Whats Important To You How Can It Lead To A College Major
- Educate yourself about the earning potential of different majors
- If you decide to study a subject because its interesting, be realistic about job outlook
If the amount of money youll make after college is important to you, research the highest earning majors. Career-oriented majors tend to be more lucrative than traditional liberals arts and sciences tracks.
Maybe youre more driven by a passion for a less career-oriented subject. Liberal arts and sciences majors can be rewarding, but finding a job after college may require more work. Students with these degrees often end up going to graduate schoolconsider whether this is a viable option for you.
Can You Succeed In An Associated Career Field
Generally speaking, the top majors lists are dominated by engineering, nursing, and business related degrees. Several of the top majors are more than just courses of study they’re requirements for certain careers . These careers may be high-paying. But they can also be rigorous or have high burn-out rates. If working on an oil rig doesn’t appeal to you, then Petroleum Engineering probably isn’t a good choice of major.
Narrowing Down Your College Choices
While there is no right answer to how many applications you should submit, it’s a good idea to apply to five to eight colleges with a range of selectivityyour matches,reaches, and safeties. There may be times when applying to more than eight schools is appropriate , but for most high school seniors, eight should give you plenty of solid options. If you are struggling to narrow your college list down to fewer than 10 schools, its time to revisit your college search or maybe do more research. You probably want to do a gut check toowhy are there so many schools on your list?
But the most important question to ask yourself when considering where to apply is this: Of the colleges and universities on my list, if only one of them admits me, or only one is affordable, can I go there happily? The answer should always be yes. If you answer no, ask yourself why youre applying to that institution in the first place. Be brutally honest with yourself. With the wide array of colleges in the country, why would you submit an application to a school you would never ultimately attend?
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Are You Ready To Discover Your College Program
A student’s major can influence their education and career, but choosing the right major takes a lot of consideration. The decision depends on each learner and what they wish to get out of their education.
Some students seek out the highest-paying college majors, while others might seek job security by choosing a high-demand field. As a helpful starting point, the following page details some of the most popular college majors, along with expected coursework, potential career pathways, and prospective salaries for each.
How To Pick A College Major
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Below, we compare both options to show their pros and cons. We’ll also briefly explore a third option: simply choosing an easy major to give yourself the simplest path to earning a degree. Keep reading to see all our top tips for how to pick a college major.
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What If You Want To Design Your Own Major
Recognizing that many learners have specific interests and career aspirations, several colleges now allow learners to design their own interdisciplinary majors. If you’re considering this path, it’s important to carefully review existing majors to ensure no existing option meets your needs.
Next, you should consider whether your proposed individual major meets current and future career requirements.
Lastly, you should speak with your advisor to get their input on important classes to include in your curriculum. You can also speak to other students who created their own majors to learn about the pros and cons of this decision.
Some examples of student-created majors include music and technology, public education history, and psychology of marketing.
Youre Not Dying Of Boredom
Weve all had those days where we wake up, realize which class we hit that snooze alarm for and nonchalantly burrow deeper into the softness of our beds.
While not all classes will be a jolly good time even if you love your major, having a general appreciation for your classes, professors and studies is very important. Being anxious about not just one, but multiple present and future classes may be a sign that the major is not quite what you expected it to be, so might not be for you.
That being said, it does take some time to conquer those tedious intro classes to get into real material, so give it some time!
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Is Your Major Locale
Students need to consider many things when choosing a major, and location is an important but often overlooked factor. Many industries and professions are more prominent in certain locations. For example, cities and metropolitan centers typically have a variety of technology careers, while rural areas have fewer opportunities in those areas.
Location can also affect wages and employment requirements. Big cities usually offer higher wages than rural areas do. Those who wish to live in small towns should keep this in mind.
Choose A Complementary Minor
A minor is an excellent way to supplement your major with a focused, but less intensive, secondary course of study. Minors do not have to be related to your major, but it can be helpful to choose a minor that complements your major and adds to your overall knowledge about a broader subject area.
