Would you mind telling me what is your major, and what do/did you plan to do with it career wise?
When did you declare your major? Do you have any regrets?
My major is Japanese. Previously, it was East Asian Studies. There isn’t much of a difference between the two other than that EAS covers both Japan and China on a cultural, sociopolitical, and economic aspect whereas the Japanese major mainly focuses on the language and literature. I wanted to do a double major in both, but I couldn’t because there’s this lower division course requirement I needed for the EAS major that’s only offered once a year, and that class is offered during the same time slot as the Japanese Linguistics course needed for Japanese majors this year. The Japanese Linguistics course is also only offered once a year. In past years, I couldn’t take it either because of time conflicts with other classes. It also sucks how there’s only one professor teaching the course I needed for the EAS major, because if there were more professors teaching it, there’d be other time slts.
Right now I’m not sure what plans I have for it career-wise, but I’m hoping to get into a Japanese company. Since most jobs require business to near-native level, I would need to do additional studying after I graduate because the highest Japanese language level at my university isn’t enough to pass even the Japanese Language Placement Test Level 2.
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Major: Elementary Education
Career: Teach, of course!
Declared: I decided right before my senior year of high-school, which was great timing!
Regrets: None, even though everyone tells me I should have some. 
I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if teachers were paid more.
How I chose: Early in my college major search, it was all about what I didn’t want to do. The process of elimination was my starting point, mostly because I’m more certain of what I dislike. (I like a lot of things, so focusing on my talents, interests, or whatever didn’t work.) Then I tried seeing myself in remaining jobs. Some were eliminated pretty quickly, and others were eliminated because I couldn’t see myself doing that line of work all day long. I decided to become a teacher as I had more and more interaction with children - they are so fulfilling! Really, it was most important to me to have fulfilling work in which I could really invest myself. Dispassionate work is not for me. No cubicles, endless spreadsheets, or equations, please! Really, to choose a major you have to do extensive research into yourself. (Unless of course you’re interested in money. Then just pick the highest salaried job!)
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Majors: Writing and Rhetoric, French Language and Literature
Desired career: writing professor (if I can make it through grad school)
Declared: Writing and Rhetoric right at summer orientation, French at the end of my freshman year
While I love writing, I knew I didn’t want to go to school to study creative writing and English literature like most writers do, but I’ll admit that I didn’t really know what Writing and Rhetoric was. My university happens to be well-known for it, so I went in hoping I’d like it. Turns out I love it and I really like the process of analytically thinking about persuasion and writing, and I’ve realized that I want to take it farther and study it at the graduate level.
The French major just kind of happened. I took the beginning course as a requirement, and I really liked my professor. I took her again the following semester for the next level, and I realized I really liked French and that I seemed to be good at it. I then went and introduced myself to the chair and had her sign my declaration of major sheet. I can say that a part of me did wonder what the heck I was doing since I was only studying first year French and didn’t know if I was capable of studying French at a higher level. Fast forward 2 years, however, and I’ve taken most of the upper-level courses, studied abroad in Montréal, and am planning to go to France in the fall. It all just sort of happened.
So, while there really wasn’t much reason in my decisions, it all worked out. I trusted my instincts and went with my heart, and though I’ll see how it treats me down the road, I’m content with my choices. My writing major led me to a great job at the writing center, which has led me to present at conferences and work on publications, and my French major has taken me abroad and widened my perspective of the world. So many great things happened, so, to me, that means I must have done something right.
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Majors: Computer science and linguistics
Desired career: Software development. I would love to eventually go into language processing/computational linguistics type work, but realize that I most likely won’t be getting into that for a while.
Declared: Entered with linguistics, decided to add computer science for sure around the end of fall quarter sophomore year, and finally got the double major declared in the summer between sophomore and junior year
I came in as linguistics purely out of interest. I loved my language classes in high school; not learning the language per se, but I loved learning about the grammar and pronunciation of the language. I talked to my Spanish teacher of three years about this. She suggested linguistics and possibly minoring in a language I want to study more in depth. I looked into linguistics more and it sounded like the perfect major for me, so I put it down on my apps.
Winter quarter registration time came. I couldn’t take the upper level linguistics classes at that point, and other than finishing up a few more quarters of my chosen language (German), there weren’t any lower div prereqs for me to fulfill. So I asked around for classes that would fulfill GE requirements, and someone suggested taking programming. Great, I thought, that’s really applicable and fulfills a few GE requirements! So I signed up for…the intro to programming class designed for STEM majors because I didn’t realize there was a different class for non-STEM majors. Yeah, I didn’t really look into that one.
I loved it. It was confusing at first, particularly because the professor taught it with the assumption that we had programming experience. But as the quarter went on I started getting more confident and realized that I really liked the problem solving aspect of it. So, I signed up for the next class in the major for spring quarter. Again, I loved it, so I signed up for the next class fall quarter sophomore year. At that point I realized that I really liked my computer science classes, so I looked more into declaring a double major. A couple quarters later and I had fulfilled the requirements for declaring a double major, and I was official!
Long story short: Entered in as linguistics my freshman year on a teacher’s suggestion, and it stuck. Kinda stumbled into computer science, and again it stuck. I’m now taking an even mix of computer science and linguistics classes each quarter, and I couldn’t be happier with my majors.
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College major: Psychology
What I did with it: Got a PhD in public health + social psychology. Currently I’m a postdoctoral research fellow in substance use and HIV research, and I plan to be a professor.
When did I declare it: Towards the end of my second semester of college. I originally declared a sociology major in my first semester of college, but I liked psychology more.
