Choosing a major is an important decision, one that should not be hurried. The time that you give to the PROCESS of making this decision will be well spent. The steps you take in preparing to choose a college major will be similar to the steps you take in making your first adult career choice. You are laying the foundation for establishing the initial directions of your young adult life. A quick and ill-thought-out major decision may only lead to frustration if you choose something and then discover that it bores you or that you don't have the necessary skills. For example, if you are thinking of majoring in economics because you heard it would be a good background for an MBA degree, but you've done average or less than average work in mathematics courses in high school and/or college, you may need to ask yourself if economics is a realistic choice. Pre-mature decisions lead to loss of time if you go through too many major choices. Pre-mature major decisions can also lead to loss of money due to the extra cost of extra time in college as well as the loss of income while still in college for the extra time. In order to make a major decision, you need three things: time, information, and commitment. Time, to consider all the options, to think about implications of your decision, time to do the work necessary to make a decision. Information, so your decision is based on up-to-date statistics, data, knowledge, and advice. Commitment, to follow through and to make a decision! Before You Choose a Major: Five Questions to Ask Yourself 1. What are my interests and what intrigues me?
What are the kinds of activities that you enjoy participating in, reading, studying, or talking about, or watching on TV.
What hobbies do you actively pursue? Do you enjoy group activities, or do you prefer working alone?
Do you enjoy outdoor activities or being indoors?
What courses did you enjoy most in high school?
When you fantasize about a career, what do you think you would enjoy doing or being?
What kinds of activities are you not interested in, and why?
Would you be interested in the work required in a particular major?
2. What are my values?
Do you consider service to others to be an important part of your personal philosophy?
Is a broad undergraduate education more important to you than a more narrowly-focused program, or is the opposite true?
Do you value financial security above all else?
What practices do you consider ethical or unethical?
What place does a family have in your future?
Will your values fit with a potential major or career field?
3. What are my motivations?
Do your strongest motivations come from your interests, your abilities, your values, or from some other factors?
Are outside pressures (from family, peers, or the job market) shaping and influencing your decisions?
Are you thinking about choosing a major because you believe it will be easy?
Is your primary motivation based on the amount of money you think you can earn in a given field rather than interest in the field itself?
Would your motivation be strong enough to allow you to succeed in a major even if other factors seemed to direct you away from that major?
Who will ultimately have to live with the consequences of this decision—you or other people?
4. What are my abilities (and capabilities--do I think I can learn what is necessary to be successful in a particular area)?
Be objective and ask yourself how your college entrance exam scores and high school grades compare to those of other students.
What are the projections for your success in certain academic areas?
Was poor performance in a particular area in the past based primarily on lack of aptitude or lack of effort? If lack of effort, will you have time, money and motivation to make up in college any basic skills you did not acquire in high school?
How have others judged your performance in the past?
Have you won scholastic honors, or awards for excellence in art, music, sports, or other performance areas?
What are your talents--helping other people, working with numbers, influencing others, solving problems, using your hands, organizing, public speaking?
Do you have the ability to handle the work required in a particular major?
5. What are the realities?
Will you be able to meet entrance-to-major requirements on time, particularly in departments which are more restrictive (nursing, sciences, etc.)?
Does the school offer the major(s) that you are considering, or would you have to transfer to another school?
How much education can you afford to finance, particularly for careers which require graduate education?
Do your interests, abilities, values, and motivations conflict with each other, or are they in agreement?
How much extra time will it take to graduate if you have already completed a significant number of credits that cannot be applied to a major?
If you completed the majority of requirements for a major, would it make more sense to finish the major you have already started and pick up courses or a minor in an area you are more interested in exploring?
