what are your majors/degrees/areas of talent?

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the "norm" for aspies is to be drawn to math and science related areas, but, we all know we're a varied lot. I myself ended up in anthropology, partially because one of my intense interests is the ancient Celts, and also because I was drawn to a field dedicated to the study of the strange creatures that dominate this planet....somewhat practical for a being trying to make a small life here.

But, the humanities have always come more easily to me. Math boggles my brain and I have to work hard at it because I find its abstractions harder to fathom than the ones in say literature or the study of religion. I was good at biology, but mediocre at chem and physics. I do well writing everything from essays to poetry and I grasp most anthology concepts just fine.

so, good luck picking on of my arbitrary options for the topic that best describes where your abilities lie and remember it may be different than your interests. I like physics, I just am not good at it.

I have the equivalent of an Associate's Degree in Sociology, a Certificate in Data Processing (the precurser to Computer Science), a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, a Masters in Public Administration, and about 33 PhD level hours in Political Science (yurk) and Social Welfare Policy (obsession - why various governmental programs do not work, and, in fact, work at cross-purposes to each other). As to my undergrad studies, I have six hours in almost everything they offered on the social sciences/humanities side. Why? It was there.

My abilities are heavily spacial - I played with blocks and in the dirt with a shovel, jars, and little dump-truck as a child. Once I see a map I can get anywhere. I'm rarely lost.
I am also quite good with research - records research, specifically. Following trails through records systems. (I do genealogy as a hobby.)
I have rebuilt a car engine (pulled the pistons, rebuilt the carburetor, etc; built a PC back when they weren't quite so complicated; and, can fix any standard household appliance (vacuum cleaners, etc.). It's actually fun, and I'm too cheap to pay someone else to do it.
I'm told that when I apply myself I am a fair writer. It's pretty formula-driven, so once you catch how that works it's not all that difficult. I'm lazy though, and slack a lot.
I'm quite good with animals.
I've got a good ear for music, though I no longer play an instrument.

I particularly enjoy cultural history - the study of not only the political realm in a particular era, but the religious beliefs, street-culture, foods, clothing, diseases, social behaviors, customs...etc., as they explain why things happened as they did.

My least favorite subjects in school were (not in order) Physical Education, Political Science (yes, I know), and Math. I got through high school primarily because I had instrumental music classes and some really good English Literature teachers - the rest was dross. I enjoyed Earth Science tremendously, but found the way most sciences were taught when I was in school to be incredibly tedious and boring. Plus, if there was any math involved, I was quickly lost.

So much for the "science geek" stereotype, huh?


PS - Celts rule.

oh supremely educated one!

Math breaks my mind, particularly graphing.
I adore studying different cultures, particularly religion.

I am now very encouraged about my educational future. If you've manage to accumulate such a list, perhaps I can too.

Hopefully you'll have more options. A lot of that was done so I could support my family on the student financial aid in times when jobs were scarce.... And I started my undergrad work, hit or miss while working for a living, in 1973. I got my BA in 1991. Regardless of what that looks like, I'm not THAT slow of a learner.

And a hint. It's just not as much as you think it is. It looks cool on paper, or if I list all the classes out, but the undergrad stuff wasn't intellectually all that much. More memorization and regurgitation of the currently held "how it is" in the disciplines at the time. Higher Ed, except those parts of it dealing with specific technical training, really pretty much is generically a sort of "finishing school" - things that a circle of academics thinks are important, and, thus, taught - until you hit grad school. Most of the "stuff" I learned was either obsolete by the time I learned it, was debatable (and with different "schools" of thought in the various disciplines, there was a LOT of debate), or just kind of pointless.

Still, if I ever get on Jeopardy, I'll make a killing!


PS Math was, and remains, incomprehensible. Even though I survived "Data Analysis" using a Big Bird calculator (it's all I had).

I am Exercise Science/Kinesiology, in a major program designed for pre-physical therapy students. If I didn't want to do therapy, I can say I would probably be doing a Nutrition major with Exercise minor, as both are intricately tied together as my Aspie obsessions.

Its mostly a lot of biology, with a year each of chem and physics. The general intro courses to the major are painful, but I've seen some of the higher level stuff and it looks really exciting. This semester I'm taking Anatomy and Physiology I, an intro to Exercise Science course, an exercise statistics course, and a nutrition course. I feel pretty confident about the nutrition and A+P, as I've got a pretty good grasp on some key parts of those. The intro class is just a lot of writing but is only once a week, and the statistics course is taught by my adviser, who is a super adviser but not a super prof.

The major itself is full of jocks, unfortunately. On the plus side, many of these jocks are of the female configuration. Back on the negative side, I'm not a jock, I'm an exercise geek. *sigh*

I put science

Mathematics would have been alright too

Because I'm a double major

did a MS in development and genomics... found out about AS... now i'm working on a developmental project on autism.

I'm actually strong in Math, Science, and Social Sciences (Mostly History and Government). My degree is in Integrative Studies: Concentration in Soical Science for Education.

I wouldn't be surprised if high-functioning autism lends itself to scientific careers

Personally, I like humanities subjects and get good grades in them but I find CS and math the most enjoyable and easy.

I like the social sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.) and science (biology, biopsychology, cognitive science). I did my BA in psychology and sociology and my MA is in psychology (bio focused) and animal behavior.


I also like languages: Spanish, French, Latin, Sign Language.

Umm.... I am guessing I would put "other".

My strengths are economics(a major social science you seemed to overlook, unless you consider us scientists, but the term is usually applied to hard sciences and psychology usually comes closer to that than econ), philosophy, and finally, I might put down "history of thought", which is interestingly not there, only time categories of history, area categories of history, or culture group-based categories of history, but not anything representing the history of ideas.

I have a BA and an MS in Sociology and am currently working toward a PhD in the same field. My work is entirely quantitative and requires a fair understanding of statistical analysis (and yes, I know statisticians would consider what sociologists do to be very advanced).

yeah there is a limit to how many options you can have in the poll so that's why other is on there, I listed everything I could think of (I had a lot more specific categories too) but it was too many so I had to cut it down and leave some good stuff off. Sorry about that!

Why?

Economics (at least positive economics) is probably a 'harder' science than psychology.

On some level I can agree, the major issue is that hard science usually refers to the physical sciences, and economics is considered more of a social science. With psychology there are the elements of neuroscience, but not so much with economics, so despite the much greater mathematical rigor of econ, it still is less considered less of a hard science.

I would have combined a few categories, like many of the histories, some social sciences, and so on.