The Educatee'south Guide to Choosing a Major

If you're confused nigh how to cull a higher major and feel like picking a major is causing a lot of stress, this guide can help.

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Published on October v, 2021 · Updated on Feb three, 2022

Reviewed by Sarah Holliday, MS, GCDF

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The Student's Guide to Choosing a Major

  • Knowing what you're interested in and what y'all're good at can assistance yous choose a major.
  • Talking with your academic advisor could aid you learn near new degree options.
  • Many colleges let you create your own major so you tin focus on a specific topic.

Choosing a major tin be tricky, especially if you have multiple interests or don't know what kind of career you want to pursue. According to a 2022 BestColleges report, 3 in five college graduates would alter their majors if they could go back.

In that location are many factors you should consider before committing to a major, including the plan cost, salary expectations, and employment rates in that field. In addition, you should call up about your personality, personal and professional goals, and interests.

Including these variables in your decision procedure tin help ensure you choose a major that resonates with your personal mission, values, and passions.

half dozen Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a Major

Choosing a major represents a significant step in the college procedure, and it shouldn't be taken lightly. Hither are 6 factors to consider earlier committing to a major.

1. What Are Your Biggest Priorities?

Some students pursue certain majors primarily based upon salary potential and job need. Alternatively, other students choose majors they're passionate well-nigh and/or highly skilled in. Before you lot choose a major, recollect most which of these three factors — economic advantage, interest level, and power — are near important and relevant to yous and your time to come goals.

2. What Are You Interested In?

Studies take found that students tend to perform meliorate in schoolhouse when they tin focus on their interests. Unfortunately, it'due south non always like shooting fish in a barrel for a student to identify their interests.

To get help with this, consider taking a personality quiz. For instance, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire can help you determine subjects that closely align with your personality and interests.

This popular assessment uses your habits and attitudes to generate 1 of 16 personality types, written equally a combination of 4 letters. Examples include ISFJ (introverted, sensing, feeling, and judging) and ENTP (extroverted, intuitive, thinking, and perceiving).

You tin can also explore potential areas of study and career paths by joining student clubs, volunteering, working a role-time chore on campus, managing a side hustle, or completing internships.

iii. What Are You Good At?

Understanding your natural skills and talents can go a long way in helping you make an informed and confident decision when choosing a major. It may exist your parents' dream for you to be an artist, merely what if you skew more toward business or the sciences? But because someone else has a caste path in mind doesn't mean it'due south correct for y'all.

Ane mode of determining which bookish fields best suit y'all is to take a close await at your class grades in high school, as well as your Human action or SAT scores. Doing this can highlight your strengths in specific academic areas.

4. What Are the Highest-Paying Fields?

When considering which major to pursue, determine how important salary and salary potential weigh into your controlling process. If yous're motivated by high earnings, pursuing a degree in a STEM-related field may appeal to you.

That said, some students care more about the importance of their work than the bacon offered; they don't want a job just for the money. Non-STEM degrees that students are oftentimes passionate nearly chronicle to human being services, instruction, and visual/performing arts.

The Agency of Labor Statistics provides a regularly updated list of positions offering the highest wages. Psychiatrists rank loftier on this list, as practice oral and maxillofacial surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, and general internal medicine physicians.

If you want a job exterior of medicine and healthcare, other positions with loftier salaries include master executive, airline airplane pilot, reckoner and information systems manager, architectural and engineering manager, and marketing manager.

five. How Rigorous Will the Coursework Be?

Some majors may feel harder than others based on factors like typical homework load, grade expectations, and frequency of exams. Your cadre classes (i.e., classes specifically related to your major) will brand up a significant portion of your higher grade load. So, earlier y'all declare a major, make sure you lot empathize how rigorous your weekly workload will be.

Indiana University Bloomington's National Survey of Student Engagement, carried out in 2016, determined the nigh hard majors based on the average fourth dimension students spent per week preparing for classes. The hardest majors included architecture, chemical applied science, and aeronautical engineering.

Easier majors, which typically required less prep time, included fields like criminal justice, communication, and public relations.

6. What Does Your Academic Advisor Say?

Checking in with your academic advisor is ane of the near important steps you can take when deciding on a major. They've had like conversations with hundreds of students and can provide insightful wisdom into picking a major. Your advisor may even advise a major yous hadn't previously considered that meets your bookish and career goals.

When speaking with an bookish advisor, remember that their time is valuable and limited. Come to the meeting with a listing of thoughtful questions to ask.

Should You Double Major in College?

Undergraduates aren't necessarily limited to 1 field of report. Nearly colleges and universities permit students to double major or even triple major. Ordinarily, students who double major choose 2 academic fields that complement each other, though you lot're not required to do this.

For example, students hoping to plant careers in international business might double major in business direction and a foreign language. Other pop major combinations include accounting and finance, engineering and math, political scientific discipline and philosophy, and criminal justice and psychology.

If you don't take enough room in your class schedule to pursue two majors, yous can besides declare a small in a secondary subject area that interests you.

What If You Desire to Design Your Own Major?

Recognizing that many learners have specific interests and career aspirations, several colleges now allow learners to design their own interdisciplinary majors. If you're considering this path, it'due south important to carefully review existing majors to ensure no existing pick meets your needs.

Side by side, y'all should consider whether your proposed individual major meets current and futurity career requirements.

Lastly, yous should speak with your advisor to get their input on important classes to include in your curriculum. Y'all tin can besides speak to other students who created their own majors to learn about the pros and cons of this decision.

Some examples of educatee-created majors include music and technology, public education history, and psychology of marketing.

Ofttimes Asked Questions About Choosing a Major

When exercise you have to declare a major? true

It depends on the school. Some students enter their start year with a declared major, while others can wait until their junior year. Private departments may set their own rules, so brand sure you ask.

What should you lot do if you can't decide on a major? true

If you can't determine on a major, yous accept several options. Taking classes from different disciplines can help narrow your choices, equally can coming together with your bookish advisor to review the pros and cons of the options you're considering.

Tin you change your major? true

Yes, yous tin always change your major. That said, if you complete a significant number of classes related to one major and and then switch to another, yous may need to stay in school longer to meet the credit requirements of your new major.

Does it look bad to colleges if you apply with an undecided major? truthful

Definitely not. Colleges desire students to retrieve carefully about their decisions and not rush into any major if they're unsure.

Some college majors are more popular than others due to their high earning potential and stiff job prospects. Learn what the tiptop 10 majors are in this guide. Choosing a higher major is a conclusion many students afflict over. Hither, recent grads offering new students advice they wish they'd heard earlier. Many students flock to just a handful of popular majors, leading to crowded fields. A well-chosen major and pocket-sized can give you a competitive border for jobs.

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