Hi, Wren!
In high school I studied just about every subject available to me. We had "honors" classes available in English and science, and I also took AP Human Geog., World Hist., US Hist., and Environmental Science. I really enjoyed French because it was different than what most people took and I thought it would be more of a challenge than Spanish. When I was dual enrolled, I also took Government, Econ, enough French to pass my proficiency test, American Literature, and Physics for Science and Engineering (which was tough without much background but the first challenge I'd faced in school in years).
I was extremely stressed about picking the right college, since I knew I needed a smaller, more challenging environment, but being a National Merit Finalist meant comparing those schools to full-rides at larger state schools. (having good grades and SAT scores did get me a fairly large scholarship at my school, however, just nothing extra for NMF).
At first, I wanted to study anthropology because I watched "Bones" fairly often, then I enjoyed chemistry, then I remembered how quickly I picked up foreign languages and thought of being a linguist, and after taking Econ and Calc, I decided I wanted to be an actuary to get a blend of both of those.
It was very weird for me to score well without trying in high school, and it was very refreshing to go to college and find that there are lots of other girls who love math and work to become actuaries or love science and study pharmacy. I haven't felt limited to certain majors at all, since I know I have the ability to succeed in most areas. Being most gifted verbally (then quantitatively), I think knowing how to communicate with adults AND knowing how to demonstrate my abilities has really helped, even if it alienated me in high school. That isn't to say that some fields might be tougher for women to get a foot in the door, but overall I feel my school (especially the business program's Assistant Dean) is supportive of both genders.
