With the except of one of my brothers, all my brothers have done / are doing / will (hope) to go into the hard sciences. By brothers I mean cousins both maternal and paternal. I'm not counting my sisters as I've grown up with the boys and also consider myself one.

Only reason why I mention is because I was talking to my youngest boy cousin (or err .. maybe second youngest. I'm Asian, I have LOTS of cousins) about further education / path in life and wanted to give him advice as I feel like we have very similar interests / strengths, etc. Like we're both into the more creative side such as graphic designing (photoshop, though more photographic / manipulation for me and more vector / creation of graphics for him), etc. We also have an interest in the social sciences (well I think a few of my cousins took economics / math but they didn't find it as interesting / easy as us).

Being Asian, families have put pressure on the boys to get into hard sciences / typical Asian subjects. Like all my male maternal cousins (except the one in Canada) are doctors while all my male paternal cousins are engineers. In contrast, I'm ALL about the social sciences. I think the hard sciences are gross and boring (ew) and I just don't feel the same kind of fascination as I do when studying the social sciences. I really feel like it would be an injustice if my cousin wasn't allowed the same freedoms to experience this fascination (which I know he will appreciate compared to others) and have been talking to him about economics and what not. His parents forced his older brother to do medicine and as they can see how much he doesn't enjoy it / feel the pressure and what not, they've kind of eased up on the younger boy.

And so I've taken this opportunity to tell him how AMAZING the social sciences are :P I love it so much & find the study of people and life (at a non cellular interactive real level) extremely exhilarating and enlightening. I mean, I can find new meanings and interpretations every day.

I think about how great it is that I was able to pursue this and I really hope my cousin can experience this as well. Though that being said, he still feels like he would be ousted in their brotherhood for being the only one without a Dr at the front of his name. I keep telling him that he can get that through a doctorate anyway :P plus, it gives me someone to share talks with without them looking at me with a blank uninterested face.
Hmm, maybe I SHOULD marry a social scientist after all (I most certainly don't want a doctor) .. I'll just have to make sure he's not an economist. Or if he is, a heterodox one at least. Preferably Korean ;)