Anyone else have a child who is struggling/struggled to find a major? Rising sophomore, great student, at great school, has not had a chance to explore all of her interests. Must declare a major in the spring and I fear that she still will not really know since her interests are varied and many classes are introductory and don’t give enough of a feel for what the discipline is truly like. She comes from a family of late bloomer and perhaps she should have taken a gap year. I’m not really looking for advice-- rather wondering if other parents had kids go through this and if so, how did the student choose a major, and how did it eventually work out?
Well…
what subjects interest her the most? What subjects are her strong areas?
How are her people skills?
How are her organizational skills?
Is she more of a “leader” “take charge” person, or is she someone who prefers to be directed?
Is she an introvert and would prefer a career that is more behind the scenes? or would she prefer a career that deals directly with the public or with a team of co-workers?
Is she outgoing?
What classes has she taken so far? How did she do in them?
Maybe think about how varied her interests are. Is there a major that would satisfy several interests? Or lead her into the general career field that she wants to enter? Are their simpler majors that would allow her to double major or minor in a second subject of interest?
Is there anything she knows right now is non-negotiable? Like maybe she knows she likes Business but is also considering Art History and Sociology; she should major in what she enjoys, and then she can consider incorporating other subjects as electives.
Or maybe she knows that she likes writing but hates problem sets; that narrows the pool down a lot.
These were all things that helped me when I was struggling to choose a major for the entirety of my freshman year. It was between Applied Math and several related brain majors (Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology). I eventually settled on the most flexible of the brain majors and chose to minor in Applied Math. However, I think I’m going to change it again to just Applied Math. But because I was still taking courses for the minor, it’ll be easier to change, and I don’t have to do any guesswork about this being what I want to do.
She’s an excellent 4.0 student with many interests;she’s certainly considering double majors but has interests in languages, science, math, culture, environment, sociology to name a few. Again, I’m not really looking for advice-- rather wondering if other parents had kids go through this and if so, how did the student choose a major, and how did it eventually work out?
Some colleges allow students to create interdisciplinary majors so perhaps she can pursue that option. She can also think about if she has any career goals and what might be the best path to get there.
Otherwise I suggest she keep taking classes next semester and then make a decision. My D is kind of similar in that she has many varied interests (I call her a Renaissance kid) and considered majors ranging from chemistry to theater… She ended up majoring in psychology, getting a bachelor of science degree which required a lot of science/calculus classes (she loves the sciences), and taking a minor in theater. It will all work out. Don’t stress too much.
Does she have any goals after college? Like Med School? or business? or moving to a different state?
Those can influence what she decides to major in.
PS. And my D didn’t decide on a career path until the middle of her junior year of college!
Part of college is moving from being a generalist to having expertise in one or two fields. It means choosing among favorites and meeting the requirements for one of many interests. She may be required to declare a major by the time she is halfway through a four year college experience, but a major can be changed before graduating I presume. It is good to have a focus so a student finds time for the advanced classes in a chosen field.
Does teaching interest her? Elementary school teachers are generalists in knowledge but also need the interest and skills in dealing with small children on a daily basis.
A gap year would not have been good for her. She got the freshman experience with her peer group- something she could not have done later. She also likely has many breadth requirements out of the way- good when she wants/needs several courses in her major later and won’t be needing to take other courses.
As above posters stated- she needs to decide among major areas. STEM? Business? Humanities? Social Sciences? A professional track? If STEM she will likely be locked into needing courses that are prerequisites for others. My son was undecided between physics and math - his college credits include “extra” physics ones from before he chose math. He ended up adding comp sci for job purposes instead of math grad school (how many kids inform their parents they won’t be graduating in two weeks because they decided to cancel it to add that second major?- it was affordable at our flagship U and son was young).
A poster above had the main idea- problem sets or papers. That eliminates half of the majors right there. An interest in various professions?