Recap You may be very interested in a major, but find that you don't have the skills to handle the academic demands of the required courses. Conversely, you may have abilities in a particular area but do not have any real interest in studying in that area. Sometimes, you may have both interests and abilities in an area but find that the realities of the job market are such that you are not willing to risk an investment of time and money on potentially bleak employment chances. Choosing a major is in part based on the answers to these questions of interest, abilities, values, motivations and realities. Answering these questions will help you determine whether a major will be a good fit for you. It is unwise to attempt to choose a major by connecting it specifically with a career without self-assessment, without knowledge of the world of work, without knowledge of what is required by the major department, and without good decision-making skills. Taking Stock: Self Assessment There are a number of tests which can help you think through the questions above. These inventories and personality assessments appraise your interests and traits and compare your answers to those of people out working in various career fields or occupational groupings. Assessments like these don't tell you the "right major" and the "right career path" for you, but the results can help you generate ideas about majors and occupations that are worth further exploration. After completing a self-assessment of your general interests, values, abilities, personality characteristics, etc., it is time to compare that information about yourself with possible academic majors. What follows are suggestions for gathering knowledge about specific majors. By following through with these activities, you will take an important step in the decision making process in planning for your future academic and carer goals. Researching Majors
Make a list of majors of some interest. (If you are having difficulty coming up with a list or have too many possibilities it probably is an indication that you ought to consult with Advising and/or staff about assessing your interests, abilities etc.)
Read through the listings of majorsand check the descriptions of majors that sound interesting.
Circle or highlight course descriptions in the catalog that sound interesting. Do you find that a number of them fall into a particular major or two?
Without thinking about careers ask some questions of yourself about these possible majors.
Am I interested in subject matter?
Do I enjoy reading and learning about the field?
Do I have or can I develop the skills necessary for success in this major?
Explore and read printed information about majors available in Career and Advising Centers.
Review Major Decisions
Review College Majors and Careers
Review Major Options
Review the Career Connection
Review What Can I Do With A Major In.....
Explore possible career fields of interest related to academic majors.
Explore Encyclopedia of Career Choices for 2017.
Explore College Majors and Careers.
Process the information you've gathered from printed material with Career Development Staff, Advising Center Staff, and/or faculty member in the specific major.
Make an appointment to talk with a faculty member about:
The skills and areas of expertise you will develop in studying the disciplines they're teaching.
The careers recent majors have entered.
Internships that majors have completed or are completing.
Requirements for specific major.
Research and work possibilities within the major department.
Consult with staff about planning for your possible major.
Meet with a staff person to review degree audit to determine time line for completing major & general education requirements.
Advantages of the Research Process
What are some of the advantages of taking on this process of researching specific majors? In short, you will be able to:
Open up the possibilities before making a choice.
Make a wise & more personally satisfying major decision.
Feel more confident about your ultimate choice.
Understand the skills gained in certain majors that transfer to careers.
Recognize that a major can prepare you for a wide variety of career possibilities & even some careers not directly related to that major.
Determine the requirements of a major & a time line for completing major & general education requirements.
After You've Made a Decision: Follow-Up and Suggestions After you have decided on a major(s), here are a few follow up procedures & suggestions:
Obtain a faculty advisor in your department by contacting the departmental secretary and/or the faculty member you wish to have serve as your advisor.
Make regular appointments with your advisor to continue to examine possibilities, obtain new information, decide on courses, etc.
Conduct an informational interview with a former student who graduated in your major and is working in a possible career that interests you.
Explore & obtain a related internship or career exploration.
During your summer break, obtain a summer job or volunteer in a position related to your career/major choice.
Research careers and occupations you've discovered during the investigating majors process
Choosing a College Major & Finding the Right Career Fit
There are few topics about college that create more controversy than “Does your major really matter to your career?” Many people think it does; others think it’s not so important. Who is right? And who gets to weigh in? Also, how do you measure whether something “matters”—by salary, happiness, personal satisfaction? It may be difficult to say for sure whether your major truly matters to your career. One’s college major and ultimate career are not necessarily correlated. Consider the following “factoids”:
50–70 percent of college students change their major at least once during their time in college.
Most majors lead to a wide variety of opportunities rather than to one specific career, although some majors do indeed lead to specific careers.
Many students say that the skills they gain in college will be useful on the job no matter what they major in.
Only half of graduating seniors accept a job directly related to their major.
Career planning for most undergraduates focuses on developing general, transferrable skills like speaking, writing, critical thinking, computer literacy, problem-solving, and team building, because these are skills that employers want.
College graduates often cite the following four factors as being critical to their job and career choices: personal satisfaction, enjoyment, opportunity to use skills and abilities, and personal development.
Within ten years of graduation, most people work in careers that aren’t directly related to their majors.
Many or most jobs that exist today will be very different five years from now.
It’s also important to talk about financial considerations in choosing a major.
Any major you choose will likely benefit you because college graduates earn roughly $1 million more than high school graduates, on average, over an entire career.
