When working towards getting a degree, you might find yourself at a loss for where to begin. Perhaps you’re just starting out and need someone to guide you along the way. Maybe you just have it in mind that you need to rush off to college without a clear picture of the road ahead. Unfortunately, many people young and old fall into this type of thinking only later to ask themselves, “what should I major in?“. Here is our 5-tip guide to choosing college majors.
1. Evaluate your interests and skills
For a lot of people, determining your major simply comes down to your personal interests. Mark Twain once offered the advice, “find a job doing what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”. If you’re unsure of what you want to pursue, maybe now would be a good time to do a little self-reflection.
Take some time to ask yourself, what do you enjoy doing in your free time? What kinds of hobbies do you have? Are you a whiz when it comes to math, science, physics, or art? Once you know yourself better, then you should be well on your way to determining your major and finding college programs to fit.
2. List Your Expectations
When choosing your college major, it’s a good idea to list your expectations.
Undoubtedly the primary reason for getting a college degree is to enable you to find a good-paying job once you graduate. Write down a realistic list of potential jobs that you would consider after college, and know beforehand what you should expect when finishing your education.
Having clear expectations for the future will help you avoid potential pitfalls later down the road. Roughly 50-70% of students change their major at least once. It’s a good idea to spend a little extra time now choosing a major that fits you, and continue staying the course to the end.
3. Set Attainable Goals
Along with knowing your expectations, choosing a college major means you should have a clear set of attainable goals that you will be able to work toward when finishing your schooling.
What kind of near-term goals would help you along the way? Perhaps you’re trying to find a way to fund your education? In that case, it may be beneficial to look into applying for federal grants. Maybe setting a goal to acquire government funding would be on your list of things to do. For other people, goals which can guide you when choosing college majors may be looking into possible career paths for a particular field.
Some longer-term goals that you can attribute to choosing your major can include graduation, finding a career, volunteer work, financial planning, and retirement. It would benefit you to consider all of these as well.
4. Find The Best School
Once you’ve decided on what to major in, now it’s time to find the best school with programs and degrees that work with your expectations and goals.
This is where a little research can come in handy. Today, there are some 5,300 colleges and universities in the United States so clearly you have your options. What kind of factors are important to you? Are you interested in taking online courses, or on campus? Are you going to relocate? Does the college provide programs for your major? What is the admission experience like? Is this college affordable? All of these questions you will ask when searching for the best school.
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5. Get Help
We hope this guide steers you in the right direction, but let’s face it, we all need help from time to time. Choosing your college major is a necessary and decisive step in getting a degree. Speaking with friends and family, or a college counselor can help guide you towards choosing a major, but don’t feel pressured to make a decision if you’re not comfortable with it.
MyDegree.com offers tons of articles to assist you every step of the way from choosing your major, to getting your degree.
We wish you luck!