For example, you can major in economics and minor in business administration, or you can major in environmental sciences and minor in plant biology.
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Program That Supports Retention And Graduation Initiatives
Nationally, only 39% of students receive a degree in four years.* Students with the right academic plan will select the right college and complete their degree on time. A study conducted through the National Student Clearinghouse found that MyMajors students had a 13.8% higher retention rate than the national average. Students completed their degree in four years at an 11.3% higher rate.Hispanic
The Financial Benefits Of Majors
Some career paths can offer higher incomes than others and greatly impact your lifetime earning potential.
Choosing a major can be a way to get a head start in some of these careers.
According to PayScale, the highest paying college majors include Aeronautics, Pharmacy, Business Analysis, Electrical Power Engineering, Actuarial Mathematics, Political Economy, Operations Research, Applied Economics and Management, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Petroleum Engineering,
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How To Choose A College Major: Surveys And Assessments
For many high school students, the thought of selecting a college major seems daunting. How, at the age of 17 or 18, are you supposed to choose a field of study that will lead to a career you may have for years to come?
First, its important to note that at most colleges, you dont have to declare a major until the end of your second year. Typically, students spend their first two years taking general education classes in a wide variety of subjects. It is often through these classes, which offer exposure to many different fields, that students come to decide on a major.
Although you likely wont have to declare a specific major until your sophomore year, you may have to make some broad choices about what you want to study before you arrive on campus as a freshman. Thats because many universities require students to apply to a specific school or college within the university when they apply for admission. For example, you may have to decide whether to apply to the business school, the college of arts and sciences, the school of engineering, etc. Choose carefully, because depending on where you go to, transferring from one school to another within a university may not be easy.
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How To Choose A College Major
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Choosing a college major is an important decision and for some students its a difficult one. Here are some things to remember and steps to follow that might make it easier or at least less stressful.
Choosing a major or changing a major can be stressful for many students. That’s not surprising it can feel daunting to commit to a single field of study in our rapidly-changing world. Today, there are more than 1,800 fields of study recorded with the U.S. Department of Education. And many popular majors such as data science, nanotechnology, and sustainable agriculture didnt even exist 50 years ago.
In this post, well try to ease your anxiety about choosing a college major and help you see it as an exciting opportunity. Well help you frame what a major is and isnt, guide you through a step-by-step process for exploring majors, and review factors and resources to consider when digging deeper into majors that interest you.
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What Majors Are Most In Demand
The most in demand majors right now are Business, Healthcare, and IT-related programs and will be for the foreseeable future. But dont let these rankings be your only deciding factor for what the top college major is.
The job market is growing at one of the fastest rates in recent history, which means nearly every college major will be valuable for students entering or re-entering the workforce after graduation.
Does Your College Major Affect Your Admission Chances
Some colleges consider majors when admitting students and some do not. Students hoping to get admitted to programs in the most popular college majors, such as business or engineering, will sometimes declare a less popular major on their application with the intention of transferring into their desired program later. Some college admissions advisors dont recommend this strategy for several reasons.
Choosing an unpopular major doesnt necessarily mean youll have an easier time getting accepted, writes Christine Sarikas in the Prep Scholar blog. Youre much better off strengthening other areas of your application, such as your grades, test scores, and personal statement.
This application strategy can also can backfire if you declare a less competitive major that youre not truly interested in, or a major to which you havent shown much commitment. If your ultimate goal is to be admitted to a colleges engineering school, and you apply as a British literature major simply because you think it will give you an admissions advantage, you may be seen as a less competitive applicant. The college may wonder why your high school transcript shows many AP math and science classes, but no advanced courses in literature, or why you participated in robotics instead of the schools literary magazine.
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What Are Your Biggest Priorities
Some students pursue certain majors primarily based upon salary potential and job demand. Alternatively, other students choose majors they’re passionate about and/or highly skilled in. Before you choose a major, think about which of these three factors economic advantage, interest level, and ability are most important and relevant to you and your future goals.