STEM jobs, though—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—can lead to the thirty highest paying jobs. So if you major in any of these areas, you may be more likely to earn a higher salary.
Even though humanities and social sciences students may earn less money right after college, they may earn more by the time they reach their peak salary than students who had STEM majors.
Students who major in the humanities and social science are also more likely to get advanced degrees, which increases annual salary by nearly $20,000 at peak salary.
So where will you stand with regard to these statistics? Is it possible to have a good marriage between your major, your skills, job satisfaction, job security, and earnings? Here to share a personal story about selecting your college major and finding the right career fit is Marc Luber, host of Careers Out There. Enjoy his insights, which he sums up with, “Focus on what makes you tick, and run with it.”
The best guidance on choosing a major and connecting it with a career may be to get good academic and career advice and select a major that reflects your greatest interests. If you don’t like law or medicine but you major in it because of a certain salary expectation, you may later find yourself in an unrelated job that brings you greater satisfaction—even if the salary is lower. If this is the case, will it make more sense, looking back, to spend your time and tuition dollars studying a subject you especially enjoy? Every student who pursues a college degree and a subsequent career may tell a different story about the impact of their major on their professional directions. In the following excerpt from Foundations of College Success: Words of Wisdom, writer and former SUNY student Kristen Mruk reflects on the choices she made and how they turned out. THE STUDENT EXPERIENCEWhat I Would Like To DoI thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I started college, but that changed three times by the time I graduated. Initially I started as an International Business major but ended up receiving a degree in Communication and continued on to graduate school. My greatest advice to you is to embrace feelings of uncertainty (if you have them) with regard to your academic, career, or life goals. Stop into the Career Services office on your campus to identify what it is that you really want to do when you graduate or to confirm your affinity to a career path. Make an appointment to see a counselor if you need to vent or get a new perspective. Do an internship in your field; this can give you a first-hand impression of what your life might look like in that role. When I chose International Business, I did not do so as an informed student. I enjoyed and excelled in my business courses in high school and I had hopes of traveling the world, so International Business seemed to fit the bill. Little did I know, the major required a lot of accounting and economics which, as it turned out, were not my forte. Thinking this is what I wanted, I wasted time pursuing a major I didn’t enjoy and academic courses I struggled through. So I took a different approach. I began speaking to the professionals around me that had jobs that appealed to me: Student Unions/Activities, Leadership, Orientation, Alumni, etc. I found out I could have a similar career, and I would enjoy the required studies along the way. Making that discovery provided direction and purpose in my major and extracurricular activities. I felt like everything was falling into place. What I Actually DoI would like to . . . ask you to consider why you are in college. Why did you choose your institution? Have you declared a major yet? Why or why not? What are your plans post-graduation? By frequently reflecting in this way, you can assess whether or not your behaviors, affiliations, and activities align with your goals. What you actually do with your student experience is completely up to you. You are the only person who can dictate your collegiate fate. Remind yourself of the reasons why you are in college and make sure your time is spent on achieving your goals. There are resources and people on your campus available to help you. You have the control—use it wisely. —Kristen Mruk, Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom
This unusual 15-question interactive quiz explores your basic preferences about working. Do you like working in an office, for example, or outdoors? Based on your responses, the test recommends careers to consider . . . and some of the suggestions can be surprising.
After answering only four questions, you get advice about the kind of work you should consider. How can that be, after only four questions? It’s due to the quiz’s clever methodology. You could learn, for example, that you are an “Independent Thinker.”
You answer 24 questions (Example: “Would you rather be an auditor or a musician?”) and get a profile of who you are and careers to consider. It’s fun and takes only about 10 minutes to complete.
This quiz asks you to rate how much you might like specific activities, like tracking expenses or teaching people to read. The results suggest careers that might be right for you to consider.
https://workinterestwizard.com/
This quiz takes a unique approach – you state how often you like to perform various duties. (Example: How many times a day or a month would you like to clean up files at work?) The quiz then offers some guidance about careers to consider.
This classic psychological assessment test has been used for years by career counselors to direct counselees to careers that are right for them. This test asks questions and then places you on the following scales: Extroversion vs. Introversion Sensing vs. Intuition Thinking vs. Feeling Judging vs. Perceiving The best place to take it is in the career counseling office at your college or university, where a counselor can administer the test and help you weigh the results.