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.

Confession

I don't want to graduate.

Next Tuesday will be the first day of my last semester as an undergrad. I will have managed to complete a four-year degree in... four years. And somehow, it doesn't feel right. I feel as though i should have stayed longer, tried for some harder classes, had a full-time job while I was in College. Maybe dated a little more.

But on the other hand, I can't complain too much about how things have gone. I went to a school I loved, found a great boyfriend, joined a fantastic sorority, choose a major that will be useful to what I want to do, and made great friends, whom I hope I will never drift away from.

And on top of that it will be great to be done with college, even if I do take more undergrad classes. I'll have my own apartment, which means that all of my belongings will be consolidated into one location instead of at two ends of the state, and I won't have to move once a year. On top of that I will find a job and start making progress towards acheiving my dream.

Still, considering  all of those things, I'm still not ready. I don't even know if I'll be able to find a decent job, one that will allow me to afford an apartment and living expenses. Living in the dorms has kind of been a sheltered experience. I never had to worry about food, I was on my mom's health insurance, and I could bum rides from friends any time I  needed to go somewhere not in walking distances. I also am unsure if my classes really prepared me for real life. All my teachers meant well, I have no doubt, but everything seems so theoretical.

Either way, I know I'll make it out in the real world alive. And I do still have one semester to prepare.

Gift Guide

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With Christmas right around the corner, and Hanaukah already begun, presents are on everyone's mind. Here are a few ideas of what to get for some of the people in your life.

Parents:
They might appreciate some of your school paraphenelia, such as a bumber sticker, license plate frame, or a sweatshirt. Buy at your bookstore if you can get a student deal (there might be extra discounts near the end of the semester) or, if your school is better known, shop around for the best deal.

Friends:
If they are also in school, then gift cards are an excellent choice. Get one for the restaurant students like to hang out at, or for iTunes or Amazon.com. Some places, including Kroger and Giant Eagle will offer money off of your next gas purchase if you spend enough on gift cards, so check out those places first.

Groups:
Are you president of a club and need to get gifts for all of the members? This is what I did one year: I went to a dollar store and bought the needed number of decorative jars, and then bought a bunch of bags of candy to fill it up. I think I spent about ten dollars on six gifts.

Sister:
Whether older or younger, you can't really go wrong with makeup or jewlery. Make it age appropriate and something you know she will like. You can get a wide range of products at a nearby drugstore.

Brother:
Chances are, your brother loves movies. Find him a DVD of some lesser known movie that is in his favorite genre. These will be well-priced and often available in the discount store of anywhere from Blockbuster to your local grocery store.

Related articles

• The 20 Gift Cards Consumers Want Most [STUDY] (mashable.com)
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Student Government

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Almost every college and university out there has a student government of some kind. The power and prestige of these organizations varies between schools, as does how they function. In some schools, the elections are nothing more than a popularity contest. At other schools, student government actually has some level of control over the administration.

No matter what kind of reputation your school's student government has, I would recomend getting involved, even if just by attending meetings. You will hear all kinds of rumors about what your Student Government is like, and while a lot of it will be true,  some will also be assumptions, opinions or false. It's best to find out for yourself.

No matter what they student government is like, you can still have a role in it, and therefore a role in changing your school. So talk to a current member and find out how you can get involved or learn more.

Cyber Monday

In honor of Cyber Monday, I'm going to share some tips to save money while browsing the Internet. The World Wide Web, as every college student knows, is a blessing and a curse. It's great for shopping, researching, and killing time. But with it comes endless possibilities for wasting time and money. Here are some tips for keeping your spending within the limits of your budget:

1. Consider whether you would buy the product at its usual price. If it's only worth it because it's 75% off, then it probably isn't worth it at all.
2. Don't forget about taxes and shipping costs.
3. Sales, especially short-term ones, often create an artificial need, so be sure not to succumb to pressure to buy something just because it won't be on sale tomorrow.
4. Put items in a wish list and come back another day to see if you still want it. Even better, go to the brick and mortar store to look at it in person.
5. Know the return policy.

Here is another of my posts about saving money.

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• Black Friday and Cyber Monday (thebusinessofsports.com)
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• Why 'Cyber Monday' is mostly myth (cnn.com)
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• Best Cyber Monday Sales, Deals Online For 2010 (huffingtonpost.com)

Small Business Saturday

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is enjoying their breaks and all of the food. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays and I don't think it gets enough credit, what with it coming right before Christmas.

As everyone knows, tomorrow is the biggest shopping day of the year. A lot of people will be trekking out early to start knocking items off of their Gift lists. The next day, November 27, will be the first of what will hopefully be a long standing shopping tradition. It is called Small Business Saturday, and is sponsored by American Express, a company known for their support of one group of their clients, small business owners.

Small businesses, or businesses with less than 100 employees, are a vital part of local economy. They create jobs and leadership positions, stimulate the economy, on a large as well as small scale, and bring money to their communities in the form of taxes. They also create a local culture unique to their area. See the Small Business Administration website for more information.

I have a few personal reasons for wanting support small business in addition to the ones I listed. I plan on becoming an entrepreneur after graduation. I believe that this is the best way for me to make a difference in the world. Also, my favorite part about my hometown is the downtown area, with unique coffee shops and stores that sell merchandise unavailable at WalMart. I also believe that small businesses are more ethical than larger ones, often without trying. They are more likely to employ full-time employees, and they create less waste.

Entrepreneurs are brave and creative people. They took a chance, often times giving up a steady income in order to see their dreams come true. For this, I believe they should be rewarded. We often do not think to visit small businesses because we don't know about them. We like what we're used to. Small businesses do not have marketing budgets that can accommodate major campaigns like corporations do or enough money to rent prime locations. But if we let small businesses die, we will lose an important part of our economy. One that encourages people to take chances and give us more choices.

Small Business Saturday's goal is not only to get consumers to shop small this Saturday, but to frequent these places more often throughout the year. On Black Friday, consider visiting your local gift shop for some Christmas shopping, instead of the mall. You'll miss a lot of the crowds and might even discover your new favorite clothes store.  While you're at it, you will be keeping the money you spend within your town, rather than to National Headquarters on the other side of the country.

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• Feds warn retailers to have a safe Black Friday (msnbc.msn.com)
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Greek Letters

Some of you may be in Fraternities or Sororities. If so, how do you get your letters that you wear? Make them? Gifts? Buy them? What places do you use to buy them? What kind of fabric do you prefer? Do you have a favorite set or a set that is most meaningful to you?

When I do buy them, I generally use greekgear.com, but I think I just discovered another great site called somethinggreek.com that you can get the letters made out of personalized fabric. Most of the time, however, I make my letters with fabric that I buy. It takes longer, but saves a lot of money. Plus, my sorority likes to have letter making nights when we hang out in the lounge and trade fabric and stencils

As for my favorite sets, one is one that I made. They are sisterhood letters and have colored anchors on them (my sorority's national symbol) and are on a gray t-shirt. The other two were gifts: one is a purple t-shirt with gold letters and the other is a black hoodie with my sorority's creed on them.

Related articles

• Decorating a Sorority Themed Room (bedroom-decor.suite101.com)