Hey! Have you ever wondered if you were in the ‘right’ major? I hear this often when working with students and it’s a little complicated to answer. What makes a particular degree path the right fit for one person may not be the same mindset for another.
Typically, students characterize the ‘right’ major as a major that aligns with their career interests while others consider what classes they enjoy taking. There isn’t a wrong answer but here are three signs that you are in the right major!
- You enjoy the curriculum
It’s really important to pay attention to the actual classes you need to take in a major. Often the name of the major gives you an idea of what you’ll learn, but look deeper into the required courses and elective options. Do the classes align with your interests? Do they sound interesting? Even dive deeper and think about, will I be motivated to go to class, complete assignments and persevere if things get tough?
Check out the major in a minute videos, or reach out to a professor or TA to learn more about the curriculum and what students can expect to gain from the courses. It’s important to remember that you may not like every single class within a major and that’s okay!
- You are developing skills and relevant content knowledge
When thinking about which major is a good fit, it’s important to think ‘what skills am I gaining while I am taking classes?’. Typically paying attention to the learning objectives from the course can give you an idea of what to expect. From there, dive deeper and think about how those learning objectives and how they relate to skills and industries you are interested in.
For example, is a learning objective centered around expanding your knowledge, researching, or developing something, think about how that can relate to your career interests. Does the knowledge you gain help better prepare you for an interview or to have more context for a career path? Does researching a topic help you further develop analytical and writing skills? Does participating in a project or presentation give you experience to add to your resume or LinkedIn?
There are many ways that your classes can help you explore skills and relevant content knowledge and it’s important to explore those to determine if you can gain what you want to from your classes.
- You can tell the story betweenyour major and career interests
Lastly, in most cases, your major doesn’t dictate your career path and so it’s important to be aware of how you tell the story between your career interests and your major. This is also something a career consultant can support you with! We help students all the time in navigating the narrative between an academic major that they love and a career they are interested in pursuing.
My career story was that I majored in childhood education where I learned about how to be a teacher. Throughout my undergraduate degree, I was also becoming interested in working at a college. I was able to tell the story that connected my major and my future career path by identifying overlapping skill sets that would make me a strong candidate for a career working at a college.
If you are interested in helping bridge the connection between your major and your career interests, I encourage you to meet with a career consultant to develop your story!
