How to Choose a College Major

First, take a deep breath and calm down. It is not like you are getting married and until death do you part. Although there are advantages to being clear what you want to do from the start, colleges do not require you to declare a major immediately. You have some time before it is necessary. Furthermore, you have some leeway for changing your mind and changing your major.

The downside to being undecided at first or to changing your major is that it may mean you need to take a few additional classes to fill in some gaps once you do decide (or after you change your mind). This is inconvenient but less painful than being stuck for life in the wrong career. If you are one those fortunate souls who can figure out quickly and not waste any time on irrellevent classes you won't actually need for your degree, high five! If not, this is your chance to try to figure it out while the cost involved is still relatively low.

Second, take some diverse classes that interest you, whether in high school or your freshman year in college, and try to get some real world experiences under your belt. Once you find a class, hobby, topic or field that really grabs your attention, head to the library and do some research. Let's say you have fallen in love with medicine. Do not just leap to the conclusion that you have to be a doctor. Make a list of college majors and jobs that you can think of that have something to do with medicine.

Maybe the list will include doctor, nurse, dentist and pharmacist. Then read the required course list for each. Are you terrible at math and finding that one of them requires tons of math but the others do not? Take that major off your list. In the course of doing research you will probably find other possibilities exist that you never thought of. Add those new possibilities to your evolving list.

After you have massaged this list as much as you can with information readily available at the library, it is time to get some real world feedback. Make a list of people you know who actually do one of the jobs on your list. Call them up and ask if they would be willing to talk to you about what they really do for a living. It may not be at all what you were envisioning. Better to know that now and not after you have your diploma in hand and are job hunting. You still have time to change your mind and decide you would rather do something that is related but that did not make your initial list. Maybe the ultimate answer will turn out to be veterinarian.

On the other hand, if you do not have some burning desire to be in a particular career field, some people find that having a college degree is important for applying to jobs but the specific degree you have may not be that important. You can always just go with your favorite subject and follow the philosophy of do what you love, the money will follow. Other people major in whatever their scholarship requires. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Nicole Rodgers has been blogging in the education, technology, and business industries for three years. Last year Nicole’s nephew asked for her advice about going to grad school. She told him to get a free credit score to make sure he gets the most student loans. She told him about her own experiences when going to grad school. She told him about taking some gmat prep classes to ensure he got the practice he needed.

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