<p>Hey CC parents! I'm a CC lurker asking for some parental wisdom and guidance here. I've asked both my parents the question I'm about to ask you, and they've given me some good insight, but I need more!
How did you know which field you wanted to study in college? Did you settle by trial and error, or did you know yourself well enough to decide at 18 years of age? I seem to like all subjects in school, from language to history to science, I just don't think I can decide! Did you suddenly wake up one day and know what you wanted to study in college?
Thank you for your input!</p>
<p>Risubu: those are great questions. I don’t think I pondered that deeply about what I wanted back when I was a senior in HS. I knew what I didn’t want: anything medical & also didn’t want to go to law school, because that’s what my mom wanted 
I was 1st generation American & neither parent had gone to college so they didn’t have much guidance except to tell me I was “really smart” and had to go to college. I decided that I wanted to make documentaries and save the world. I ended up majoring in Communications (at my 1st college which I transferred from) and then Speech & Theater w/a concentration in Broadcasting. I couldn’t “afford” to work in TV when I graduated so I took a job in advertising which I hated but it paid the rent. About 4 years post graduation I did a lot of career type inventories & realized I should have been a librarian; I liked doing the research, compiling data & helping people figure things out. Long time later I went back to school for my MLS and became a librarian in my 40’s. </p>
<p>All this to say, don’t think you have to know for sure right now. Lots of adults end up changing careers later on. Take some skills & career inventory tests. I’d recommend at least the Myers Briggs & Strengthsfinder.</p>
<p>I knew what I was good at and dutifully studied that. I followed with the expected career. Many years later I finally broke the mold and gave in to my ‘left brain’. I now do something that is quite different. Many people change their careers later in life because they did what they were supposed to do, not what they enjoyed.
If you don’t have a clear passion (which most students don’t), take a broad range of general studies and be open to different areas.</p>
<p>NOTE: I crossed posts with RobD… I wonder how many parents will share this sentiment? :)</p>
<p>Trial and error. I enrolled with one major in mind as a freshman and changed my mind at least 5 times just freshman year alone. Soph year I decided to try courses in another field…figured if I liked them I would stick with them. Well…I did, and I did well too. That became my major and subsequently my career as an adult.</p>
<p>Both of my kiddos, however, knew what they wanted as college majors as freshmen and stuck with it. DD added a double major, and DS actually completed a masters in the same major. I DO think they are the exception.</p>
<p>^Similar to thumper, I changed my major a LOT. Swore I wouldn’t go into business but by junior year I was well on my way to an accounting degree with a liberal arts emphasis ;)</p>
<p>I was a good all-round student in high school, but I especially enjoyed both the life sciences and the humanities. I started out intending to major in biochemistry at Cornell because it was very interesting and it seemed practical from a career standpoint; I could go to medical school or graduate school, I thought. However, two things happened toward the end of my sophomore year. First, I realized that once I was doing science on a nearly full-time basis, rather than as one of a bunch of different classes, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much. Second, while I was getting good grades in my science classes, I certainly wasn’t in the most talented cohort; my real strengths lay in reading and writing. It was hard to figure that out in high school because I didn’t have sufficient competition there. So I started talking to professors and others about career possibilities in the humanities and whether I had the potential to succeed at them. I eventually changed my major to English, got a PhD, and became an English professor.</p>
<p>My advice is to attend a college or university that allows you to take a wide variety of courses in your first two years, without declaring a major right away. Keep an open mind and see what you enjoy doing, and what you’re good at.</p>
<p>It is a lot more difficult to decide which classes (and sections) to take as an undergrad today compared to twenty-five or thirty years ago because registration is done on-line now. Back in the old days, you got compuer punch cards, but you had to manually fill them out and turn them in. Everybody had to go to a common area and get in line to turn them in. While you were waiting in line, you just looked around for the prettiest girls and signed up for whatever classes they were taking.</p>
<p>I stumbled around a lot. I entered college unsure of which of two fields – psychology or biology – I wanted to major in, so I took the prerequisites for both majors. I ended up doing better in biology and liking it better too, so that I chose that for my major.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there were many other fields that I didn’t consider, especially more career-oriented fields, and some of them might have been better suited for me than biology, which really was not that great a choice since I didn’t want to be a doctor and didn’t end up going on for a Ph.D.</p>
<p>My children are totally different from me. Both knew what they wanted to major in before they started college – computer science for one, economics for the other – and they never deviated from those plans. I don’t understand them at all.</p>
<p>Don’t you guys feel that you wasted your time with a major you never got a degree in?</p>
<p>I studied engineering - which you sort of have to choose early in order to get prerequisite courses done in time. However, I missed reading books and ended up with a double major in English (and some extra time in summer session to meet my major requirements). In the end I only worked as an engineer for a few years before changing over to a business career. My advice is study what you like, whatever major gives you the opportunity to take the courses you want to take. What you learn in college is how to solve problems, how to communicate, how to work independently. You learn that whatever subject you study.</p>
<p>Life’s about the journey. Had I never taken those detours, the destination would have been totally different.</p>
<p>While visiting Knox in July, the President there compared choosing a major to training for the Olympics without knowing what event you’re going to be competing in. He said that unless you’re committed pre-med or education, don’t pick a major until the middle of your second year (the two exceptions have course sequences that have to be started early). I took a lot of philosophy and Russian in college on my way to a chemistry major, and I’m glad I did.</p>
<p>I never changed my major, but I did an internship after sophomore year that completely changed my career goals and my grad school path. I “stuck” with that field and am still working in that field. Occasionally I wonder how my life would have differed had I become a lawyer, but it’s more random musing than anything else. </p>
<p>My son wanted to major in English in high school but in college went down the business school path thinking it was “safer”. Somewhere between sophomore and junior year he decided to double major and is loving it and so glad he didn’t turn his back on something he likes so very much.</p>
<p>Take your time, sample different classes and soon something will click.</p>
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<p>No. Taking courses to explore the possibility of majoring in different fields is part of a growth process that many college students need to go through. And you usually have to take a variety of classes in different subjects to fulfill graduation requirements anyway.</p>
<p>I came from a single parent home. Based on that, my mother’s advice was to major in something that I could always find a job in and in which I would be able to support myself with no help (i.e. if there were no husband in the picture).<br>
So I chose nursing. I didn’t hate it but wasn’t crazy about it either. I stuck with it and graduated (BSN).
