How can I choose a school if unsure on major?

<p>/sigh I thought by now i'd know what I want to major in, but 5 years in the military, and still not sure. I was thinking Kinesiology, but I dont know like where the jobs are in that degree. I was thinking career wise either Physicians Assistant or something in Business. Ive been college searching for a few years on and off, still unsure where I want to go.</p>

<p>I plan to stay in California no doubt. I've been reading reviews of just about ever y school north of San Diego (I hate SD area), and its hard to really decide on a school, especially when unsure of a major.</p>

<p>How should I go about this? Decided on a major, then pick a school? Or just read more reviews, check out the school, and go there, and see where my interests take me. I will mostly be applying to UCs and CALs.</p>

<p>You could try to find schools which have all of your possible majors.</p>

<p>Be sure to check the prerequisite requirements for all of your possible majors so that you can take courses as a freshman working to all of them so that you don’t shut yourself out of any of them before you decide.</p>

<p>An alternative is to start at a community college and transfer to a UC or CSU as a junior after deciding your major and completing the prerequisites at community college, where there is less financial and institutional pressure to decide soon. Unfortunately, California community colleges are heavily impacted, so getting the classes you need may be hard.</p>

<p>You also might consider going to a larger university over a more specialized liberal arts college or engineering school. It’s a hell of a lot easier to transfer between departments than between schools.</p>

<p>Thats what ive been starting to research. Which universities are larger, and have a few different majors I may be interested in. As far as community colleges, I went to one for a year after HS. I did exceptionally well in those classes, but it still felt like high school, atmosphere wise.</p>

<p>I guess I also want the college experience and college life, because the CC felt like HS still. Career wise, ive been leaning toward something in the medical field. Specifically, a Physician Assistant. I do plan for Grad school, so maybe a doctor later. I think i read UC Davis has a PA program (I believe thats what i was looking at), as well as a pretty good range of majors.</p>

<p>I just want the best academic and social experience from my school.</p>

<p>Because you attended a community college after graduating high school, it is likely that many universities will want you to apply as a transfer. UCs and CSUs favor transfers at the junior level over the sophomore level.</p>

<p>Use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to find which UC and CSU campuses have your possible majors, and which community college courses you will need for a given major at a given UC or CSU.</p>

<p>If you plan to go to medical school, you may want to ask on the pre-med forum about pre-med requirements and applying to medical schools. MD schools in the US are highly selective, so you will need to maintain a very high college GPA and get high MCAT scores; DO schools in the US are not quite as selective as MD schools.</p>

<p>Sounds like it might also be time to do some informational interviewing. Use your network to find people who are working in the fields you are interested in learning more about and set up time to talk to them about what they like most and least about their jobs, what advice they have for someone who is thinking of entering the field, where the best opportunities are likely to be going forward, what kind of training/background would be most advantageous, what the pay scale and benefits looks like with different kinds of employers, what kind of flexibility/mobility the position allows, and what kind of people are likely to be happiest in jobs like this. Once you’ve interviewed enough people, you’ll start to get a feel for your own fit. Some people also find taking a Myers-Briggs test useful, and a professional career counselor might be a worthwhile investment in your situation. Talking to faculty who teach in some of these fields would also be useful if you can make that happen.</p>

<p>There’s nothing wrong with going into school undecided - but it sounds like you have some ideas about what you want to do, so it’s worth putting some effort into figuring that out a bit more before choosing a school.</p>

<p>Go to a school where the vibe fits and your stats fit. Take freshmen core classes and dont worry about a major until you get there. A light bulb will go on and you will be off to the races. Good luck.</p>