<p>I just recently finished my AA degree in Liberal Arts from community college, and don't know what I should major in. I won't start in the fall of 2015 which gives me a little more time to make my decision. So far, I have been accepted to two of the four universities I have applied Ole Miss and Mississippi University for Women, and am waiting to hear back from Mississippi State and Southern Miss. After visiting both Ole Miss and MUW, I'm leaning more towards Ole Miss. The schools where I have not been accepted yet have contacted me on several occasions expressing interest in my attending. Southern Miss says they just need my final grades for consideration. Some of the majors offered at Ole Miss I am contemplating are History, English, Political Science, Public Policy, Liberal Studies (3 Minors), and Integrated Marketing Communications, a multi disciplinary study compromised of Communications, Liberal Arts and Business. USM offers some majors I have been looking at that Ole Miss does not such as, Public Health. Also, the International Studies program offered by USM is not as exclusive as the Ole Miss program which accepts only 60 students with an average ACT score of 28 and GPA of 3.5. In community college I have taken 15 hours in Biology, 12 hours of English, Spanish, and History, 6 hours of Math and Philosophy & Bible. In addition, I have taken 3 hours in Art History, Intro to Business, Geography, American National Government, General Psychology, Intro to Sociology, and Public Speaking. I am primarily an A student with only two Bs (Intermediate Algebra, Zoology I) and one C (College Algebra). My GPA is 3.9 and my ACT 21. Suggestions?</p>
I see “Business” as one of your options. If you want to be 100% sure of getting a good paying job choose Accounting at Southern Miss - 100% placement. They prepare students well for the CPA and once you have this, and work a year or two, more options open up as many companies like to promote folks with a CPA…who are outgoing/speak well (saw your Public Speaking course in your note). With decent ACT scores and being active you can inquire about scholarships…do so soon.
Normally, the way that you would select a major is by taking a couple of classes in each field in which you are interested, and then continuing on with the ones that you enjoy. But since you are a junior transfer, you don’t really have the time to do that - you need to select a major right away and begin it in the fall so that you can finish your major requirements on time.
So in this case, I think in certain respects you should think backwards from what you might want to do post-college and also think about what classes you have enjoyed so far. You’ve taken classes in almost every field you are considering - which ones were your favorites? What class did you look forward to attending?
Remember too that most of these majors go deeper. So an English major isn’t just about writing and communicating; you’ll take a lot of classes in English literature, and will have to learn to do literary criticism. (That’s why I didn’t major in English - I loved reading and writing but hated literary criticism, which we did in my AP English class in senior year of high school.) Political science is not politics, but the study of political systems and behavior.
Also, at some point you might just have to make a selection, realizing that it probably won’t matter a whole lot unless you really want some specialized career. Like…whether you select history or political science probably won’t make a huge difference in your career, especially once you get 5+ years out from college.