Ironically enough, I got married before I graduated and only worked in nursing for two years before having S1 and becoming a SAHM. I never went back to nursing but don’t regret getting the degree/experience. It has been helpful along life’s highway. I’m a preschool teacher now in a large child development center. I get to practice my nursing skills there pretty frequently.</p>
<p>DH started out in engineering and never waivered. He says he chose it because he was good in math and everyone told him he should be an engineer. He has had a good career in Engineering. </p>
<p>Both my kids chose a major and stuck with it. S1,'09 grad, enjoyed the classes in his degree but now says he would choose a different major if he had it to do over. He realizes now that he didn’t spend enough time researching all the possibilites. He’s applied for grad. sch. in a degree totally diff. than his BS.
S2 is a college jr. He’s not sure exactly what he wants to do with his degree when he graduates but likes it and is sticking with it.</p>
<p>I really think you should be open to new courses and possible life paths. I think it is far more likely for an 18 yo HS senior to not know what they want to do than for them to be locked in on their life’s passion. Take a broad array of classes as a freshman, and be curious about things.</p>
<p>I headed off to college wanting to major in home economics education, speech (public speaking), or horticulture, which by the way were in three different colleges at my university. I chose home ec because I thought that would have the best job opportunities. The chemistry soon got me down and I switched to speech with secondary education certification. Upon graduation, I could not find a job in my home state of Iowa and moved 900 miles to work in COLLEGE ADMISSIONS. How funny is that? I married an Army officer and bounced around behind him for twenty years doing all kinds of things. </p>
<p>Now what do I do? Teach at a community college. I don’t have any regrets and I have the perfect job for a mom.</p>
<p>I majored in something that my parents picked for me. I didn’t object to it much, although there were other things that probably would have appealed to me more. They thought my major would lead to a job, but there were no jobs in it when I graduated…the only jobs in the placement office were entry level management training programs at discount retailers! I ended up going to law school after I graduated, which led to a great career.</p>
<p>I’ve told all of my kids to pick a major that would lead to a job, and to get a minor or double major in anything they liked which might not be job-friendly. I’ve also advised them to look at Monster bd to browse jobs, and then research salaries. Sometimes I helped them find people doing jobs that they were curious about, so they could ask questions. There are many field that I know nothing about, so I wouldn’t be able to suggest any job-options for them in those fields.</p>
<p>One of my kids picked a major that was unsuitable – a science major although the kid was weak in math. That kid recognized the mistake quickly, and changed majors after the first semester. That kid graduated in four years with the new major, since many of the classes taken the first year were prereqs. </p>
<p>Another kid wanted to be premed. This kid read a lot of “how to get into med school” books, and asked questions from premed advisors when doing college visits. The more research this kid did, the less practical the major seemed. This kid decided to focus on schools with pharmacy programs as an option. The kid is now in pharmacy school and loves it. A third kid picked a major at 9 years old, and never waivered even a little bit. (I tried unsuccessfully to get this kid to consider alternatives.) This kid is now thrilled to finally be a freshman in a BSN program. </p>
<p>When you do college visits, you’ll repeatedly hear that the most common major is “undecided.” For some majors like 0-4 nursing or engineering, there are tracks that start freshman year. For most majors though, there’s a lot of flexibility. You may have an additional two years to consider your future before having to pick a final major. When you’re looking at schools if you’re undecided, make sure that there are a lot of majors. Kid #1 changed majors to something that wasn’t offered at school #1, and ended up having to transfer. Fortunately, both school #1 and school #2 had a lot of prereqs that were filled by freshman classes, so no credits were lost in the transfer.</p>
<p>As parents, we know that some kids are born to do certain things, and other kids could do any number of things.
My brother, for example, was born to be a civil engineer. Anyone could tell this by the way he built with blocks at age 3.
One of my kids was born to be in business or economics. He started his first little business at age 8 and recruited other kids to join him in the business. He constantly thought of business ideas (still does) and was aware of things like the Federal Reserve Bank, the IRS and the SEC at a very young age.
But these people are the exception, not the rule. Most people need to explore and try different things before they find what they like.
So, I agree with the poster who suggested taking an interest and aptitude test, but I also agree with the posters who suggest that you don’t sweat it too much, but that you explore and try different things. Good luck!</p>
<p>I majored in what my dad wanted me to major in. I am darned good at it, and have made an excellent living at it. But it really is not my passion. I have every intention of going back and studying astrophysics once my last kid is done with college and I have worked a couple more years to beef up my retirement account a little more.</p>
<p>D1 is majoring in something she is passionate about. I personally think the careers available for her major are pretty stressful, so we will see how that goes. I think she will have a job (she also is darned good at what she has chosen), but I will be interested to see how she feels about it in 20 years.</p>