There are so many different things that contribute to your college experience to make it memorable. With the friends you make, the networking capabilities and the social scenes, college can be such an incredible way to start your adult life. And then there are the academics of course. Because the education side of things is really why you’re there in the first place, but if you really want to ensure that your college education does what it should, you need to be thinking seriously about your major. And there will be a lot of factors that go into making this key choice.
Whether you’re just starting your freshman year, you’re part way through, or you’re looking to attend college next year, now’s a good a time as any to get thinking about what your potential major could be. And although you may think that you have an idea in mind, it’s not always as easy as picking something you’re familiar with and going with that. Instead, you need to be able to consider the choice from all different angles to really be sure that you’ve picked the perfect option. And to make sure you do that, here’s what to factor in.
Look At Your Current Grades
Not everyone will want to base their choices based on grades, but it’s often a great place to start. After all, you don’t want to choose a major that you’re going to fail or find too hard. But, when you look at your current grades, you’ll be able to see what courses and subjects you do well in. Whether you’re at high school or college now, you can still use your current scores to make a decision on future courses.
Consider Your Strengths
Next up, you could consider your set strengths. Whether this is in a particular subject area, or with a certain type of workload. For example, if you struggle with the pressure of exams and you’re better with set essays, this may want to weigh up on what kind of courses you take. As exam-heavy majors might mean you fail. It’s just something to factor into your decision-making process.
And Your Interests
Then there’s also your interests to think about. Sometimes, this will help to make the decision for you. If you love writing and you’d really like to become a journalist, then a journalism or English major is definitely going to be the right path for you. But, if you’re more creative yet don’t know what career you want to do, taking creative arts courses might be a good way to choose a major for right now.
Look At Your Available Courses
However, one of the best ways to actually determine what you want your major to be, is to actually look at the courses that are available to you. Choosing courses can be tough, especially if there are loads that you want to be doing. But, you will find that this is a really great way to work out which major is right for you, because you can’t do something that isn’t available.
Talk To Your Teachers
When you’re really unsure on what avenue to take, then you should think about talking to your teachers. Because your academic guidance counselor or your course tutors really are the best-equipped people to be advising you on this matter. Your teachers will be able to objectively tell you how well you’re doing, and what the more realistic path to take will be. Whether you’re in high school now or you’ve just started college, your teachers should be able to take a look at where your strengths and interests lie and match up a strong choice for you.
Think About Your Career Aspirations
As we briefly touched on before, it can also be a great idea to think about your career aspirations, and what you want to do in the future. This is one excellent way to ensure that you take the right courses. Because when you match your major to your career aspirations, you can ensure that you have the qualifications to get onto the career ladder in the first place. If you want to become a doctor, you need to take pre-med courses in college before med school, and that will decide your major for you.
And Your Experience
You could also combine your experience into this. For example, if you’re great at sports, you might want to think about taking some biology or nutrition courses. Or if you love writing, then you could think about taking a historical fiction course. When you turn to your experience, you will often find that your courses and major will pick themselves.
Consider A Specialism
You could also consider studying for a specialism too. That’s the beauty of college. You don’t always have to take set courses as you would in high school. When you choose to do something industry specific, like nursing at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, you will be on your way to a dream career. And that’s not something that high school can offer you.
Take Electives
Then, you could also think about the different electives that you need to take as apart of your major. Because picking your major is just the start. You then often have to build your course load around that set major. So whether you need to pick scientific courses or liberal arts electives, you should think about how you’re going to form your major and get the education you need.
Base Your College Experience On That
And finally, the last step in ensuring that your education counts, is to form the rest of your college experience around your major. If you want to be able to land your dream job after college, you should think about how your extracurriculars, sports, and social clubs can support your jobs applications and your experience overall. And them, you should find that your overall college experience is completely invaluable.
I hope you enjoyed the post!
Thanks so much for reading, as always <3
xoxo, Rae
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