How to Pick a College Major

When I was in college, part of me wished there was some way to major in "undecided." For many students, it's hard to make a decision in your late teens and early 20s on what direction you want to go in life. In this article, I will hopefully take some of the stress off of this and give you some ideas that will make the decision easier.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• The desire to pick a college major--either willingly or by force!

1. First, you're going to have to do some searching in yourself on what you really want out of life. Different careers have different lifestyles, and your major does have some impact on certain jobs you'll be qualified for after graduation. For example, some careers are high income but also require more hours of your time than other careers that may have more flexibility. Giving your career goals some thought will help you finding out what you need from a formal education standpoint.
2. If you're at a point where you don't really know what you want to do (I've been there), focus on a major that will help you across many different career fields. When you think about skills employers really want and that can also help you in self-employment (people skills, ability to communicate well, leadership ability), there are multiple majors out there that you can gain these skills and will hold your interest. I personally majored in psychology and communications, and the flexibility of both of those majors has helped me a lot. Other majors may have similar benefits.
3. This shouldn't be your main factor, but something important to consider is how long you want to be in college. There are some majors that are structured to take 5 years now for a traditional 4-year-degree (due to the availability of required classes). If you're on a scholarship or other type of funding for 4 years, you may need to keep this in mind to keep from going into extra debt.

Tips & Warnings

• There's nothing wrong with taking an introduction class in a major to see if you'll like it or not. I originally had no intentions of majoring in psychology, but the intro class was so much fun I decided to pursue it.
• Get as many of your "core" classes done within your first two years. It buys you more time to make a decision and gives you more flexibility as opposed to jumping into a major starting out and then changing your mind mid-way.
• Don't pick a major for the wrong reasons. Whatever you do, don't pick a major that makes you miserable. It establishes a way of thinking where you'll settle for a career that makes you miserable, and that doesn't work long-term. How much money you want to make is important, but believe me in that you can make money doing something you love because you'll put more into it than the average person.