HELP I NEED TO CHOOSE A MAJOR AND DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!
Calm down, grab yourself some tea and get ready to read because I’m here to help! Leaving high school I had great grades but didn’t know what I wanted to major in at university, I switched degrees four times: from history & politics to double economics to politics & economics and then back to double economics again. Here’s some of what I learnt in the process.
Here I refer to the far future, where you want to end up, what career you want to take on. In order to do this, I looked at lists of occupations and job listings to see if there was anything that interested me. Some governments have good websites for this, others include:
CareerPlanner- List of Over 12,000 occupations
MyMajors- List of Careers and Jobs
The Balance Careers- A to Z list with salary information
See if anything catches your eye and write it down. Look up the path to get there, including what you need to study/major in. Your school career advisor is a good person to talk to about all this + university open days are great for seeing what is on offer.
Another tip of advice I’ve been given if you don’t find anything too appealing is think of the life you want for yourself. What will it take to make you happy? What are your priorities? Figure this out and work back from there.
So the previous approach was working backwards. However, one can enter college or university without a career in mind and simply pursue interests!
Think about the things you love and the things you are good at. Draw a Venn diagram if you want. The ideal zone is the one in the middle BUT, and I cannot stress this enough, you are getting an education to learn and you can improve and build skills in areas you think you suck. I thought I sucked at maths but as I take classes and do the work, I find that while maybe it doesn’t come to me as easily as writing, I can do it. So don’t limit yourself.
Personality quizzes online are not good as a sole source in choosing your majors/careers. However, they might be a good starting point. Check:
What career is right for me?
What career or job suits me?
Career Quiz: Personality Test
Commitment: This is an important one. How long are you willing to spend studying? I don’t just mean per week but year-wise. Are you willing to go back to school for postgrad studies? If not, don’t commit yourself to something in, say, pure science or pure arts- these majors often require a masters or phd to build a career. I went into economics fully aware that I’d probably need to get a PhD or a masters after my honours if I wanted to work doing something I’d enjoy so keep this in mind.
Values: Think about your values. What will it take to fulfil them? Do you want a job that gives you plenty of family time or are you more concerned about money? Is helping people in a direct way crucial to you? Are creativity and flexibility a must? All these are questions that you must answer for yourself when choosing a career.
Pay & Outlook: College is a big investment and nobody wants to be unemployed and have $40,000 in debt. Future proof your career and know how you can make your studies useful and applicable to the real world. I’m not saying don’t major in history or pure maths if that’s what you love, I’m saying make connections while you can and know that you may need to take on further studies.
Am I Being Influenced? Parents, friends and even teachers have their own opinions on what we should be- are they influencing yours? Are you about to go do law even though you hate writing or medicine when the sight of blood makes your stomach turn? Remember, this is your life and you need to choose a major that will make you happy above everyone else.
You Don’t Need to Choose Now: Many universities allow you to select your major at the end of your first year after you’ve had time to try a few things out, if yours is like this too, take advantage of it! Take a few electives and broaden your horizons, you might end up finding something you unexpectedly really love. Talk to peers and your lecturers, find what interests you and have fun doing it!
Also consider most careers have more than one way of getting there, for instance, here in Australia at least, to get into law you can major in literally anything as an undergraduate. Same thing with medicine. Taking related subjects helps for entrance tests but don’t worry too much if you think you might want to do x y z, chances are, there are various ways to do it.
Guide to Choosing a Major
5 Key Factors to Consider
Four Steps to Choosing a Major
How to Prepare for the Jobs of the Future
Preparing for the Jobs of the Future
Preparing for Careers that Don’t Exist Yet
