If you’re wondering how to choose a major in college, then you’re not alone. Many college students seem to have difficulty deciding on one major to pursue.
I know it was that way for me. After changing my major 4 times, I finally decided on accounting. Many college students change their majors at least once!
But, what if you knew how to choose a major easily and make sure it is one that’s based upon your interests? Clearly some majors are more expensive than others! So, it’s important that you choose the right major from the start! Use Mind Mapping To Get Ideas
Mind maps are a great way to help you choose the right major! A mind map is a form of note taking that involves turning a paper horizontally and starting with a topic in the center of the page. Write the topic “Picking a Major” in the center of a page and then circle it. This is the main focus of your mind map.
Then, you create subtopics to the main topic as branches out from the center topic. These lines can be drawn in any direction. You can then draw smaller lines out from each of these subtopics as you find more information and details. 
Start By Listing All Your Interests After you have started your mind map, start listing your interests on sub topic lines around the topic of “Picking a Major”. Don’t worry about the order, practicality, income potential, etc. Just let ideas flow. Ask yourself, “What am I most interested in?” Write down any and all ideas on sub topic lines. This is a very systematic process of how to choose a major! The idea here is to generate as many ideas as you possibly can. Don’t worry about neatness. You can organize and clean up your mind map later. Once you have 5-10 ideas, then you are ready for the next step. Of course, the more ideas, the better.
Do Your Homework After you have several interests written down as subtopics, think of possible careers related to each of those interests. This might take some searching online or speaking with a career counselor at your school’s career services office. List these career options as subtopics to your interests (use lines branching off from interest lines). You need to decide a few things about each career possibility: – What is the average pay for someone working in that career?
– What is a typical work day like?
– What is the type of work you will be doing?
– What are the opportunities for advancement?
– Is this a growing career field?
– How needed is this career? Is it in high demand? Low demand?
– What other career possibilities are there in this field?
– What is the salary cap in this career field? Are you starting to see how to choose a major? The internet is a great resource for finding answers to these questions. You can search for companies in each of these career fields. After you find these companies, you can contact them or even find answers to these questions on their careers page. You could use government occupational information. Or you could talk to a career counselor at your school.
How To Choose a Major
After answering the above questions (and any others you decide to add) about each career field you listed for your interests, it’s time to choose your major! Consider these questions: – Which area of interest am I most interested in?
– Which area of interest has the highest income potential?
– Which area of interest is in highest demand?
– Which area of interest is closest to my life priorities?
– Which area of interest will help me achieve my life goals?
After deciding which area of interest you are going to pursue, now speak to your career counselor again and find out which major will get you to where you want to go. These career counselors will help you choose the right major for your goals.
Choosing your major with a mind map, thinking of your interests, researching the possible career fields, and then picking a major will keep you from wasting time and money in your college career. This takes all the guess-work out of the question “how to choose a major”!
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