Selecting a College Major is a Major Decision

The process of selecting a college major, creating an interdisciplinary major or perhaps a double major is a significant academic step during college. This decision influences the academic opportunities during each collegiate year. Dr. Katherine Rieder, a Michigan native and a college faculty member, offers her advice.

“What’s your major?”  It’s probably the question students hear most throughout their college career, and it comes from everyone – fellow students on campus, professors, future employers, family members … the list goes on!  Because the choice of major defines the academic side of the college experience, it’s often one that students wrestle with, asking themselves if they’re choosing the “right” major, and wondering if the choice will lead to good job prospects after graduation.  Here are a few tips that will hopefully make the major decision of choosing a major a little easier. 

 ·      Explore - one of the greatest things about college is the variety of courses that are available to take.  Students move from high school, where classes tend to fall into five categories (math, science, foreign language, English language, and social studies), to college, where the options are much more specific and seemingly endless.
Want to learn about the anthropology of love or the social significance of horror films?  How about the science behind baking?  These are all real examples of college classes, and my best piece of advice to college students is to use their freshman and sophomore years to try as many different classes as they can.  If the class sounds interesting, take it!
As students discover what they like, and what they don’t, they’ll be able to make an informed decision about their choice of major based on experience rather than being wed to the need to stick with their favorite subject from high school or the idea that certain majors lead directly to certain careers.  

·      Evolve – as the advice to take time and explore the multitude of options at college suggests, when students choose their major, they shouldn’t be afraid to change their minds.  I thought I was going to major in international politics and be a diplomat as a high school senior; I graduated from college as an art history major and went on to be a professor and an admissions officer.  I’ve heard stories like this time and time again as I’ve interacted with college students, and that’s why giving your interests the freedom to evolve is so important.  College students will encounter so many fields and subjects they never engaged with in high school, and they should try them out with an open mind.  Don’t limit yourself to what you think you like; use college to explore and find your academic passion. 

·      Major ≠ Career – one of the most prevalent myths about the college experience is that your major determines your future career path.  While fields in engineering do often require a specific undergraduate background, most others – health, law, the arts, education, business – simply don’t.  Consider the example of a college student who wants to become a doctor.  Does it mean they should major in biology?  No.  The path to becoming a doctor is a long one that includes medical school and residency, and while students at the undergraduate level will need to take a slate of general courses to prepare them to take the MCAT (the entrance exam for medical school) and attend medical school, those courses can be taken alongside a major in completely different field, say English or archaeology.  The same goes for careers in fields ranging from business to law.  A recent employer survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (April 2013) revealed that, to employers, a student’s major “isn't nearly as important as what [they] do in and out of the classroom”. 

So what does this mean in practical terms?  Choose a major that you are passionate about that simultaneously provides you with the opportunity to develop the skills that many employers seek – the ability to write well, think critically, solve problems, and communicate effectively.  Rather ironically, fields in the humanities – art history, English, creative writing, history, philosophy, etc. – are often the best places to develop these skills even though the media tends to downplay their future career prospects. So give these fields a try, especially as most students aren’t exposed to them on the high school level. Moreover, as the employer survey suggests, students should supplement what they’re doing inside the classroom with extracurricular activities like research projects, internships, and summer employment in the career fields they might be interested in.  Overall, the philosophy major that has written a senior thesis, taken the lead on class group projects, enrolled in a few marketing and accounting classes, and held a summer internship at a consulting firm is equally, if not better, prepared for a career in business as a student that majored in the field. 

Choosing a major is a major decision.  Exploring, evolving, and realizing that a major does not equal a set career path will lead students to the one that is right for them.