The College Student Blog

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What Major is Right For Me?

This question is the absolute number one most asked question so far in your life. You may recognize it more easily in its cliché form; What do you want to do when you “grow up?”

You’re probably now imagining the answers that you have heard a million times, a fire fighter, a lawyer, a police woman, or even “what mommy or daddy is.”

You need not fret if you do not have the slightest clue of what you plan to major in. I am not even 100% sure of what I wish to major in! Although, I am currently leaning toward economics or finance.

On average, 80% of college students change their major at least once! Of these 80%, the average student changes their major 3 times!

Be sure to take a look at my previous post, Narrowing Your Focus, if you truly have no idea what you may wish to pursue. It outlines some tips that may be useful to you in brainstorming possible fields of interest.

I Have One or Two Majors In Mind, Now What?

Now that you have generated some areas that interest you, do your homework and find out some detailed information.

For a brief three to four paragraph summary of majors, I suggest heading over to the CollegeBoard’s Major & Career Profiles or The Princeton Review’s Majors Search. Both are intuitive sites that allows you to browse by interest and find out more information on specific majors.

You can also do some Google or Wikipedia searching regarding your topic.

I would discourage searching for a salary for your major of interest. Most of what you find is unreliable and, in my opinion, not all that important. Prospective salaries are not worth worrying about. If you are great at what you do, no matter what it is, you will be prosperous.

Schools Relating To Your Major

Unless you have impressive, in-depth personal knowledge of schools you may already be interested in, you will need some help in deciding what institution excels in the area of major.

I will also not claim to have expansive knowledge in this area, I would much rather prefer to refer you to reliable sources.

I found a couple sources to be the most helpful and easy in my college search. Unfortunately, some of the best materials available on college majors are not free.

Free:

USNews’ College Search by Major

CollegeBoard’s Comprehensive College Search

Paid:

*I have no financial interest in the sale of anything listed below. These are simply personal recommendations.*

Princeton Review’s Complete Book of Colleges, 2009 Edition

I highly recommend this book, it is the Bible of college searching and I used it throughout every step of my college searching process. The book as every detail you could ever want to know, including everything from demographics to the average buildings flammability!

USNews’ College Mini-Bible

Gives the highest ranked colleges in reference to major or category.

Admissions

Can I get in?

Next post I will be doing a brief introduction to college admissions to answer that very question!

Due to the nature of the college admissions process, I will also be doing an entire College Admissions Series to give you the edge to stay one step ahead!

As always, please leave me a comment or send me an email if you would like to discuss something or would like further elaboration. I will answer any non-personal questions in my actual posts, as I am sure many people have the exact same question!

Size Does Matter

When reviewing prospective colleges, always research how many undergraduate students attend the institution.

A smaller enrollment often equates to more one on one attention with professors and teaching assistants (TAs). Also, a smaller institution (under about 10,000 undergrads) usually means that less TAs will be used in the education process. Many colleges pride themselves on very low student to faculty ratio. This simply means that there are not as many graduate students teaching you.

However, do not be afraid of larger universities because you feel that you will never get to see a professor! In every one of my classes (even the ones of 600+ students), the professor always holds office hours and is almost always available for a brief chat after lectures.

My experiences with graduate student teaching assistants has also been very pleasant and enjoyable. All of my TAs have been extremely good communicators who know their material inside and out.

I have also heard horror stories from peers who tell me that their TA does not speak understandable English. I find this to be especially apparent in the math, computer science, and more technical fields.

Location, Location, Location

How far from home do you wish to be?

If you are planning on a community college, you are, most likely, planning to commute from your present home to school and back.

If you are planning on attending a four-year school, chances are you will be living on campus in a dorm (at least for your first year).

I suggest being “far enough” from home so that your parents don’t pull a surprise visit on you every other weekend. On the other hand, you probably do not want to commute over five to six hours to visit home and head back to school. Most students cannot or do not wish to pay for expensive flights as transportation.

Other students may be extremely adventurous and wish to study out of the country. Most students who study abroad simply use a university provided/recommended program for a semester.

Setting

Do you prefer an urban, suburban, or rural town?

Have you always wanted to live in a large urban city such as Chicago or New York? If so, you will want to narrow your college search to urban areas.

I would classify a stereotypical “college town” as both suburban and rural. To be more specific, the college itself is located within one or two averagely sized cities (50,000 to 100,000 residents), while those town(s) are commonly in a rural setting.

Corn and soybeans quickly become your only friend as you head out of my “college town” of Urbana - Champaign.

There’s More!?

Majors and minors will be up to bat in the next post of the College Selection Series.

As always, please drop me a comment or shoot me over an email. I thoroughly enjoy communicating with my readers!