How To Choose A College Major: 3 Easy Steps For Students
When I was a junior in high school, I was trying to figure out what my college major should be. At the time, I still thought I was going to be a professional baseball or basketball player (spoiler alert that did not happen) so I didn’t put much thought into an actual career let alone a college major. I knew I liked sports, and hey, if I didn’t make it as a professional athlete, I could always work for a sports team.
This led me down the road of choosing to major in Sports Management. Now, the sports industry is a gigantic industry worth billions of dollars so on paper and to a junior in high school, this sounded like a great idea. Years and years later, with much more perspective, Sports Management was well, not a great major and I probably should have put more thought into it.
But we won’t dwell on the Sports Management major for too long and if you want to know all the different reasons why it was not the best major, you’ll have to check back for my “Worst College Majors” post. The point of the story was that choosing a college major isn’t easy, and if you’re not confident in what you want to study, don’t feel pressure to go down a path you might not want to.
If you’re here looking for info on how to choose a major, don’t worry, that’s coming, but before I give you that, let me give you this: You don’t have to choose a major right away if you don’t want to or can’t make up your mind. Can it help you decide on which college to go to? Sure. But if you want to take a year of general classes before you figure out what you really want to study, you are allowed to do that.
Now I will say, if you decide to go to a technical college and two years later decide you want to major in Restaurant Management, you may be costing yourself a little bit of money, but hey, in the long run, you’ll probably save yourself from the misery of being in a job you don’t want to be in.
So if at the end of this you still don’t feel confident in picking a major but still want to go to college, take some general courses and get your feet wet before you dive in head first (or cannonball for you non divers).
Okay, so you have your notebook out, your popcorn ready, and you are focused on learning how to pick a major right? Good, let’s get the brainstorm cookin’ or stormin’.
Step #1 For Picking A College Major: Know Yourself, Your Likes, Your Dislikes and Everything In Between
“If you don’t know yourself, you will never truly know anyone.”
This may sound like something from a fortune cookie or a philosophy book, but it’s not, it’s just a fact of life. We spend from Pre-School to High School learning everything from reading and writing, to Calculus and the Periodic Table, but how much time do we actually learn about ourselves. This may sound silly, but when you’re so focused on making sure you can memorize President John Adams quotes for your History test, it’s kind of hard to stop and listen to yourself.
We’re taught what feels like millions of things early on in life, but I’d go out on a limb and say no one ever told you to think about your strengths and weaknesses; what things you like to do and don’t like to do. Well, these things are extremely important to understand, because it’s the key to unlocking what you’ll want to study and focus on as a major in college and eventually what you’ll want to do in your career.
How To Determine Your Likes and Dislikes:
1. Try Different Things – If you have opportunities to take electives in high school, take as many different ones as you can. Don’t just take a class because you know you’ll get an A or the person you have a crush on is taking it (I’ve definitely never done that before…but trust me it won’t help you in the long run).
2. Don’t Be Afraid To Hang Out With Different Groups of People – High school is tough, because we try so hard to fit in to a group and once we get comfortable, it’s very easy to stay there. My challenge to you is hang out with different groups of people who like different activities. If you’re an athlete, don’t be afraid to join the chess club or the band.
3. Find A Mentor – If you are still having trouble figuring out what you like, seek out a teacher or a coach to fill you in on what they see you excelling at.
Step #2 For Picking A College Major: Decide Which Field of Study Will Give You The Most Bang For Your Buck
For a majority of you prospective college students, this may be hard to read but I’ll say it anyway….College is not a 4 year vacation.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the college visits and the campuses that seem to be turning into amusement parks. For many of you, it’ll be the first time you’re living on your own away from your parents. You can finally eat ice cream for breakfast, play video games all day, and party every night without anyone telling you what to do.
And if you treat it like it’s a vacation, after 4 years, you’ll wind up with a piece of paper and enough college debt to fill up thousands of pints of Ben and Jerry’s. (I’m not sure if that makes any sense but the ice cream talk got me thinking about Ben and Jerry’s). The point is college is NOT a vacation. It’s NOT a time to live like an animal. Of course you’ll make some mistakes along the way, but college is a big investment.
When it comes to picking a major, if you followed Step 1, you know what you like so now, you should be figuring out how that will lead to a major that will put you in a position to be making good money after college.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should be making hundreds of thousands of dollars right after you graduate, but you should be picking a major that has a career path that will help you meet your financial goals (which you should be making as well). If you like hotels, like people, and like working a lot and decide to major in Hospitality, you should be researching jobs in that field, the salaries and if it’s going to be worth $150,000 for a 4 year degree. If you wan to eventually become the General Manager of a Ritz Carlton, it might be worth the investment. If you are only planning on becoming a hotel maid, that major might not be necessary and neither is spending $150k on college.
How To Determine the Return on Investment for Your College Major:
1. Estimate how much your college tuition will cost.
2. Determine the major that may interest you.
3. Explore jobs that people who graduate with a degree in that field get into after college.
4. Analyze the average salaries for those potential jobs compared to how much in total you’ll spend on college after 4 years.
Step #3 For Picking a college Major: Determine Potential Risks For the Major You’re Choosing
I’m not asking you to become Nostradamus and predict the future, but I do want you to think about the risks of the major you are thinking about choosing. What types of risks? Well, that the major and field you’re getting into will be there in the next 10 or 20 years.
While I was in college, I started working at the radio station on campus, and really took a liking to it. I wanted to work in radio when I graduated, not realizing that Pandora, Spotify, and podcasts would change the landscape of the radio business. I obviously couldn’t have predicted that podcasts and Pandora would have blown up the way they did, but in all honesty, I really didn’t do much industry research as a college kid.
Obviously, there’s risks for every industry and career path, but it’s important you research the path your major will take you prior to spending years of your life learning the craft. It’s also important to realize the current market, and what industries are hot and what industries aren’t.
For example, majoring in Journalism may be a difficult path to take. If you do decide to major in Journalism, don’t have your heart set on writing at a traditional newspaper because no one is buying newspapers anymore. Once my dad cancelled his subscription, I knew it was over. Sure, you can still find them, but it’s a dying industry, so it’s not a good idea to major in something that’s on its way out.
Final Thoughts
While picking a college major may seem like something you don’t need to put much thought into, it actually is something that sets the tone for the next four years after graduating high school.
Remember, you shouldn’t feel forced into picking something just to pick something, and if you need time to decide, take some time. It’s okay to spend your first year in college taking general education courses. Just don’t spend the first year, second year, and third year taking general classes or else the price of your college education will skyrocket if you’re not going to be graduating in four years.
Now it’s time to take action:
First, use this tool (Roadmap - Roadtrip Nation) to see what college major may be right for you.
If you’ve read through this article and feel like you need someone to talk to, our coaches here at Your Career Strategy (www.yourcareerstrategy.com) can help you talk through your options. Book a free discovery call today and be on your way to winning in college.