I have no idea what my major should be...help!

College Majors
1

<p>Hi, I'm about to be a sophomore in college. I was undecided for my first year of college, and I ended the year with a 3.9 GPA with a B+ in only 1 class. However, I am not happy with myself at the moment because I still am not exactly sure what I want to do with my life.</p>

<p>I had to decide a major at the end of last year. It was a rushed decision and I decided to choose history as my major and music performance as my minor. I liked my history classes in college and learning about it in general and I am good at playing the trombone. This is why I chose this combination. I know history majors can be teachers, but they can also work in parks, museums, and libraries. I wouldn't be thrilled with being a teacher, but it would be alright. Working in a park or library would be good though. Idk...I made the best decision I could with the options available at my school. No major really stuck out to me at the time and I still don't know what I want to do out of college.</p>

<p>I still think about this alot and I'm not taking it lightly. I just keep feeling that there's something better for me out there but I can't figure out what. I feel stressed about this and feel anxiety about the future. I know that only I can make this decision and it frustrates that there is no clear direction I want to go in right now. I'm thinking about researching other colleges with other programs just to see what's out there.</p>

<p>If it helps, my true passion and hobby is gaming. Going to video game tournaments and winning my way up the brackets is probably my favorite activity to be in. I think it would be awesome to do this for a living, either part-time (kind of like I'm doing now) or full-time (having a sponsorship to be in tournaments) winning prize money. That is my ultimate goal at the moment, although I know that having a college degree is very important and is my first priority. Balance in life is important to me and I just want to know what I want to do outside of this hobby.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any good advice for me or was in a similar situation with an undecided major?</p>

2

<p>Are you interested in playing games or making them? If you want to make them, either switch to computer science, digital arts, or stick with history/something writing intensive and get good at writing stories and character descriptions.</p>

3

<p>Bro, I know exactly what’s going through your head right now. I’m about to be a sophomore in college as well, and I am faced with the exact same problem you probably are right now. I don’t know about you, but I’m at a community college right now. I need to transfer to a four year university next year, so to do that I need to begin applying to colleges right now. PROBLEM: colleges want you to know what your major is by this point, especially those colleges that you are transferring to.</p>

<p>So I’m trying to force myself into a decision as well. I totally agree, it is extremely hard to find what you’re interested in. At first I thought I wanted to be an English major, as I did extremely well in my English 101 class. I reached English 250 (brit lit) and I hated English all of a sudden. I learned from that experience not to be fooled by a single introductory class that seems like fun. I learned I need to dig deeper into whatever field I was considering - find out what I can or can’t do in that field. </p>

<p>One of my biggest problems is thinking about money. For me, I love photography. However, I know a huge amount of people that try to do photography for a living end up shooting weddings and portraits to make ends meat. I HATE shooting weddings and portraits. I want to shoot scenery, human interest photos, sort of like a photojournalist for the national geographic. </p>

<p>So ya, we have this problem between thinking about what we really love doing, what we might or might not be GOOD at, and what we can make money at. </p>

<p>I know loving what you do is probably the most important thing. The only problem is whether or not doing what you love for a living is doable. </p>

<p>I also hear your feelings about how there is something better for you out there. If you have that feeling, I’d say DON’T GO WITH HISTORY. If you feel like that about history, it probably isn’t right for you. What is, however? Can you see yourself as a professional gamer 20 years in the future? Do they make enough money for you to be content with? What are your plans as far as a family and/or children go?</p>

<p>Maybe there is a major that you can merge with gaming. As in, something that will complement it. For me, I discovered Anthropology through a recent class, and found it was the perfect major for me. It is very concerned with human interest, it places a huge emphasis on ‘field work’ and I realized that it would be a perfect outlet for me to use my skills in photography on. In addition to that, I could add little skills on there, like med school, etc, later if I wanted. </p>

<p>I realized that though I love photography, I would not be fulfilled in life just shooting photos randomly, without purpose. I needed to determine what I wanted to accomplish with my photography. </p>

<p>Ok dude, I’m sorry this is turning out to be so long. Basically, I think you have to be careful about how you think about what you ‘love.’ I love gaming as well. I play counter-strike source, team fortress 2, fallout 3, call of duty (both of the good ones), Empire total war, and left 4 dead regularly (my fave games). I think that you want to make something of yourself, correct?As in, you would like to make a difference in the world? </p>

<p>My mistake was confusing what is fun and easy with what my passion could be. After a lot of soul searching, I realized that I would always love photography more than math, science, etc. because it was easy for me. Next, I realized that I had to begin thinking about what I wanted to accomplish with my life. Next, after that, you have to realize that anything worth accomplishing will take work, but that work is worth it. Sure I could be a photographer for fun, and just sell my photos on the streets of venice, but that wouldn’t accomplish my broader goals in life. </p>

<p>So identify a broader goal in life - helping others, advancing society in some way (medically, etc.), and then you can try to decide what major can help you accomplish that. Of course you’ll pick the major that you believe suits you best, and that you like the most. Just remember to keep reminding yourself why you are working hard. </p>

<p>Try not to confuse an easy major with one that you have a passion for, just because it is easy. Hard work is really worth it, if it is done to accomplish a loftier goal that you hold dear.</p>

4

<p>An example I wanted to add, but it wouldn’t let me edit it:</p>

<p>An example would be Engineering. Say you loved creating things, inventing things, coming up with new ways to get things done, and you would love to design airplanes. However, you really hate to think about all the hard work all those math classes would be. So you decide not to be an engineer. Sooooooo many people do this. So many people let their lazy side talk them out of great careers that would actually fulfill them. Instead, they fall into easy careers that leave them unfulfilled and wishing they had done something greater with their lives. Passion could take a lot of hard work, man.</p>

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<p>I’ve been contemplating my major and future career for the past two years at community college, and finally decided on studying animation and illustration. I’m probably not a good person to give advice, but you asked for it. Your major honestly doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. If you want to be an engineer or an accountant, yes it does matter. But if you don’t want to pursue a career that requires a professional degree such as nursing, it’s not as significant as you think. So, it might help you to go through careers that absolutely need the education and degree. Ask yourself do you want to be a nurse, do you want to be an engineer, do you want to be an actuary, etc. If that appeals to you, go for it. Also, keep in mind that most people who major in the humanities, such as a history major, end up with an unrelated career. </p>

<p>[Study</a> Hacks Blog Archive Should Your Major Be Your Passion?](<a href=“Should Your Major Be Your Passion? - Cal Newport”>Should Your Major Be Your Passion? - Cal Newport)</p>

<p>[Study</a> Hacks Blog Archive Does Your College Major Matter?](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2007/10/24/does-your-college-major-matter/]Study”>Does Your College Major Matter? - Cal Newport)</p>

<p>Major in something you like. Don’t worry about your passion or your love, pick something you like. If you pick something you don’t like, you’ll do poorly and be unhappy and won’t do too well professionally. If you stress about your “passion”, again, you’ll be unhappy as you may have noticed.</p>