The Student'southward Guide to Choosing a Major

If y'all're confused nearly how to choose a college major and experience similar picking a major is causing a lot of stress, this guide can help.

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by Staff Writers

Published on Oct v, 2021 · Updated on March 8, 2022

Reviewed past Sarah Holliday, MS

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Prepare to start your journey?

The Student's Guide to Choosing a Major

  • Knowing what you're interested in and what you're practiced at tin can help you choose a major.
  • Talking with your academic advisor could help y'all learn about new degree options.
  • Many colleges allow you create your own major so you tin focus on a specific topic.

Choosing a major tin be catchy, especially if yous have multiple interests or don't know what kind of career you want to pursue. According to a 2020 BestColleges study, 3 in 5 college graduates would change their majors if they could go dorsum.

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

Including these variables in your determination process tin aid 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 higher procedure, and it shouldn't be taken lightly. Here are half dozen factors to consider earlier committing to a major.

one. What Are Your Biggest Priorities?

Some students pursue certain majors primarily based upon bacon potential and job demand. Alternatively, other students choose majors they're passionate about and/or highly skilled in. Before you choose a major, think about which of these three factors — economic advantage, interest level, and ability — are most important and relevant to you and your time to come goals.

2. What Are You lot Interested In?

Studies have found that students tend to perform better in school when they can focus on their interests. Unfortunately, it'due south not always easy for a student to identify their interests.

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

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

Y'all tin likewise explore potential areas of study and career paths past joining pupil clubs, volunteering, working a part-time chore on campus, managing a side hustle, or completing internships.

3. What Are You lot Skilful At?

Understanding your natural skills and talents can go a long way in helping you brand an informed and confident determination when choosing a major. Information technology may be your parents' dream for you to exist an artist, merely what if you skew more toward business or the sciences? Just because someone else has a degree path in mind doesn't mean it's right for you.

One mode of determining which bookish fields all-time adjust yous is to take a close expect at your class grades in high schoolhouse, also every bit your ACT or SAT scores. Doing this can highlight your strengths in specific bookish areas.

4. What Are the Highest-Paying Fields?

When considering which major to pursue, determine how of import bacon and salary potential weigh into your conclusion-making process. If you're motivated by loftier earnings, pursuing a caste in a STEM-related field may appeal to you.

That said, some students care more than most the importance of their piece of work than the salary offered; they don't desire a job just for the money. Non-STEM degrees that students are oftentimes passionate about chronicle to homo services, education, and visual/performing arts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a regularly updated listing of positions offering the highest wages. Psychiatrists rank high on this listing, as do oral and maxillofacial surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists, and general internal medicine physicians.

If you want a chore outside of medicine and healthcare, other positions with high salaries include master executive, airline airplane pilot, reckoner and information systems manager, architectural and engineering director, and marketing managing director.

v. How Rigorous Will the Coursework Exist?

Some majors may feel harder than others based on factors like typical homework load, course expectations, and frequency of exams. Your core classes (i.e., classes specifically related to your major) will make up a pregnant portion of your college grade load. And so, before you declare a major, brand sure you empathize how rigorous your weekly workload volition be.

Indiana Academy Bloomington's National Survey of Student Engagement, carried out in 2016, adamant the most difficult majors based on the average time students spent per week preparing for classes. The hardest majors included compages, chemical applied science, and aeronautical technology.

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

6. What Does Your Bookish Advisor Say?

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

When speaking with an academic counselor, call up that their time is valuable and limited. Come up to the meeting with a list of thoughtful questions to ask.

Should You Double Major in College?

Undergraduates aren't necessarily limited to ane bailiwick. Most colleges and universities permit students to double major or fifty-fifty triple major. Normally, students who double major cull two academic fields that complement each other, though y'all're not required to do this.

For example, students hoping to institute careers in international business organization might double major in business direction and a foreign linguistic communication. Other popular major combinations include accounting and finance, engineering and math, political science and philosophy, and criminal justice and psychology.

If yous don't have enough room in your form schedule to pursue two majors, yous tin can besides declare a minor in a secondary subject field that interests you lot.

What If You Desire to Design Your Ain Major?

Recognizing that many learners have specific interests and career aspirations, several colleges now allow learners to pattern their own interdisciplinary majors. If you're because this path, it's of import to carefully review existing majors to ensure no existing selection meets your needs.

Next, you should consider whether your proposed individual major meets electric current and hereafter career requirements.

Lastly, you should speak with your counselor to get their input on important classes to include in your curriculum. Y'all can also 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 educational activity history, and psychology of marketing.

Often Asked Questions Virtually Choosing a Major

When do you have to declare a major? true

It depends on the school. Some students enter their first twelvemonth with a declared major, while others tin expect until their inferior year. Private departments may set their own rules, so make sure yous ask.

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

If you can't decide on a major, you have several options. Taking classes from different disciplines can help narrow your choices, as tin coming together with your bookish counselor to review the pros and cons of the options you're considering.

Tin you alter your major? truthful

Yes, you can always change your major. That said, if you complete a significant number of classes related to one major and so switch to another, you lot may need to stay in school longer to run into the credit requirements of your new major.

Does information technology await bad to colleges if you apply with an undecided major? true

Definitely non. Colleges want students to think carefully well-nigh their decisions and not rush into any major if they're unsure.

Have a Question About College?

In our Ask a College Advisor series, experienced advisors provide an insider look at the college experience by answering your questions about college admissions, finances, and student life.

Some college majors are more pop than others due to their high earning potential and strong chore prospects. Learn what the top 10 majors are in this guide. Choosing a college major is a conclusion many students agonize over. Hither, recent grads offer new students advice they wish they'd heard earlier. Many students flock to just a scattering of popular majors, leading to crowded fields. A well-chosen major and minor can give you a competitive border for jobs.

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