Choosing a college major

I'm afraid I have to take serious issue with the path of this post. Most times I would agree with the path of least resitance being the best option but here I don't. Some struggle right out of college can be a great thing, a scary thing, but a great thing still.

Having just recently experienced it (being a political science major) coming out of college, I can say with certainty that I am actually grateful for the uncertainty of the last year. Having to think now and figure out what I want to do with my life (or at least examine my interests a bit) has done more for me than taking an easy entry level job ever would have.

I would much rather have to face the uncertainty now and try out things and freak out now, than realize in 4 or 5 years that I hate the job I took out of college and need to go back to school or be "inbetween jobs" when I'm older and have more obligations.

Brad,

There is definitely an argument to be made for both sides of this topic. However, I see no reason why you can't examine your interests and figure out what you want to do with your life while you're in an entry level position. Also, there is no reason to wait around 4 or 5 years in a bad job. But 6 to 12 months seems manageable, as long as you are actively looking for other options.

Thanks for the comment.

-Ryan

Ryan, you obviously were not a computer science major (especially if it were engineering) by saying that it would make your life more stressful.

There are obviously a ton of opinions on the topic, and I actually find myself debating it as my siblings enter college, but also as I try to find my way into a career path.

I spent my first two (not unstressful) years in college as an comp sci engineering major at one of the best engineering schools in the country. I came to the realization that I just didn't care to turn something that I wanted as a hobby into a career. The odd thing was that my taste varied so much, that I went from one of the hardest engineering disciplines to double majoring in political science and philosophy. I realized that my degree was, for all intents and purposes, not going to matter in the career field that I was on, unfortunately due to an injury, that path had to change.

From here I was left with the struggle most social science majors face…what the hell to do. The job hunt was long and hard, but now I'm in finance and making much more than entry level pay. I agree with one thing, a successful person will find a way to make the best of any situation.

Here's the kicker, I'm longing to be in a technical field, and around technical people. Being my hobby is not enough, and I realize now that if I'm going to be around people 10 hours a day, I'd rather be around that environment. So do I regret switching? Not at all, I pursued two of the topics that I greatly enjoy. But at the same time, we can't plan on being hit by cars and forced to pursue the desk life, instead of the career path that once seemed inevitable.

Winding it down like an engineer would, my route has been like a sine wave, extreme on one end, then I compensated with another extreme. Now I'm just trying to find my way back to the middle…

I mildly disagree concerning a bad job being preferable to a longer job search. Of course, the ideal would be someone thinking in advance far enough to have the timing work out.

Maybe taking a job as a waiter, tutor, etc.. while spending serious time finding out what you're going to do.

I heartily agree about starting a hobby with potential, the earlier the better. I wish I'd started blogging when I was a fetus. It's been nothing but positive for me.

Ryan, I completely disagree with this post. I just completed a masters degree where I wrote my dissertation on this very topic. I surveyed 555 hiring managers (mostly from the US) to ask what skills they look for when hiring college graduates and how important a student's major is in their hiring decision.

In a student's first year out of college, in fact, only 9 survey respondents said that the student's major was the most critical factor in their hiring decision. Out of the 555 total respondents, only 200 considered a job applicant's college major as more than "Somewhat Important" to be hired for a job in the applicant's first year out of college! Nearly as many (178) thought that a college major was "Somewhat Important" and 177 survey respondents thought that a college major was less than "Somewhat Important" in their hiring decision.

And that's just for the first year out of college!

Employers told me that a graduate's Communication Ability is the most important skill, Time Management Skills are next, then Creativity and Problem Solving Ability and fourth is a graduate's Ability to Learn and Adapt to New Situations.

On the other hand, specific field knowledge skills ranked 2nd to last in importance.

Getting a college major for the available jobs is a bad idea. Employers love when students are passionate about a subject because they work harder and learn more. And an unusual major can actually be a bonus because it gives students an opportunity to give employers a fantastic tale of why they decided to study that subject.

Only the biggest companies will insist on a certain major, and the ones that do are looking for a cog for a hole, not a passionate employee who wants to make a difference.

Great article – I wish I had read this 4 years ago when I was starting school!

I applied to schools initially as a math major with an interest in becoming an actuary. I didn't major in actuarial science to avoid pigeon-holing myself into a too-specific major. That was the best decision I ever made because after 1 summer as an intern I knew it wasn't the field for me but I loved business. Because of my math skills I did well in applied economics and finance classes and chose to double minor in both finance and economics.

