did not know to
avoid the explanation. Now that I am finishing up my first year of college, my answer to this
question is easy. Majoring in Sociology was honestly my best decision. For those who are not
quite sure was Sociology focuses on, it is the study of a society. To be more specific, it is the way
a group of people interact with one another due to their surroundings like race or gender. This
major is for the students who question things, for those who want to know why people are the
way they are, for the people that are always observant of their surroundings. If this sounds like
you, follow me as I show you the journey to your success.
The first thing you would need to do is pick your school. You can choose this however you feel,
depending on your comfort ability or which school has the best program. I attend CSUN for both
these reasons. Cal State Northridge has a great Sociology program, before even deciding where I
wanted to go to school I had so many people tell me how great this program was. However,
many other schools offer this program as well. The University of California, Berkeley is ranked 1
of 556 nationwide schools to have the top Sociology program. This school also is ranked in the

top 10 for highest paying college graduates with a degree in Sociology. (college factual) (The
campus is beautiful too!) If that does not make you want to go there, I do not know what will.
Choosing your school will be one of the harder things you will have to do, some people decide
they want to move far away to be independent and then end up getting home sick. If you are one
of those people, it is best if you do not move too far away, far enough to live on your own but
close enough to be able to visit home often.
Choosing classes is probably the best thing about college. You can really choose
whatever day you want and time. My first year at CSUN I took two classes that were important
to my major. I took Sociology 150 my first semester and Child and Adolescent Development my
second semester. When I first chose my sociology class I was pretty excited because I thought it
was going to be a trail run of what the rest of my life was going to look like. I was wrong, I
walked in, looked at the syllabus, and automatically thought of all the possible other choices I
had instead of this class. I am not going to lie, for a while this class was one of my least
favorites, but I stuck around and by the end of the semester I actually really enjoyed it. I believe
it is very important to choose a class that will give you a feel for what you are planning to major
in, that way if you do not like it you will not waste your time. Majoring in Sociology looks
something like this, 10 units lower division, 18 units upper division, and 20 units of electives.
(Csun) Your lower division classes would be something like a math class and two sociology
classes. Upper division is a lot of sociological theory classes, so that would take up the rest of
your college stay.
Now for those who try out sociology and do not feel like it is for you but still want to stay
in the same program, there are other options. Since this department is of Social and Behavioral

Sciences, other majors like Criminal Justice or Social Welfare are also available. Criminal Justice
understands peoples criminal or deviant behaviors. This is like Sociology except it is more
focused on people with violent behaviors. Social Welfare on the other hand, is more for the
people that want to work at hospitals or with probation and parole. Although these are all from
the same department they each require a different amount of units as well as different set of
courses. If you decide to take another route, there is also Psychology. Since this is in the same
department as sociology, they both tie into each other. Psychology is the study of a single person
and why they behave or interact a certain way. If you think about it, the way a person behaves
tends to do mainly with the society. Our society influences us hugely whether it is how we
should dress or the things we should say. With that being said, it is easy to tell where these two
subjects would come together. Unlike sociology, Psychology has many more courses and credits
for completion. There are 10 units lower division, 26 units upper division, 6 units upper division
electives, and 48 units of general educations, which leads to a total of 120 units for a Bachelors.
(Csun) With all these classes, your graduation date is looking around four years after entering.
Having to complete all these classes will take a while, which is why if you do not have to
rush through your college years. There is always time to major in one and minor in the other, you
can even double major. There are plenty of options to get the best education for you possible.
This leads to the most common asked questions by college students Will this actually
get me somewhere? Will I be able to find a job? Will I get good money from this degree? What
if there is nothing for me when I am out? Especially with the way things are looking now, they
biggest fear is that you will have a degree but no job to show for all your hard work. This is the
main reason why you need to think carefully when choosing your major. If you really think about

it, there are always going to be jobs. It just takes the time to actually go out and look for them. As
for sociology majors, there are a wide variety of careers that you can pursue with this degree.
You can become a social worker, which would be working with families that are living in bad
environments or even children that are not living in the right homes in order for them to prosper.
Jobs like parole or probation officers are available as well, this is where you would watch over
the people who have been released from jail but still need to be checked up on to ensure they are
not doing the wrong things. If those do not interest you, you can even become a counselor like at
a school, you can help children if they are having problems at school or home. These are not the
only jobs available either, these are just some. As for the question of stability, the median pay for
a sociologist is around $74,000 a year and hourly it rounds out to about $35. I personally believe
that choosing a career comes down to if you see yourself doing this for a long time without
getting tire of it. I know that money is a huge factor, because who does not like money, but
stability would not be a question with this degree.
Now you have it all the college, the courses, the money, what is next? Next is deciding if
you really want to pursue this career, this journey to success might I add. Graduating from High
School is only the beginning of the rest of your whole life, so you have to make it a good one.
This means dedication, hard work, and a whole lot of coffee (youll need it, trust me). There is
going to be a lot of work, but honestly that comes with any major you decide to pursue.
Sociology is a very interesting field that I think a lot of people would enjoy, at first I second
guessed this major but now look at me, writing this paper on why you should chose this major.
There is no easy way out in college. Think about it this way, the harder you work and the more
time you put in, the faster you finish. So you better start fast!