I Want to Change Majors or Choose a Major
"What if I change majors? Switching my major gets harder the longer I wait. The more courses I have under my belt, the more likely something won't count."
"As a result of switching colleges, for example moving from a community college to a four-year university, what are the implications I should consider? Will the university accept all my courses? Will my credits actually count and mean something?"
"At some point in college, the time will come to choose majors or change majors. When should I pick my major? What are the best majors for me? What points should I consider in selecting a major? Is it more important focusing on the right school first? What if my school does not offer my area of interest? What if my school does not have the major I want?"
Almost every student contemplates these thoughts at least once. You may know exactly what you want to major in and what you want as your career, but it's not uncommon if you don't. It's also rather likely that you will change your major at some point as you take courses that you like or dislike or you even decide to change institutions. The impact of selecting a major will ripple into how long you stay in school and how much it will cost to complete your college degree. Picking your major is pretty important. Picking my major was one of the most challenging aspects on my way to a college degree, because there are so many choices and we are often forced into choices a bit too early. Stay cool. Don't sweat not having a major right away. This is one area where being a bit cautious is prudent.
Do the Research
Some majors are designed to point you to a specific career, while others are more open-ended. If your school has an Advising Center or Career Planning and Placement, they will be able to tell you about the careers for which different majors can prepare you. Also, an office of Alumni affairs may be able to provide information on the fields in which recent graduates are working and may offer networking opportunities with former students who are still connected with the school. As you explore your choices and questions, don't be afraid to ask questions. Break down the challenge into stages of information collection, review, assessment and selection. There is no set time limit for these stages.
Check out the
Self-Assessment Center on CollegeTransfer.Net to help reflect upon what your strengths and weaknesses are and how to match your interests with possible career and major choices. It is usually best to start with this step before jumping to conclusions. In our Self-Assessment Center, you can assess your Aptitudes, Skills, Interests, Personality and Value System. From here, you can then investigate how certain majors and careers align with your strengths.
Review the
Best Degrees by Salary and then select
Jobs By Major and Pay to drill down on the most popular college majors listed. Your education degree will have a return on your investment that varies greatly by the type of institution, region and your major. Use the
mySkills myFuture widget below to review jobs by title, salary range and required education levels.
Explore careers that are available to the different majors offered by your school. Majors overlap industries. There are many industries and occupations to choose from. Check out the fastest growing industries and the capacity for employment which ranks the industries by the job growth in your region. Generally, you want to target opportunities that are rising in demand and the supply of talent is not meeting that demand. What is the job market nationally and in your region for the occupations in which you are interested? In a growing economy, employment expands making it easier to land a job. On the other hand in a stalled economy, employment tends to weaken sending many back to school for "re-tooling," which also widens the pool of qualified candidates making it tougher to land a job.
Talk with Professors, Friends and Fellow Classmates
Your major is more than the sum of the courses you will take. Talk with professors about the focus of a major as opposed to the focus of particular courses in a major. Your classmates may teach you quite a bit as past experiences are shared during group projects or late night conversations.
Evaluate Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Be aware of your weaknesses. While changing a major is fine, it may result in unused credits. If you are a Computer Science major but know that you have trouble with math, don't delay taking a required math course such as Calculus. If you find that it is too hard and you are forced to change your major, it would be a shame if you had already taken three semesters of Computer Science classes that now can't be used toward degree requirements for another major. Colleges and universities will often overburden General Electives restricting the opportunity to investigate course interests as they attempt to give you credit for prior course work.
Is Transfer in Your Future?
If you are currently enrolled with a Community College, is transfer to a baccalaureate institution in your sights? If so, many Community Colleges may offer degrees and majors that are specifically designed to help you transfer successfully. Pursuing one of the transfer degree programs can help ease your transition, otherwise it is possible that when you transfer to the four-year institution you'll find they don't accept some of your credits and you will wind up taking subjects over again.
Changing Your Mind
If you select a major and then decide to change it, you're not alone. Studies indicate that anywhere from 50% to 75% of students change their major at least once before graduating. You can change your major at your present institution or you can change it when switching colleges. In some circumstances, changing colleges means starting over. Switching majors is similar to college transfer. Changing majors across colleges or schools within the same university is as tough as changing majors from a different college to another university. In doing so, the requirements and courses are so different, that it is like changing institutions. Request "what if" degree reports validating how courses would count toward different majors. If you find that you must leave or want to leave the school, do the same thing with prospective target schools you are considering.