Choosing a Major

It's Time to Pick a Major!

Are you starting to freak out because you haven't selected a major? It's time to stop just thinking about it and actually take some action. Here are some useful tips to help you choose a major:

• College alumni network: Ask alumni what they majored in and what types of jobs their degrees qualified them for. Are they glad they selected their particular major? Was the degree program difficult? If they had to do it all over again, would they select the same major?
• Career counselor: Your college's career center has counselors who can help you with this important decision. They may suggest some books and offer some self-assessment tools. They'll set up meetings with faculty members who can answer questions and provide advice about specific majors.
• Preview classes: Sit in on a few classes in the majors that interest you.
• Changing colleges: If you can't find the right major at your current college, you may have to transfer to another school. Selecting a major is an important life decision, so don't choose an uninteresting major just so you can hang out with your college friends. There are plenty of websites on the Internet that provide lists of majors and the colleges that offer them.
• Hot jobs: Ask career counselors for a list of the hot jobs at your college's career fairs. Find out which college degrees are sought after by employers visiting the campus. You may find something that interests you.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): Check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. Take a look at the employment projections web page, which provides projections for a wide variety of jobs. You can search by education, training, or occupation. The website offers employment growth projections, salaries, and other useful information for many jobs. The Subject Area tab lets you access the employment and the pay and benefits categories, and these include a lot of useful subcategories. The Publications tab includes the occupational outlook quarterly, the occupational outlook handbook and career guides.

Useful Websites

Here's a list of useful websites to help students choose a major:

College Board provides information about majors as well as career profiles.

My Majors provides information on an array of majors. It includes descriptions of different career fields and the possible areas of specialization within each field.

Occupational Information Network offers a skills search activity that lets students identify their skills and match them to potential occupations.

Career OneStop; Career Infonet includes occupation information and state-based information about growing fields, trends, and other useful information.

What Can I Do With This Major? is a website that helps students connect majors with careers.

Choosing the right major is important. If you haven't decided on one yet, take some action!

Brian Jenkins is an expert on education topics. He contributes content to BrainTrack's guide to choosing a college degree program.

How Curriculum Varies by School

When you choose a school, it's not always enough to find out if your major is offered at your prospective school. Often, a program's focus will vary depending on the economy of the area. Take Recreation and Tourism Management (RTM) for example. My school is in a very rural area and many of the students are from economically depressed areas. West Virginia as a whole is trying to improve the economy while not harming the environment. Therefore, Tourism is a huge focus by the state. Therefore, when the school teaches, its focus is on outdoor recreation such as rafting and hiking.

As a business major, I've noticed that we are being prepared for jobs with large corporations. They are the focus of cases in our textbooks. Unfortunately, I disagree with this particular approach. The reason I became a business major was because I planned to start a business. Since then, I have been very interested in small businesses, particularly working for them. I feel that my school would be better served by encouraging us to either start businesses or find jobs working for one after graduation. Like tourism, it is a key part of improving the economy.

I suppose there are other schools that have business programs with more of a focus on small business or even an entire program dedicated to teaching emerging entrepreneurs. At my school, it sort of makes sense that the focus would be working for a coal company, since that's the major source of income for the state, but if a student wants something else, they usually have to leave the area. Many graduates leave the state, which is dangerous since the next generation of workers is a vital part of the workforce.

Many other programs have a certain focus as well. For example, the social sciences at my school seem to have a major emphasis on research and going to graduate school.

Has anyone else noticed something similar at your own school?

Liberal Arts Majors

CollegeMonster recently posted an article about high-paying jobs that do not require a specific degree. Check here to see if any of them are appealing to you.

Do you have an unusual major?

Why you shouldn't quit your job search

Designing Your Own Degree

Image via Wikipedia

Students at various colleges have been known to design their own degree, and for a variety of reasons. My degree was pretty straightforward (business) but at a few points I did consider creating an arts administration degree (most likely a minor) based off of one I had seen at another school. Most of the timess such degrees are mulidepartmental. Doing this is especially helpful if you have a very specific track in mind, or you do not know what you want to major in when you first choose schools, or you change your mind and do not want to (or cannot) transfer.

Who out there has created their own degree? How did you go about it? What was the degree? What were your reasons? Finally, are you happy with your choice? Please respond in the comments section.

Is there such a thing as a useless major?

Back in the early days of Facebook, when only college students and a select few high school students were on it, there was a rather popular group. It was called "I picked a major I love and one day I'll be living in a box." This was a chance for people who loved their major to poke fun at themselves for it. (The group may still be in existence, but I don't see it pop up anymore.)



Almost everyone has had that moment when they asked someone what their major was, and upon hearing the answer felt the response "What are you going to do with that?" slip from their lips instinctively. If not, then you have probably been asked that dreaded question. You have probablysaid this in response to answers like philosophy, religious studies, or maybe theatre. Some majors seem like their only use is leading to the life of a professional student.



However, in my opinion, no major is "useless." After all, you still come out with an education and a college degree. And no degree guarentees you a job or entrance to grad school. An unusual major, if nothing else, teaches you how to think differently and will make you stand out in a pool of applicants.



What are some of the majors out there, and what problems has it lead to? And on that note, how has your major specifically helped you succeed?