Education Blog Forum

Have you ever heard that in order to pick a major you have to know what you want to do with the rest of your life? This is a lie. Sure a major can lead you down a certain career path or knowing what kind of job you want to have in the future can help you decide which major you should go into but there are other ways to choose what you want to major in. Did you know that a majority of students in college will change their majors at least once before landing on the right one? You have time to look at your options and decide. Use these four steps as guidelines for choosing the right major for you.

First step – Evaluate your interests and abilities

What do you love doing? What do you not like doing? What classes did you excel at? Which ones were more difficult? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Take note of small things you notice about yourself. You may think you have a love for chemistry but end up finding yourself wanting out of Chem class so you can get to your American Literature class. Maybe you find yourself always critiquing books, articles and essays that you read (is an editing position in your future? Hmmm).

Second step – Look at what you value in work

For instance do you like helping society, working with children, high pressure situations, working in a group/alone, do you like being the leader in group work? If you like working with children, but in a group setting, maybe you could study business to eventually run a day care. If you like high pressure maybe you’d be interested in pre-med to become a doctor. If you spend some time looking back on past jobs and class work you should be able to figure out what you liked and didn’t like in each situation.

Third step – Look at what options are available

• Now after really looking at yourself (hopefully you’ve been completely honest with yourself up to this point) you can start looking into what options are available. Talk to your advisor and upperclassmen to learn more about the majors that are available. Look through your school’s course book and make note of classes that sound interesting. Maybe a pattern will emerge. Start narrowing down possible majors based on your interests, skills and classes that sound interesting to you.

Fourth Step: Choose an Major which suits you

• You need to select a suitable major of your interest. In the first and second year you will be exploring the many options before you pick a major of your interest.