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How to Choose the Right Major For You

For many students, finding the right college major usually requires much thought, effort, and consideration. Fortunately, the choice of a good major can be a life-changing experience for the better, and many people discover their passion in life while pursuing an undergraduate degree. Here are just a few ways to find the right major for you, and why a well-chosen course of study can lead to great things.

1. Find Classes that Make Academic Work Enjoyable
If you genuinely enjoy the work involved in studying for a particular degree, you may just find a major that perfectly fits with your outlook and goals in life. Undoubtedly, finding joy in one’s work is a great way to discover a career that is based around passion and meaningful challenges. That confluence of qualities alone can lead to a lifetime of career satisfaction.

For example, a person who derives much personal satisfaction from working out complex mathematical formulas may love the process of becoming a mathematician, engineer, or computer scientist, while someone who finds joy in reading and writing about great literary works may find that a degree in English is a wonderful fit for their personality.

2. Genuinely Consider Your Strengths and Interests
Undoubtedly, college can be a great place for discovering one’s strengths and even one’s weaknesses. Different people will have vastly different experiences in college-level courses, and what might be an uninteresting subject for one student may end up being the life’s work of another.

By taking classes in a variety of different subjects, in other words, you’ll quickly discover where your greatest strengths and interests lie. That can make all the difference when considering which career paths will be fulfilling for you; in college, following your heart can often lead to great outcomes.

3. Consider Your Career Goals
A university can sometimes feel like a very sheltered atmosphere where the “real world” is kept at bay for years at a time, and in a college setting, it can often be difficult to weigh academic pursuits against long-term career goals. For this reason, asking yourself what you would like to achieve in your post-college career is an important factor in determining the right course of study for you.

For example, a person who wants to pursue a career as a lawyer may want to choose a major that emphasizes critical writing skills and logical thinking. (A major in either philosophy or history might be a great pick for such a person.) A student that wants to earn a high salary straight out of college may want to look at majors that provide an interesting intersection between compelling work and job skills that are in high demand from employers.

Picking the right major can sometimes feel like a confusing process, it is true, but the rewards of a well-chosen course of study can be great. Taking classes in a variety of different fields can be a fantastic way to discover topics and intellectual pursuits that you have a natural propensity towards, and finding academic work that you enjoy can put you on path towards a career that you’ll truly love. Studying doesn’t get much better than that!