Choosing my college major

Well, yes, if you are sure that you are going directly to Midwifery School from there, it may be helpful. However, if you really want a degree that you can fall back on if need be, I might choose something else. Not sure what...nursing? I know, it's a little too...mainstream. But you could work contingent while building your business, you know? Or education. It could give you better tools to help your clients learn about their bodies and the processes they're going through... just a thought from somebody whose mom steered her in the same way, and is very glad of it. If something happened to my dh and I needed to support my kids NOW, I could go and teach. Can't really do that with a women's studies degree. And, until you get a great client base or are lucky enough to fall into an existing practice that can't handle the workload, it'll take a while to build your business... just a thought.

If I had to do my college all over again, I would have taken a lot more foreign language classes. In my area Spanish and Arabic are the two most frequently spoken languages besides English. I understand about 100 words in Arabic and can understand most spoken Spanish, but it would be totally invaluable as a midwife for me to actually be fluent in either.

I think that Women's Studies wouldn't be a bad choice, but I would look at the courses that are offered themselves and judge whether or not they would be helpful.

Social Work or any of the biological sciences would also be helpful.

I thought about doing nursing, but I just can't do it and work full-time. I can only take classes in the evenings and on weekends and most of the nursing classes aren't offered then. I was considering social working as well - do you think that would be more helpful?

I have a girl friend who does social work at a hospital...it could give you some of the medical aspect of the job. However, it's a VERY emotionally draining job, where ever you work. I know so many people my age (maybe six), who worked for five, six, eight years and got completely burned out emotionally and changed careers midstream.

If you have considered nursing, you should check out some of the community colleges around you. Many of the ones around here offer night classes for several if not most of the requirements. There may be some clinicals that you have to do during the day, but it seems to me that my sister didn't have too many req'd classes that she absolutely couldn't find at night or on the weekends. Our country is so desperate for nurses... And I PROMISE you that, once you start working as a nurse, you'd get the hours you want. There is such a shortage that you basically can choose your own schedule (I have several family members who are nurses). Just a thought.

I wish I had gotten my RN when I had the chance. There are a lot of distance nursing programs that only require you to take exams on site, and of course to do your practical rotation in a hospital. I know several nurses that got their degree through Excelsior College.
There's always work for nurses, even one shift a week can make a nice supplementary income.

I "concentrated" in Psychology at Michigan. It seems to help somewhat!