She should check out her school’s career center in the fall. There are interest and aptitude tests one can take to help define things. She might discover she is most like professionals in a field she never considered, or that she is totally unlike some. That wouldn’t prevent her from majoring in any area but would point out compatible areas. Friends and I took those eons ago as sophomores- even though we were chemistry majors and got that degree. It was fun to see where we fit in among those in various fields.
My S attends a Canadian university. He had to decide on a major in his first year. He liked biology, philosophy and psychology. He chose to double major in a couple of cross-disciplinary majors. One was cognitive science, which combines philosophy, psychology and computer science. I’ve been touring US universities with his younger sister and a lot of universities are adding cognitive science to their list of majors. He also chose bioethics which combines philosophy and biology.
Have her look beyond english or economics or chemistry and into a major that combines several fields.
ok, I’ll not give advice. My S thought all along Business/Finance, but then tailored it toward Econ. He was happy with that, and is now studying for PhD in Econ.
Mine entered Freshman year looking to get into the business school so took the usual prerequisites including Econ which he hated and dropped. Then tried physics, Spanish, accounting, general studies, math and eventually majored in:…Economics. He’s now a Lawyer.
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Again, I’m not really looking for advice-- rather wondering if other parents had kids go through this and if so, how did the student choose a major, and how did it eventually work out?
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Yes. The child chose his major based on what he liked. Yes, it worked out.
I’m not sure how the answer to your question is any help, but there it is.
I had the perfect major - Visual and Environmental Studies, it included studio art, architectural and film history, art theory, a bit of design. I spent about half my time writing papers and the other half making stuff. Since I was pretty sure I would go to grad school in architecture I rounded out my education with calculus and physics. Took both French and German out of interest. I realized by the end of freshman year I was not going to be the academic in history and lit I thought I would be, and that I got the most satisfaction out of making things. The only course I took that year with problem sets was a comp sci course which I kind of flubbed up. (Should have done it a year later when I knew lots of comp sci majors who could have helped when I got lost.)
Get an internship?
My S went in saying he was going to take “a little of everything” and see what he liked. He considered a few things, notably linguistics, but ended up majoring in French, which enabled him to combine his interests in philosophy, literature, culture/history, and modern languages, as well as writing. It was to some degree the path of least resistance for him, since he was an accomplished student of French going in. He did a State Dept internship, using the language, which led him to cross off that as a potential career path. 
He did one term in Paris, and was able to get jobs as a “drill instructor” during the school year and summers, which led to a summer job as an immersion group leader in France after graduation, and he was selected by the department for a post-grad year at a leading French university.
He had no intention of becoming a French instructor or an academic at any level; in fact, he decided senior year that what he really wanted to do was write, with a particular interest in narrative journalism. He spent a lot of his time in France reading all of the major Anglophone novelists he hadn’t read, as well as writing on his own, applied to journalism school, went to Columbia, and graduated with a reporting job.
Was his major “helpful”? It certainly led to a number of interesting intellectual and personal experiences. Seems to have worked out. I was hoping he would fall in love with his major, which he didn’t, but he did fall in love with something, and is avidly pursuing it, which is all I ever really hoped for.
I like the “problem sets” or “papers” question. (My daughter says problem sets + languages!)
I love reading these stories! I think many of us actually need a circuitous route to find ourselves. For others, it’s much easier.
I chose my senior year bc I had to. Then I went to law school bc I didn’t know what else to do. It may take more than 4 years…
I can easily see adding another foreign language to one learned in HS while studying a STEM field. I did that and I think son wishes he had started one sooner to have more than a semester in it (he did NOT delay graduation again just to be able to take more!). He had taken a linguistics course as a new freshman as well. All sorts of fun courses to take outside one’s major.
My freshman year boyfriend was a chem major who fulfilled almost all his Gen Ed requirements with language courses. If I remember correctly he took Russian, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish and German!
One of mine switched more than once. I don’t think a major has to be tied to a career; it can follow interests. it’s tough when a kid has multiple interests and talents. But she will have to choose something in order to graduate, so assuming it will happen She still has time. And she can change majors- it’s not written in stone yet. I think it’s great she is exploring and hopefully she’ll have some clarity by spring.