<p>D2 is a rising high school junior. She had a less than stellar year last year in school. She was recently diagnosed with some learning issues, which were uncovered when her grades started to suffer. Until this past year, she wanted to study marine biology or ocean sciences. She is not so sure right now what she wants to major in at college at all. Talking about college and majors gets her stressed.</p>
<p>Can someone recommend on-line resources or books that help a student pick a major course of study based upon interests and skills?</p>
<p>There is no reason for her to select a college major while she is in high school. It’s great for her to think and talk about things she finds interesting, but forget about choosing a major at this point–especially if it makes her feel stressed! In casual conversation, and on college applications, she may be asked what she wants to major in, but the answer truly does not matter. She can say something like, “I’m not sure–maybe something in the sciences?” </p>
<p>S went off to college thinking he might want to major in American studies or possibly geology. Early in his freshman year, he was saying sociology or psychology. By the end of his freshman year, he was saying maybe computer science. Near the end of his sophomore year, he declared a major in computer science and is now solidly on track toward that degree.</p>
<p>My point is that many kids–often the smartest ones–don’t know what they want to major in while in high school, or will surely change their minds several times. Please tell her not to feel pressured to decide right now.</p>
<p>For a current high school student, consideration of possible majors for college mostly comes into play when making the application list (late junior to early senior year), in order to make a list of colleges which have worthy degree programs in those majors. Of course, a student may still be very undecided, but that can actually constrain the application list more, in that the colleges need to be suitable for all of the possible majors that the undecided student may choose.</p>
<p>A few high school course and curriculum decisions may also be influenced by possible majors, but a student who tends to choose the most rigorous options in all subjects is not likely to have to worry about it (it is usually a concern if the student wants to stop early in math or foreign language or wants to avoid one of the sciences, or otherwise would leave a “gap” in the typical college-prep curriculum).</p>
<p>I.e. between sophomore and junior year is probably way too early to push the student into considering what majors she may want to do in college.</p>
<p>I agree that it’s still very early and that most students change majors during college. The best path is generally to choose a school with a broad enough base of subjects to accommodate whatever field the student later chooses.</p>
<p>There are very few disciplines that are usually determined when entering college, eg. 5 yr Architecture or other programs that require a fr portfolio; Engineering, since it can be difficult to transfer into.</p>
<p>For most students, the first two years of college are a time to explore new areas and figure out what they want to major in, as offerings are much more varied than in HS.</p>
<p>Talking about majors would get me stressed if I were a rising junior coming off a less than stellar academic year. </p>
<p>I have a rising junior as well and I try to be proactive (I had her take the SAT and ACT this past spring to get a baseline) but it’s very early days yet for choosing a major. They still have two years left in high school and I’m sure interests may change or solidify over the next school year.</p>
<p>I know I went through about 4 or 5 departments/fields when i was in undergrad - it stressed out my father. My sister told me about this exchange she had:
dad: She picked Art History! What kind of job can she get with an Art History major?! (did I mention we’re Chinese?)
sister: Don’t worry Dad. She’ll change it again next month.</p>
<p>She may want to begin to figure out general areas: engineering vs science vs humanities vs social science by just looking at her strengths and areas of interest, but even that can change.</p>
<p>FWIW, I graduated with majors in Math and Design of Environment and a minor in the lamented Art History.</p>
<p>We all stumbled along in choosing our majors. I know I entered college as undeclared. Our S declared engineering because he likes and is good at math, CS, and physics. It was a good fit for him. Our D was dabbling and choosing between multiple majors all through college, up through her JR year (tho it took her an extra year to graduate). I have no regrets if taking my time to figure out what fields were of interest (and that I had the aptitude for). It was time well spent.</p>
<p>One thing that our HS recommended that I think is a great idea is to have kiddo shadow willing adults, to get a feel for what their work is like and have a better idea of the non-TV version of various jobs. It is important to know that physical size and strength ARE important for some fields, even though they try not to discriminate, it’s just the nature of some fields. Some fields do get pretty mind-numbing through repetition. Some involve a LOT of public interaction while others are pretty isolating.</p>
<p>There are a number of books about how to choose a major, if reading is one way you (or your D!) like to cope with ambiguity.</p>
<p>Lots of people enter college as “undecided” and plenty more change their majors once they get a taste of it. Heck, in my own case, I majored in one subject all the way through graduate school and am now working in a different (but related) field.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be a straight line…especially if academics have been a source of stress for her recently.</p>
<p>Thank you to all who responded. I had no intentions of making D2 select a major tomorrow, I wanted general guidance on how to help her when the time comes. She wants to attend a small school, compared to a large university, so I am concerned that her ideal course of study may not be available at some smaller schools.</p>
<p>I will check out some of the other threads on the subject.</p>
<p>That could be a problem for a very undecided student. Does she have any general area of interest (e.g. humanities, social studies, science, engineering, etc.)? If so, that can help her find suitable schools more easily.</p>
<p>Of course, small schools are also aware that they don’t offer the number of courses that larger schools do, so when a student expresses interest in a specific area, often a professor will mentor that student by doing independent study work in that subfield with the student. This has the potential to equal or surpass the knowledge that would have been gained in a larger school’s classroom plus the possibility of research experience and a great, personalized letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Yes, but if there are no professors in that field in the small college how could you find a professor to mentor you? Let’s say you decide you want to be an engineer but there are no engineering professors in the small school. How can you do independent work then?</p>