Have you spent hours sift­ing through col­lege web­sites, tour­ing cam­puses (both in per­son and vir­tu­ally), and decid­ing where to apply for col­lege?  Have you thought about what you want to study before choos­ing a col­lege? As you weigh the pros and cons of every col­lege or uni­ver­sity you con­sider, think about which insti­tu­tion would be the best fit for you.

So what will you major in? Don’t panic! This is your time to test the waters. There are no wrong deci­sions. Some stu­dents know what they want to study and while oth­ers must try to fig­ure out what career track fits.  Many under­grads change their majors dur­ing col­lege, and even more grad­u­ates change careers through­out their pro­fes­sional lives.

Here are some tips to help you sort through the major selec­tion process.

Take Your Time to Explore.

Try new courses you never had the oppor­tu­nity to take in high school. Talk with pro­fes­sors about what you can do with a major in that spe­cific course area. Enjoy the vari­ety of options before you make a deci­sion. Who knows, maybe you will invent your own major!

Don’t Judge a Course Too Quickly.

Just like the say­ing, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” give a class a chance.  You may end up lov­ing the sub­ject and course con­tent.

Con­sider Your Cur­rent Inter­ests and Hob­bies.

My guess is you prob­a­bly already know what you like to do with your time. There is a major related to your interests.

What Do You Value?

When you grad­u­ate do you want a job that has secu­rity, offers the chance to make a lot of money, or feeds your cre­ativ­ity and per­sonal growth? Do you thrive on pres­sure and dead­lines or would you pre­fer a low pres­sure expe­ri­ence? What type of work envi­ron­ment would make you the hap­pi­est – work­ing out­doors or inside? Would like to help peo­ple and work in a hos­pi­tal or school? Would you find it excit­ing to fly the friendly skies and see the world?  How much money do you need to live after grad­u­a­tion? Are you an inde­pen­dent worker or would you rather be a mem­ber of a team? Would you rather work with peo­ple or things? Are you seek­ing sta­bil­ity, or is adven­ture nec­es­sary? Sort through your values.

Read the Course Cat­a­logs and Syl­labi.

Though the course cat­a­log might not be the most excit­ing mate­r­ial to read, you can gain a glim­mer of what the course will cover and what the class require­ments will be.

Talk to Your Advi­sor

You will be assigned an advi­sor when you start col­lege. These indi­vid­u­als can be very help­ful in answer­ing ques­tions about var­i­ous majors. They are experts in their own dis­ci­pline. Your advi­sor can offer you sug­ges­tions based on your inter­ests and aca­d­e­mic strengths. These pro­fes­sion­als know what it takes to suc­ceed in cer­tain sub­jects. Let them help you by offer­ing their insights.

Ask an Upper­class­man!

Upper­class­men have been where you are. They had to make dif­fi­cult deci­sions about their major as well. Many are will­ing to answer your ques­tions and offer advice about the process. These stu­dents will tell you the truth about what it will take to excel from their perspective.

Net­work with Pro­fes­sion­als in the Mar­ket

Set an appoint­ments to con­duct an infor­ma­tional inter­view with pro­fes­sion­als in your field of inter­est. Ask if you can job shadow for a day to see what the job entails. Inves­ti­gate the envi­ron­ment, the sched­ule, and the respon­si­bil­i­ties. Most pro­fes­sion­als will answer ques­tions about their edu­ca­tional degrees, how he or she got a start in his or her field of study, and offer tips about paths you may need take to reach your goal.

You Can Major in More Than One Sub­ject.

Yes, this is true! Many schools will allow you to dou­ble major. Some allow you to develop a major or choose a major and minor com­bi­na­tion. Talk with your advi­sor and the chair­per­sons of the depart­ments to see if this is pos­si­ble. Your major will not nec­es­sar­ily deter­mine your career. Fol­low your passions!

CO-OP Pro­grams Grow in Pop­u­lar­ity Along with Internships.

Coop­er­a­tive edu­ca­tion or intern­ships are a great way to test drive a career and major. Vir­ginia Tech notes their Career Ser­vice Coop­er­a­tive Education/Internship Pro­gram is an under­grad­u­ate aca­d­e­mic pro­gram which incor­po­rates real world work expe­ri­ence and learn­ing into the student’s col­lege aca­d­e­mic expe­ri­ence.  The pro­gram is a part­ner­ship among the under­grad­u­ate stu­dent, the employer and the col­lege with the pro­gram. Co-ops and intern­ships give stu­dents educationally-related work and learn­ing expe­ri­ence that inte­grates the­ory learned in the class­room with prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion and skill devel­op­ment on the job, and con­tributes to the devel­op­ment of per­sonal and pro­fes­sional matu­rity and ethics. Co-ops and intern­ships give employ­ers the oppor­tu­nity to assist in the student’s devel­op­ment, sup­ple­ment their work­force with emerg­ing tal­ent, and enhance their long-range recruit­ing efforts by eval­u­at­ing stu­dents’ poten­tial for employ­ment at graduation.