Changing your Major in College

If you have ever considered post-secondary education or college education, you'll learn that you don't have to choose your major at that first meeting with your Academic Advisor. I myself went into my college experience with an "undecided" major. I knew that whatever I chose I wanted to teach but picking a subject I felt more drawn to and was actually good at, was difficult. With time and practice you can become good at anything, but for me it was a matter of, how do I choose when there are so many subjects that I am interested in? How do I just pick one? Statistically, "about 1 in 10 students changed majors more than once: 10 percent of associate’s degree students and 9 percent of bachelor’s degree students." It's not uncommon to change your major more than once while other students never change majors. You'll find that while some of your peers drop out to pursue other avenues, others double major or spend more than 4 years getting their degree. College is a good place for you to explore avenues of education and recreation that you may not have otherwise been interested in or known about.

Choosing the type of schooling, i.e. trade school, online or in the classroom, private or public university, or community college, is directly related to what we choose as our major and our major is chosen by our area of interest and the job we wish to do. Trade schools and online schooling have revolutionized the college experience by taking students who have a clear direction of what career they have chosen, nursing or electrician, and focusing their education on that career. Online schooling allows for flexibility to work and go to school and is a great option for those who are able to learn in smaller group settings. Going in to college at a University or Community College sets the first two years of your education to your core skills, like reading, writing, math, and science. You could choose Art or Music as your major and still have to take a foreign language and biology course. Thankfully, colleges tend to offer a variety of different foreign language, science, and history courses so that you can still pick something you are interested in.

Public and Private colleges offer different majors and minors. Private schools tend to specialize in different areas, some known more for arts and teaching and music, others science and technology and history. Public colleges are similar to public schools, in that you can learn what you need to be successful, however, your English or History department may offer more courses than you Arts or Science departments. When pairing a major and minor, there are some programs that can not be paired, at the University of North Texas, you're unable to pair a History Major with a Fine Arts Minor but you can pair a History Major with an Art History Minor, you just won't have access to all the same courses you were wanting to take.

Every person's process is different, you know that the first two years of your college education will be your core curriculum, stuff that won't be focused on your major, it's kind of like year 13 or 14 of high school. If you choose to go undecided, you have that two years to figure out what you're interested in and what you want to do for a career. Even if you choose a major right off the bat, you can change it at that 2 year mark and have your courses changed to follow your new path. And, after 3 or 4 years you go through it all, you can change majors again, finish the major you already chose and double major in something else. Make sure to communicate with your advisors, they are there to help you decide and give you resources when they can't answer all of the questions you have, because you will have questions.

Take your time when deciding, the world will be there waiting for you when you're ready.