Stuck choosing a college major?

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Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.

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Choosing between two majors

Are you having a difficult time figuring out which college major is right for you?

Or are you already in a degree program and aren’t quite sure this is the best fit.

Maybe your college major is making you miserable and you are thinking about changing majors eventually but don’t know if it’s the right move.

Look, I get it. I was a professor and had thousands of students, and a lot of those students weren’t quite sure what they wanted to do either.

And it took some of those students a year or more to nail down a major. And some even switched several times before they were happy.

But, you don’t want to wait around too long to figure out your major. If you do, you’ll end up delaying your graduation or taking classes that you don’t need.

I have an entire article dedicated to explaining some of the cons of switching majors here.

So, let’s get started and I will help you figure out exactly how to solve this problem.

Why choosing a major is important

As a former college professor, I think choosing a college major is very important because if you don’t select one, you don’t have any direction.

And you should be completing a degree plan to know which classes you need to take to graduate.

Without a degree plan, you are just randomly picking classes to take and aren’t sure they’ll apply to your degree program later. And that’s a problem because you could end up wasting lots of money on tuition and books while you figure it out.

Also, some colleges will require you to select a major before acceptance, or shortly after to make sure you stay on track.

So, unless you are taking college classes for personal enrichment only, you need to select a college major and make a final decision on which one you will choose.

Ultimately selecting a college major allows you to plan out every semester to ensure you are taking the right classes to get the degree you want.

I can’t pick a major

You aren’t the first person to ask me how to decide between two majors. This is your future we are talking about here.

And you want to make sure that whatever decision you make is the BEST decision for you.

Let’s talk about some very important factors that you will be using to rank the different majors you are most interested in.

• Lifestyle - I want you to consider how your future career will impact your lifestyle. If you want a family, and prefer to have dinners together every night, but your job will require overtime or has an unpredictable schedule, you’ll run into some problems. What kind of lifestyle do you want and does your career align with that lifestyle?

• Money - If you need to decide between two majors, which one has the highest median salary? You don’t want to select a major only because of the pay, but it is definitely an important factor. If you can’t make enough money to support yourself and your family, you might have additional stress and worry. You can check median salaries at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Advancement - Think about which career allows you the most opportunity to advance within the company. Is there one that gives you more opportunity to stay with a company or in a career without hitting the top of the chain too soon?

• Opportunity - Before you pick between two majors, you need to consider the job opportunities for people in your field. Are they bleak? Or are they plentiful? You can check out the expected job growth at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find out if your career field is expected to grow, which means more open jobs for you.

• Selection - I need to talk about the elephant in the room, and that is program selectiveness. Some degree programs will require you to be accepted and you should consider this before you choose. Can you get into that degree program?

• Academic rigor - Which major can you keep up with and do your best? If you think you won’t be able to manage the course load in one major and worry you won’t be able to keep up, it could be a sign. Remember, it’s just one factor though. I don’t think course difficulty should be the only reason you choose one major.

• Program credibility - I want you to compare the two programs and see which program has the best department. Because the professors can really make your college experience stand out. And some departments may provide you with more opportunity. So do some research and determine which program is top tier.

After you answer each one of these questions, I want you to outline your answers in a table exactly like I have below.

You are going to see which college major checks all your boxes. This will help you pick a college major when you are stuck!

How to pick your major

As you can see above, if I were trying to pick between two majors, I would select the second major because it checks more of my boxes.

But before you do this, I want you to do ONE thing that could change your mind.

Go talk to the professors in each program.

I want you to sit down, and have a real discussion with them about your goals and desires. After talking to them, I bet you will have some more clarity about your decision.

Here are some other questions I get from students about choosing between two college majors.

Why is choosing a college major so hard?

Choosing a college major is hard because students might feel like it’s their entire future on the line. And you might think that if you pick the wrong major, you’ll be miserable.

And students might not know how to weigh each college major to figure out which one is best for them. But with my ranking factors I mentioned above, you will be able to figure it out soon.

While picking a major is extremely important, it doesn’t mean you’re stuck. If you end up hating your major, you can usually switch your major. If you end up hating your career, you could switch careers. And worse case scenario, you could go back to school and get another degree.

So, I believe there is always a way OUT to bigger and better things even if you do make the wrong decision.

Obviously you’d like to get it right on your first try so use my method above to help you on your journey.

How to help your college student decide on a major

Okay, you might have landed here because you are stressed as a parent and want to help your child figure out their major once and for all.

But you’ve exhausted your efforts already and they are still undecided, or you just don’t know where to start.

I understand, and I am here to help guide you through that process. Before you know it, they’ll be graduated and in the career of their dreams. At least I hope.

If I were sitting down with a student as a professor, I would first ask the student what is their dream job.

Then I would follow-up with a few questions like the ones I’ve listed below.

• What are you most passionate about?

• Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years?

• What is your biggest accomplishment so far?

• What are your strengths?

• Where did your college major rank?

I want you to also use my ranking chart above to help them figure out if their major is the right one for them.

All of these questions can help point them in the right direction. Let’s say that they see themselves as a business owner in 10 years, you can help determine what major is best suited for them.

Or maybe they want to be a homemaker in 15 years, and they would prefer to have some flexibility in their work schedule. Maybe they are more apt to be a freelancer of some kind.

You get the point. So use my ranking factors AND ask them relevant questions to get them to start thinking about what they want to do with their lives.

And most importantly, take the pressure off. If they are miserable in their major, or their careers later, there is always a solution to improve their circumstances. No one is truly ever stuck.

Maybe taking away the seriousness of this decision will make it easier for them to decide.

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