Any regrets: No, not really. I wish my college had had a statistics major, because then I would’ve double majored in statistics. But they didn’t, and I didn’t want to do a math major.
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Major: Global Affairs
I’m not planning on doing anything with it actually. I’m going to go to dental school after getting my undergrad degree. The reason I chose Global Affairs instead of something like biology or chemistry is because I can and also I just really like learning languages and about happenings around the world.
Any regrets?: No…at least not yet. I’m still only a sophomore and have mostly just been taking gen ed classes.
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I’m still relatively new, but this looks like an interesting thread.
Major: Physics
Intended Major: Yes and No, more on that in a bit.
Declared, When: At the end of my junior hs year, I decided on the major. Still liking it so far.
Future Plan/Desired Career: Definitely gonna pursue a PhD right after undergrad. As for career, I’m not sure yet, but I have plenty of time to weigh out my options.
Any Regrets?: Kind of. See, my #1 wasn’t really physics, going back to previous years. I sort of gave up on my original plan of Computer (Hardware) Engineering, since I didn’t think I could make the cut. I decided to go with physics, which I liked very much at the time, and still do. However, I’ve now decided to try to double major in Physics and Electrical Engineering/Computer Hardware Engineering (still deciding), since I’ve now the resources and time to do so.
Major: Dual degree: anthropology and arts & humanities
What I did with it: Went on to get my MPH in Health Behavior & Health Education; will be starting a PhD in American Culture this fall
Intended career: Professor
Really no regrets. The dual degree was a waste of time though- I should’ve just double majored.
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Mathematics with a minor in computer science.
I fell into mathematics by number of credits and I just enjoy those “aha!” moments you get when you can derive a formula or prove a conjecture/theorem. I wanted to do the computer science section because I thought about being a video game designer since that’s offered at my university and it just seemed interesting after watching a developer’s commentary on Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which was one of my favorite childhood games (though it’s not meant for children! :P)
I feel like such a conformist…
Career: I’ve been looking at teaching and actuarial science. I have a lot of transfer credit from high school, and my adviser says I’ll be able to get a master’s degree in four years. I hope to get a Ph.D. after that, but I probably wouldn’t try to work in academia because it’s too competitive.
Declared: December of my freshman year. I chose my major when I was a sophomore in high school.
Regrets: Nothing specific, but I often lose opportunities because I’m shy and I procrastinate a lot.
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Major: Architecture
Career: Architect
I finally chose architecture over engineering 3 months before I graduated high school. However I knew I wanted to be an architect since freshmen year in high school, but I debated on the economy if I should go to engineering instead. I do not regret this major, there is so many career paths you can go after getting a BS in architecture. You can get a masters in architecture to be qualified for licensure (plus internships and a 7 part test) or get a masters in property development, historic preservation, urban planning or design, construction, or MS + PhD in architecture. This provides a lot of options in this field. I will probably get a dual masters with architecture and will have a second profession either in preservation, development or architecture history.
Major: Civil Engineering
Short Term Career Goals: Get a job at a large firm like Burns and Mac or Black and Veatch and design cool stuff.
Long Term Career Goals: Open my own consulting firm
I declared this major after my first semester. I was originally a mechanical engineering major, but switched after the first semester because I hated ME so much. I only picked ME because I wanted to do engineering, but wasn’t really sure what type. ME was one of the more stable disciplines and is pretty broad, and had a higher salary than CE. I quickly realized it was not for me and switched to civil, which I love. I enjoy all my CE classes and I totally love the Concrete Canoe team. No regrets thus far, but I’ve only been in CE a few months.
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Major: Behavioral Biology, Minor: Applied Math
Career: Doctor or nurse?
Declared: First considered spring of Freshman year, revisited and confirmed fall of Sophomore year
How I chose: I went through a lot of uncertainty between my senior year of high school and first year of college. I considered Speech-Language Pathology, then Cognitive Science, then Public Health, then Computer Science or Applied Math, then I went back to Cognitive Science, then Neuroscience. SLP was out when I enrolled at my college, which doesn’t offer the major. The rest were weeded out as I took and then hated classes in the major, with the exception of my Applied Math courses, which I loved.
In the spring, I found out about the Behavioral Bio major. From my past experience, I had learned that I hate really social science/cultural studies/humanities kind of classes, and could not make myself take a whole lot of classes that weren’t exciting to me. BB is nice because it gives you a lot of room to take electives, but it is also very math- and science-heavy, which I like. There are like two classes that bore me, but they’re doable. I was still reluctant to give up Applied Math, and I really wanted to double major, but when I decided to become pre-med in the fall, I realized that I would not be able to fit the two majors and prereqs in, so I had to drop to a minor. It works out though, because I don’t have to take any math courses I’m not interested in…
Regrets: My only regret is taking so long to decide. I guess it couldn’t be helped, but I wish I had spread my premed courses out better. And now that I’m doing the premed thing, I’ve set myself up to take 1-2 gap years that I probably would not have taken otherwise.
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Hey, @romanigypsyeyes‌! Good for you! Will you still be at U of M for your PhD?
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Thanks, HM. Yes I am
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Major: Electrical Engineer
Career: Electrical Engineer
Declared: Started with EE as a freshman and declared end of Sophomore year.
How I chose: I liked math and science more than English/History in high school even though I did well in those areas too. Also my Dad was an EE. I didn’t have a particular type of Engineering that I wanted to do and EE is a good background for many engineering type jobs. I soon found I didn’t like hands on labs and what not. I got a job as a Systems Engineer that used my tech skills plus communication skills.
Regrets: No regrets.
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