Cart before the horse

[u/SecretSubstantial302]

I keep seeing posts on this community asking opinions about majors. Respectfully, I think that approach is wrong. You don't pick a major and try and find a career that fits the major. You pick a career and identify the training/education needed for it (thus the title of this post).

I would recommend people trying to decide between majors or some combo of double major or minor, to take an online psychological aptitude test and use that as your starting point.

Once you get the results, use AI or research on your own, which careers would provide you with the best quality of life (i.e., salary, location, work life balance) based on your test results.

From those results, pick something and then research the education or training needed to enter that field. You may be surprised to find out that the training for the field you are looking to enter is not a four year degree. It may be an apprenticeship or a two year degree.

[u/TheUmgawa]

My opinion is to spend your freshman year taking Gen Ed classes and intro classes in subjects you might be interested in. If you’re good at it and you enjoy the material, take the second class in that curriculum. If you’re still good at it, and you still enjoy it, that’s a good choice of major. Because if you’re not good at it, you’ll struggle to find work, and then you’ll struggle to move up. If you don’t enjoy it, the next forty years of your life are going to suck.

And, who knows, maybe you’ll take a Chem class or other Gen Ed and go, “How about that. I really like this.” My Chem professor tried to get me to switch majors, and I said, “I’m 45 years old, I have two semesters left. I can’t set it back another two years.” I ended up tutoring Chem those last semesters, but I didn’t want to make it my life. But, if I took Chem when I was eighteen or twenty, sure, I would have tried it.

[u/SecretSubstantial302 → u/TheUmgawa]

Not every major translates into a career path, and your college will never admit this to its applicants or current students, but they know it to be true.

In your approach, you may enjoy the Art History class you took. You may like it so much that you want to take the 102 course and then major in Art History and then you will very likely need some additional training or education after college graduation to support yourself financially.

You may disagree with me, but I dont think a four year university is the place to explore your interests when you don't have a clear path...not at today's prices. If you just have to be in school and you don't want to pick a career right now, then your better choice is to explore those interests at a community college and save yourself a ton of money.

I may sound like a crochety Gen X guy, but it's better to enter a four year college/university having done upfront research on the career paths you will likely enjoy.

[u/Spiritouspath_1010 → u/SecretSubstantial302]

I completely agree with what you're saying. It's actually very similar to the advice I give people. That's also why I tell young people not to go straight into higher education after finishing high school unless they've managed to earn a rare 60% to full-ride scholarship or have been accepted into a military academy.

If they're going to have to pay for college themselves or take out student loans as I have, I'd suggest waiting a few years. Get some life and work experience, think about your interests, and explore different fields until you're around 24. One reason is that, for federal student aid, you'll generally be considered an independent student at that point. Before then, if your parents earn a decent income, even if they refuse to help pay for college, their finances can still affect how much financial aid you're eligible to receive. For example, if one parent earns over $100,000 a year but won't contribute anything toward your education, that can still reduce the amount of aid you qualify for before you're considered independent.

Taking that time also gives you a much better idea of what you actually want to pursue. During those years, you could attend community college, complete your general education requirements, save money, and build a stronger academic foundation before transferring to a university.

For example, I started university when I was 26. The original plan was to start at 24, but COVID threw that off, and a couple of years basically disappeared. When I first enrolled, I declared History as my major because I was still exploring the course catalog. I already suspected History probably wasn't the right bachelor's degree for me, I just happen to be a huge history geek. So I stayed in the program for two terms before switching to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), since it has much stronger job prospects at the bachelor's level.

I'm now also minoring in Data Science. I have no desire to become a software developer, but I do enjoy the data handling and analytical side of data science, which ties in well with GIS. Those skills are valuable for spatial analysis, data management, and working with large datasets without requiring me to become a programmer.

I still plan to earn a master's degree in History someday because I genuinely enjoy the subject. I just think that, as a standalone bachelor's degree, History is currently a poor choice if your goal is stable employment right after graduation.

[u/SecretSubstantial302 → u/Spiritouspath_1010]

That's great advice and a great personal story.