Coming into my senior year I realized that I really wanted to get into finance and started talking with professors to see what career advice they could offer. I turned to a temp agency after graduation that specialized in finance after a lack of luck finding jobs on my own. Since then, I've been able to turn a temp job into a full-time one within a different department. Sure, it's not my dream job but it's paying the bills and getting me valuable experience in a big company that's a worldwide leader in banking and finance. I can transfer internally after a little over a year and have a big leg up on competition that would come from outside the company. Plus they have a mentor program specifically set up for people to learn more about other areas of the company.

I lucked out that I actually like what I'm doing and who I work with so the upcoming months give me a chance to bask in a steady income and low-stress job to figure out exactly what my next move will be, whether its a transfer within the company or a complete career move.

Katie,

Great Post!
Pursue subjects and/or majors you
enjoy! Develop strong
communication, critical
thinking and problem soliving skills.

The job market is ever changing, so
pursue your passions!

Again, great post!

I could not agree more! I am 15 years out of college and what I have done for 15 years has NOTHING to do with my major in college! I think that college is a great time to learn how to learn and I do think you want a degree you can be proud of(mine is in industrial engineering) but that you can get a job outside your field pretty easily. Of course, my grandma still thinks I am an engineer…

Ryan,

I have to agree with Katie's comment. The idea of picking a major that matches the job you want is short-sighted. To say something is not "concrete" because it does not immediately connect to a specific type of job does, I think, a real disservice to undergraduates. Choose a major that interests and challenges you. As Katie points out, when getting hired, your specific major probably doesn't matter much. Your entry level. They know they will be teaching you everything you need to know from scratch. All they care is that you took classes and got good grades.

The only exceptions I've encountered:

(1) For grad school, of course, you should major (and excel) in what you want to study post-graduation.
(2) Banking, finance, and a lot of consulting likes to see that you've taken classes that require quantitative thinking. Any physical science, computer science, economics, or engineering classes fit the bill.
(3) Med school and nursing have certain bio/chem pre-reqs.
(4) Majors that aren't well-known can turn off employers. If it didn't exist 60 years ago (with the exception of computer science) you might have some explaining to do. When in doubt, avoid fad majors for something more established.

I generally really like your blog. This is just a point that I'm sensitive about.

- Cal

Thanks for all the comments. I think the overall message that I'm trying to get across is to major in something that generally has a good job market because you never know what will happen. Since it doesn't matter to most employers what your major is you may as well have a major that you can fall back on if you cant break into the field you really want to.

You could choose a major based on what you love and what interests you, but you could also study that topic in you spare time if you're really motivated. In the end, especially in today's job market, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. But who knows how things will change.

Katie,

You're dissertation sounds really interesting, and I can't refute your statistics. However, when you take a look at Monster or Career Builder, or even individual college career centers, every job posting mentions the majors they are looking for. Often, you can't get an interview without having a certain major. I don't doubt that once managers meet the students, their major becomes unimportant. But getting the interview is half the battle.

I expected a lot of pushback on this topic, thanks to all.

-Ryan

Ryan,

You can fall back on anything.

You only have 4 years of college,
one should study something they
are really interested in.

As Cal said, there are only a few
required majors for jobs–like finance and
Accounting. Most other jobs are pretty open
as far a majors are required.

If you don't know what kind of career you want,
pursue a major that interests you and do some
internships!

Life is too short to major in accounting when
you really want to major in something that you
find interesting.

Again, the job market is so fickle–a career can be hot
one year and be a dead the next.

Good post. I majored in history knowing I was never going to teach it, work in a museum or a library. I did it because it would teach me how to read for content, think analytically, and write persuasively, three skills I'd need in nearly any job I'd be interested in.

"College is the time to figure out how to manage your life. The real lessons you learn in college are how to manage your time and develop relationships with peers and professors. Focus on those skills rather than worrying about the perfect major and you will be successful in any field."

It's a shame how much college has become just another patch of asphalt in the road to a career. In addition to the skills Ryan points out, I hope college students are still bothering to learn some of the things actually being taught in the classes they are taking. Where would modern society be without art appreciation, literature, philosophy, calculus? (Can you tell used to teach at a local university?)

