There are so many important decisions involved in creating the perfect college experience. Such decisions include, what size school you want, the location of the school, what dorm you want to live in, or if you want to choose your own roommate. And we would like to congratulate you because all of those decisions have now been made! But for many people there is still one very important, if not the most important decision, to make. This is choosing your major.
Choosing your major is an extremely timely and stressful decision because it is the starting point for your life path. It can direct you in all of your future career choices and career opportunities. So where do you start?
First off: use your school to its full potential. By that I mean take full advantage of extra curricular opportunities, school involvement opportunities, your gen-ed classes, and free choice classes to get an idea of what interests you and what you most enjoy doing. Your greatest interests are always a good starting point to choosing a major because you want to have a major and hopefully a career that you will truly enjoy. But you also want to make sure you don’t take too much time because too much delay in your decision could effect your chances of succeeding in your major and completing your college education in the amount of time you would like to.
Also, don’t be afraid to change majors! If the major you start off with initially isn’t stimulating enough for you, and you begin to second guess yourself, this is normal! People change their majors all the time, oftentimes more than once! The best advice when you don’t know what you want to change to? Try a little bit of everything, you may take and interest in something you had never even considered!
Another good thing to focus on when choosing a major is what career opportunities are out there. The economy definitely is not in the best of shape, as we all know, so students are looking to choose a major where there are job opportunities are plentiful and the salary is decent. Here are a few pieces of reliable information that can be very helpful about the current job market.
Huffington Post: Top Jobs for College Grads
Finally, you may want to think where your career could take you down the road in comparison to where you want to be later in life. Do you want a job with a lot of travel? Or do you want a job with a lot of stability? Are you looking for a job you can stay with throughout your whole career? Or do you want to have many jobs throughout your working time?
Choosing a major is a huge decision and should not be taken lightly, so remember to take your time (but not too much time), focus on what you are passionate about, what you could handle doing for a long period of time, and where you want your life to take you. Here are some more helpful tips for making your decision.
USNews: Tips for Choosing a Major
College View: Choosing a Major