ASG Academic Advising: Picking a Major – Families of Majors: Sciences

A primary part of the Advising Program at the American Scholar involves helping students choose potential majors for study at U.S. universities. It’s an important question for guiding how you enrich your 5 Factors of U.S. University Admissions.

To appreciate the majors available for study, we will explore some common families of majors. These families are groupings of majors by common themes or methodologies that are closely related to each other.

Today we are looking at the sciences.

What is the Sciences Family?

Science uses empirical observations (information on what we can regularly detect & reliably measure) along with logic & creativity to describe & explain recurring features and patterns of the universe.

These descriptions & explanations allow us to do things like:

• Investigate objects & events from the past
• Make predictions for some objects and events in the future
• Manipulate objects and processes based on how they behave

Which in turn helps us to:

• Understand why the dinosaurs went extinct
• Land a rocket on Mars
• Create vaccines for new viruses

The sciences tend to be divided into groups based on the types ofobjects and patterns they study and their relative complexity.

Physical Sciences study the non-living fundamental building blocks of known reality – things whose behavior can more easily be reduced to math equations & formula that the other groups. Examples are Physics & Chemistry.

Life Sciences study living things & the systems they create. They can also be described through math but this can be more difficult due to the complex behavior of living things compared to non-living things. Most of the life sciences are contained within or are considered expansions of Biology.

Taken together, the Physical & Life Sciences are referred to as the Natural Sciences.

Social Sciences add more complexity as they deal with the behavior of highly social & creative forms of life. The focus is primarily on humans and their immediate ancestors. While aspects of human behavior are modeled mathematically, the predictions & interpretations are more prone to error. Examples of social sciences includes Sociology & Economics.

The boundaries between groups aren’t so firm as these names might suggests, with Geology straddling the physical sciences and the life science. In the same way, Psychology straddles the life science and social sciences. The groupings are for convenience, they are not hard boundaries.

In fact, multidisciplinary work among scientists with varied backgrounds is often required for the most challenging & intriguing research and theorizing.

A good example of such a cross-disciplinary major is Anthropology, the study of what it means to be human. It stretches from the humanities to the natural and social sciences:

• Archaeology (past cultures and societies) – uses physics, chemistry, geology, biology, history, art/art history, economics, & other fields of anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology (present cultures and societies) – uses biology, sociology, history, psychology, economics, art/art history, languages, literature, law, religious studies, medicine, philosophy, & other fields of anthropology
• Physical Anthropology (the past/present biology of humans and other primates) – uses biology, geology, psychology, philosophy, medicine, & other fields of anthropology
• Linguistic Anthropology (how the capacity for language evolved/its role in human cultures) – uses biology, sociology, history, psychology, languages, literature, & other fields of anthropology

Many anthropological researchers (especially cultural anthropologists) can choose a scientific approach or a humanistic approach depending on the type of questions they are asking. This gives a more complete view of our humanity.

Science is recognized for advances in the understanding of the universe & providing the basis of new technologies. Science majors are well-positioned for careers in those pursuits.

Scientists are also able to apply that knowledge in business. Many geologists work for oil and natural gas companies since they can figure out good places to drill. Skilled economists are sought as financial consultants because they can research good places to invest money.

Is there a particular area of science that appeals to you?

Next stop on our tour of the families of majors is a review of Engineering