Majoring in something because it has a strong job market is reasonable, forward-thinking advice with which I 100% disagree. There are job-oriented programs out there if that's the way you want to go. College is intended to be more.

[...] sourced here [...]

Ryan,

I agree with you in principle: College is definitely a time to make yourself marketable and properly applying yourself can make the job search much easier. However, this doesn't always have to be a question of which major you choose. You can easily make yourself more desirable to recruiters by rounding yourself out and developing skills to make you stand out from the pack. Especially important would be gaining expertise in specific computer programs, developing public speaking ability, and becoming fluent in a foreign language. Granted, you can do all of these after graduating, but it'll be much easier to do so while you're still in a learning environment.

You know, my college education was worth (in dollar terms) nearly $200,000. If I had decided to major in Computer Science having had no interest for it, but merely going by the "job market", maybe I would be making more than I am now. But I doubt I'd be happy. And if I then decided to leave my job in the IT field and decided that I wanted to pursue something in the political/legal field, spending nearly $200,000 to major in CS would most certainly constitute a "big deal."

The goal of college is not just to land a job. And yeah, you might "find yourself" or whatever at college, but most importantly I think you should come out of college with two essential skills. First, you should have learned how to write. And write well at that. Because quality writing is a vital, oft-neglected skill regardless of your professional field. Second, you should learn how to think critically of the world around you and be able to logically formulate and articulate an argument. In the working world this translates into being an effective and powerful communicator. Because what good does it do if you know all about computers but can't write or communicate ideas or instructions to coworkers and clients?

I think that recruting managers (or whoever is doing the hiring) look at so much more than just majors. They want to see what you've DONE in college outside of the classroom. I have a friend who majored in Theatre/Dance at the same small liberal arts school I attended up north. But she also directed numerous plays, organized an acting course for local elementary school students and wrote a huge honors paper on the history of a certain playwright. And now, rather than tap-dancing in a subway station she works in marketing for Danskin, a huge dancewear company. Who would have known?

So college is too expensive these days to justify getting a major in something you aren't that interested in for the mere potentiality of landing a lucrative job in that field. Rather, focus on becoming passionate about an area of study and you'll find that there are a plethora of job possibilities that you didn't even know existed. So many skills learned in one, seemingly irrelevant, major can be transfered to many jobs.

Lastly, remember that the "job market" can shift just as quickly and senselessly as financial markets. It is more prudent to follow your passion and make things work for you than hedging your major (not to mention time, money and happiness) on a field/industry being "hot" when it comes time for graduating.

[...] last week, Ryan Healy, over at the Employee Evolution blog, put up a post titled: Choosing a college major. His message was simple: I believe the smartest thing a confused undergrad can do is to choose a [...]

I'm with the "It Doesn't Matter" faction. I recently wrote a post about this very subject and it's good to see other perfectly responsible, upstanding folks are in agreement. You people ARE responsible and upstanding, aren't you?

http://www.educatednation.com/2007/09/06/college-major-decisions/

I think it matters. If you need to "find yourself" do it in the 21 hours a day that your NOT in class. You can still "find yourself" while picking up a valuable skill (which is what college is for). Furthermore, if you have a particular interest in something useless, learn about that in your spare time too. Or you could minor in it.

I keep hearing this advice about majoring in something your passionate about…. How many of you or your friends in college had a real passion for communication or psychology. You did it because it was easy and/or you didn't know what else to do. So 9/10 times let's stop it with the "passion excuse"

My advice: major in a field that you actually want to work in. If you don't know what that is, spend your first year of college exploring it by taking a variety of classes and talking with people in the know. If you still haven't figured it out by then, go with a major that offers an actual skill.

Oh and I am responsible and upstanding too Alexa.

Fair enough, Scott.

@Scott

I think interests and passions are pretty closely linked together.

Anyway, college is about a lot more than vocational training. Go back and read Katie's post and read what employers actually look for in candidates.

I wish there was an editing option so I could add on to my last post…

I think interests and passions are pretty closely linked together.
So, if you're going to major in a field that you actually want to work in,
then you are following your interests and/or passions.

And if you don't know what your interests are then "…spend your first year of college exploring it by taking a variety of classes…" This sounds to me like a good way of finding yourself and your passions/interests, too.

I've seen CEO's, VP's, etc. with degrees in Philosophy, English, History,
Psychology, etc. Damn, those "easy" subjects must be worth something.