College majors have a significant impact on the value and potential return of a college degree. It’s important for students to weigh future career goals and interests in addition to the potential future income.
New York University identified four important factors to consider when choosing a college major: interests, values, skills and personality. In addition to the advice in this article, students can take the Career Quiz from Princeton Review to help identify their different areas of interest.
According to a U.S. Department of Education’s recent study, approximately one-third of college students change their major within their first three years, and 10% change majors more than once. The problem is that this can get to be time-consuming and expensive as students pile up credits from one major that are more than the number of credits necessary to graduate.
Students may feel pressure from family or friends to choose a major that leads to a job with a high salary after graduation. While it’s important to consider average salaries in the field(s) they’re considering, to avoid borrowing more than they can afford, it certainly shouldn’t be the only factor. While specific majors are necessary for certain career tracks, such as engineering and the medical professions, other majors provide a breadth of experience to develop adaptable skills for a variety of work opportunities. Ultimately, it’s up to the student to learn and acquire new skills along the way toward degree completion.
Identifying interests, aptitudes, and majors early could also open opportunities for students to take high school classes related to the college major or field of study that most interests the student. Students could also receive college credit from Advanced Placement courses; sometimes allowing students to skip introductory classes or fulfill general education requirements. All this saves money and ultimately leads to less student loan debt and better returns on the investment in college.
Choosing a major can feel like a complicated process to many students; using online tools, meeting with high school and college counselors and considering top interests can help students choose a major, focus their studies, minimize student loan debt and launch a successful career.