How to Choose a Major

Are you thinking of going to college? Are you fresh out of high school or are you an Adult Learner? Whichever you are you'll want to choose a major once you get there.

Majors are important but if you don't know what you want to do yet that is okay. There is plenty of time to declare your major if you are in a conventional college. You may even want to wait until your lower level or general academic classes are nearing their end to see if something strikes your fancy.

But, if you are an Adult Learner you may have to declare a major right off the bat. This is especially true if you are going to attend a college or university that is online or partially online (like University of Phoenix or Kaplan University). Of course, once you get going and you discover that you do not like the major you have chosen, you can change - be careful though, you could be charged a fee for making changes.

I have to tell you that I am not an academic advisor or a career counselor. What I am is a student. An Adult Learner. And I have discovered the hard way how to choose or not to choose a major.

The most important factor, in my opinion, is what are you interested in? Or what are your goals once you graduate? If you love math don't take English as your major. If you are more creative-minded, math or analytical majors may not be for you. These are factors that should be seriously considered and I'll tell you why...

If you are say, in a Business Management major but are into Philosophy you can be sure you'll be miserable. I'm not saying that you can't pull the classes off, and well, I might add, but you may not enjoy the classes as much if you have no interest in them. In fact, I can say from experience, that you can count on being miserable.

You also have to be careful if you are using loans (particularly government loans) if you change your major too much, especially if you decide to make the change once you have hit your upper level (major) classes. You could easily eat up your allotted loan amount, then you'd have to look elsewhere to come up with the funds.

So, take my words as a warning. If you have to declare a major up front (especially for a college like UOP) make sure that you are interested, at least marginally, in the major. Also, you should attempt to find out the likelihood of the school dropping some majors.

You may want to reconsider the college and try another one if they even slightly indicate that the class may not survive in the current format. You may also want to consider going to a more conventional university. Because more adults or students are having to rely on unconventional ways to obtain their degrees, many conventional universities are offering online degree programs for a fraction of the cost and their programs are more stable and more likely to survive while you are earning your degree.

You don't want to get trapped in something you hate. I know this because I have erroneously chosen wrong. I am bored to tears with each new class. I have to force myself each day to do my homework. All I want to do is get through the classes and graduate so I can choose something of interest... I don't want that for you.

Don't rush. Investigate your options. Read feedback on schools. Enjoy your education you're paying a high price for it.

Whatever you choose, good luck. I know you'll do well.