Connect Your Interests To What You Can Study In College
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Explore majors on college websites. Most colleges have online catalogs that present the majors they offer and the courses that make up each major. You can find these catalogs on most colleges websites. You can also find links to college catalogs in many of CollegeDatas college profiles.
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Identify some majors that seem promising. Do they focus on what you like to learn and do? Drill down to the descriptions of the courses in that major. Do the course titles and class descriptions sound interesting? What are the required courses, and do you think you could do well in them? Make a note of any majors that stand out.
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Keep your options open if you are still not sure what to study. If you need to include an intended major on your college application, choose a broad field of study of interest to you, such as biology or English. You can choose a more specific major later. If your college does not require you to declare a major as a freshman, you can always enter as “undeclared” and spend your freshman and sophomore years investigating your options.
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Minors And Double Majors
If one field of study doesn’t satisfy your intellectual appetite, consider a minor. A minor is similar to a major in that it’s an area of academic concentration. The only difference is that a minor does not require as many classes.
Some undergrads with a love of learning and an appetite for punishment choose to pursue two majors, often in totally different subjects. A double major provides you with an understanding of two academic fields. It allows you to become familiar with two sets of values, views and vocabularies. That said, it also requires you to fulfill two sets of requirements and take twice as many required classes. You won’t have as many opportunities to experiment or take classes outside those two fields.
While a minor or a double major might make you more marketable, both professionally and for graduate study, both are timeand energyintensive. Most students find that one major is more than enough. Need help? Browse majors and learn more about them with our college majors search tool. Plus: Here’s our list of Top 10 College Majors based on research covering job prospects, alumni salaries, and popularity.
Do Hard Things During College
During college, you need to develop confidence in your ability to solve problems and overcome obstacles. The best way to do this is to do hard things that include a likely risk of failure.
Work with a non-profit to help them achieve their objectives more efficiently. Start a grassroots effort to promote art in your city. Volunteer on a political campaign, start a business, or conduct research in an under-funded lab.
Specific objectives matter less than learning to try hard and solve problems. The confidence you gain from developing these skills will translate to long-term confidence in your career.
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Where Do You Begin
Start by considering common academic disciplines, such as business, humanities, or the sciences. Identify what overarching area attracts you most and how your skills may apply. For example, assertive students with strong social skills might aim for business, while critical thinkers who enjoy mathematics and science should consider science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors.
Start by considering common academic disciplines, such as business, humanities, or the sciences.
You can narrow the field into specific majors by considering their personal interests. For instance, an aspiring business student interested in human behavior might choose marketing or sales, while a STEM student looking to help others might pursue a healthcare major, like nursing or nutrition science.
Create Your Own College Rankings System
Forget about the national best colleges lists for a minute. Instead, create your own college rankings to determine which schools best meet your unique criteria, whether its majors, extracurricular activities, research opportunities, Greek lifeanything. You can even assign points to these criteria and tally them up for each school. Pro tip: your college search spreadsheet can really come in handy here.
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How To Choose The Right College Major From Day One
After choosing the college you’re going to attend, the next decision is not a minor one it’s a major one. Selecting the right college major one that aligns with your interests, abilities, and career goals can help shape your college experience and prepare you for the future. However, if you’re like most people, you might not be 100 percent sure of what you want to major in right away, or you could be having second thoughts about the trajectory you were planning to follow.The good news is that most college programs are designed to let you do some academic exploring before selecting your program of study. Of course, you will have to renounce your undeclared status eventually, and if possible, avoid changing majors late in the game since it can extend your college career. Here are some strategies for making the right choice from the get-go.
Youre Not Bothered By Other Peoples Opinions Of Your Major
Taylor Swift said it first: Haters are going to hate, so you got shake it off.
Majors are very peculiar in the sense that we sometimes may let other peoples opinions get to us, so we end up choosing the wrong major and going down the wrong path. Thats not to say you shouldnt listen to other peoples opinions at all however, you should ultimately be the main decider of your own career path.
Dont let comments of others lower your enthusiasm, because in the end, you know what you love better than anyone else!
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