What were tools you used to narrow down your major search?

Hi!

I am a rising senior in the Class of 2021. This question here kept me up at night for years, because everyone around me had pushed me to make a decision quite early. Thankfully, I know mainly what I would like to do, but it was not easy.

My best advice is to think first about what you are passionate about and what strengths you hold. Secondly, think about how much work you are willing to put in with your studies in order to obtain a career. Lastly, think about how much money you would like to make. The third one is definitely not as important, but it does matter in some form.

For me, I have always been an argumentative person. I am good with words, and I showed that when I scored extremely higher on the English part of the ACT than any other part. I also have very good problem solving skills, and I am a leader in my school's Ethics Bowl team (similar to Debate Club.)

As I grew into my adolescence, I become more and more interested in our government and politics. That is how I figured out what I would like to be: a lawyer and a politician. I combined my strengths and my passions and found where I would fit best. Look for a major that is pretty well-rounded so just in case plan A does not work out, there is always a plan B. The major I am going to choose is Political Science because I can look for plenty of jobs that I will enjoy just in case I decide I do not want to become a lawyer and/or politician. Also, I know that I am very good with academia, so doing seven years of schooling after high school will not be too much of a problem for me (I know that many people do not like that.)

As for online tools go, there are plenty of free aptitude tests that give you a field of what you enjoy the most and what your strengths are. Try your best to be completely vulnerable and honest, for that is the only way you can get the most accurate results. Don't stress too hard; many people never do just one career in their life.

Good luck!

I am a rising senior who was originally interested in STEM but not sure where to go from there. I constantly changed my mind on a weekly basis from physics to chemistry to materials engineering to electrical engineering to chemical engineering. It was a mess. So, what I did was first look up videos online. I found a really good one relating to STEM by a channel called "Zach Star". That channel alone helped me narrow down my majors to three: physics, electrical engineering, and materials engineering.

At this point, I decided to find Linkedin profiles of current students and former graduates of college in my majors. I messaged them and asked about what they do as a career, how their major helped them do that, or how they are doing in college, what internships it got them, etc. The person who most inspired me and made me feel like "that's what I want to do" was someone who did Physics in college and worked at Tesla.

So based on that experience and some research about job sustainability in general, I settled on a physics major with a potential minor in environmental science...

So figure out what you are interested in and see if your work ethic matches with that

I’m pretty arguementitive and detail oriented but I’m not interested in being a lawyer as I’m very impatient.

Also if you know of a major your not sure about a lot of schools publish a “syallbus” of what is covered in that class.

Interviewing is to me atleast not super helpful as you aren’t that person instead ask them for a job description/their duties.

https://careers.uiowa.edu/students/assessments

Go the the hyperlink for mymajors this is a very good resource when I used it it guessed 6/10 majors I’ve looked into and 3 others were ones I have discarded due to a combo of factors and the other I don’t want to do as a career (history) so IMO it is very accurate.

Comment if you want clarification

In deciding my major, I talked to my parents, my counselors, and used the internet. Literally, if you look up “choosing a major” you’ll find tons of resources to help you choose a major. Also, think about what you want to be after college, that can help you choose a major.