When you first get to college, there will be a lot of pressure to choose a major. Most of this pressure will come from your school’s counselor, because the sooner you choose a major, the sooner you will be able to get on a singular path to graduation. Indeed, all of your classes will be built around your major and the credits required to get your degree. This is why you want to choose your major carefully. If you aren’t ready, that’s okay too.
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A lot of students aren’t sure what they want to do with the rest of their life the moment they get to college. It may take a while to find out what your true passion is. Here are five helpful college major selection tips.
- Find Out What Your Interests Are
If you have a particular interest in science or math, perhaps your major should be within those fields. Maybe you took an English course in high school and really enjoyed it. In fact, University of New England has a great English language center. There is no use choosing a major that you won’t enjoy. Ideally, you want to find pleasure in what you are studying during your collegiate career.
- Go with What You areGood at
Of course, you may have minor interests, but you may also have a knack for certain fields of study. For instance, some students are whizzes at chemistry. If this is the case, you may want to think about chemistry as your major. This is especially the case if you took advanced courses in high school and received exemplary marks. You may even have past teachers urging you to get your major in one of these fields that you did so well in when you were in high school.
- Do Some Research
If you are stuck and not sure what direction to go in, you may be motivated and sparked by the future job prospects – and salary – that a major may offer. For instance, information technology or computer science can put you in an industry where you are working at a very exciting job and you are making a very large salary. Indeed, money shouldn’t be the basis of your ambitions, but if you are looking for a steady career, doing your research about certain majors can help steer you in the right direction.
- Forge Your Own Unique Path
If you are getting your major in a certain field of study because one of your friends is getting his or major in that field, you may want to think about going in another direction. When it comes down to it, you never want to be a follower. Plus, getting the same major as a friend may put undo stress on your shoulders, because of competition or because of peer pressure to procrastinate.
- Don’t Let it Pressure You
On top of everything, you don’t want to let choosing a major stress you out. If you aren’t ready to choose a major, you may want to wait. In the end, you don’t want to rush into your major, because you may realize that you don’t enjoy that field of study later on, which will leave you in an even worse off position.