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Major Decisions

laurenklentak
Apr 14
2 min read

At Ignite, we believe that part of the journey to college is spending time intentionally exploring major and career paths. After all, one of the most common reasons to go to college is to prepare for a future career. However, many high schoolers get stuck when they feel they have to pick a major and decide their life path at age 17. We get it! Many adults would agree that they did not have it all figured out when they were that age, and in fact, their education and careers took quite a few twists and turns to get them to where they are today. However, many (not all) universities ask students to pick a major when they apply (and admit students by major). Others will ask students to write detailed application essays explaining why they are interested in the paths they are considering.

How do we balance these realities with the fact that most students don't know what they want to do for the rest of their lives (and that’s perfectly okay)?

We encourage exploration, discovery, and trying things out.

Positive psychology research shows that fulfilling careers are ones that integrate a person's strengths, interests, and values. If one of these is missing, the fit can feel “off”. Some questions we encourage students to ask themselves are:

What am I interested in?
What am I good at?
What do I value / what motivates me?

A closer examination of these questions (and identification of the overlaps) will provide some hypotheses.

Someone who is interested in her science classes, good at problem solving and staying calm in a crisis, and is motivated to help others may be interested in a major in health sciences or psychology and a career in medicine or healthcare.

Someone who is interested in politics and current events, good at writing, and is motivated to stand up for social justice may be interested in a political science major or public policy major and may want to explore careers in journalism and law.

So how can a student test these hypotheses?

Learn: research college websites, read articles, and watch videos on different major/career options. The more you know about what options are out there, the better you will feel about choosing your initial path.
Talk to people: informational interviewing is a fancy way of talking to people about their jobs. Find people who are doing things you find interesting and ask them questions!
Try things: Elective classes, extracurricular activities such as clubs, volunteering, or part-time jobs, small independent projects you can create on your own time. As you test things out, are you becoming more or less interested in this field?