Why I gave up doing chemistry as a major

You would think that after 4 years of being in a math and science school, and 2 years before that hating on my humanities, taking up science in college would be a no brainer.

In fact, I myself thought it was a no brainer, and as I approached Year 5 and 6 I invested large amounts of $ in chemistry books from NUS, believing that I would use it then and for many more years in the future. However, I have always been fascinated by the study of human nature and the way they think and behave. Why do people behave the way they do sometimes, why people indulged in irrational behavior, how body language is a great indicator of the intentions of someone. Since I was unable to choose between these two subjects, I did what any kiasu Singaporean would do, I decided to do both. (On my PSC contract it actually says chemistry and/or psychology)

As with any other kiasu Singaporean student, I went into Stanford with the grand plan of completing 99999999 degrees with 99999999 modules per quarter, but of course my grand plan came to naught when I realized that it was not possible after all (ha!) to take 99999999 modules and finish in a realistic number of years. And Stanford simply has too many opportunities available for me to want to spend all my time on chemistry and psychology, and so I decided that I wanted to drop chemistry (in favour of economics which I will talk about in a separate post).

It was a somewhat painful decision all right, especially given the amount of time and $ I had invested in the subject, and also given the considerably easier path that I would have if I had taken this subject. I thought long and hard about the following:
1. Opportunity cost - how much will I be losing out on if I take chemistry as opposed to other things I could be doing with my time?
2. Why am I taking chemistry? Is it because I really like the subject or because I am good at it? It is very easy to take the easy path out and take a good GPA with minimal effort.
3. How much will I be learning, given that NUSHS has prepared us decently well for college level chemistry? (ask vanessa for more info about how well the school has prepared us)
4. How relevant will chemistry be to my job in future - in terms of chemistry knowledge and chemistry degree? What job prospects are available for chemists and will I be interested in those fields?

I can't say I don't like chemistry anymore, but I feel that I have reached a point where I am able to appreciate the basics and beauty of chemistry without needing to study more about it. NUSHS has prepared us so well for most of the sciences that I feel that it is unlikely that any additional knowledge that I learn to attain a chemistry degree will be relevant in the civil service in future. (Law of diminishing marginal utilities, haha) Not taking up a subject as your major does not mean that you are banned from dabbling in it in future - some of my dormmates come up to me and ask me for help with chem, and I am still able to appreciate it when I hear people talk about it!