How to Choose a Major | Crash Course | How to College

Choosing majors can feel overwhelming and even confusing. It can feel like your whole life can be based on this one choice? And then what happens if you figure out you don't even like this major? Well, don't worry, we're here to help. In this episode, Erica talks to us about what majors are, how to choose one, and how to know if you should consider changing your major.

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Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
2:06 - How majors work
3:53 - Selecting classes and balancing your time
6:00 - How and when to declare a major
8:24 - Resources to help you choose a major
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[ducckys]

I just want to be a janitor working at Area 51.

[gabedarrett]

I love how you make college feel like a video game. In psychology, we learned that 'gamification' can make productivity more fun!

[clanpsi]

How I chose:
1) Go to university.
2) Take a bunch of classes I'm interested in.
3) Go the school counselor after three years to see what degree I can get.
4) Take the four classes necessary for graduation in my last year.

[MerricMaker]

I remember so many classmates who arrived with their major picked for them by their parents or chosen for their earning potential. These were the first ones drunk, naked, and screaming across campus or had very early mid-life crises.

Pick something that brings you joy, that you're reasonably good at, is at least a little useful, and only much later worry about the career and salary questions.

[jasmine]

I'm 37 and going back to college, I really needed this! Thanks!

[nessesaryschoolthing]

This gives a good overview of what a major is and how to learn more about them, but not much advice on what should motivate you to take one major over another. Does a major being "in demand" make a big difference on whether I can get a job, or do other factors play a larger role? Should I go for a major that seems "doable" or will the more challenging majors be more rewarding in the long run? Should I feel responsible for picking a major that's going to help change the world for the better, or is that way too much to put on a fresh-out-of-high-schooler?

I guess these questions are impossible to give a definitive answer to, though

[Mrslovett]

Curiously watching this at 33, as someone who at 18 picked my initial major of journalism soley based on the praise I received by adults on my writing...

[theotherohlourdespadua]

In my country, you don't get to pick and choose college courses. It's whatever the syllabus tells you you must have; you aren't allowed to be "underloaded" or be "overloaded". The only time you get that "option" (more like a last ditch effort) is when you fail certain subjects and those failed subjects come only once a year so you NEED to pad the load with whatever available course ALLOWED by the Syllabus...

[winknatamontiwattanasug]

I clicked in here to get help in choosing a major and here it's telling me how to manage my classes in

[dot]

I'm going to be 15 this month and I'm in the tenth grade. Back in Nigeria, you don't have that chance to decide what you want for a long time. From ninth grade, you have to choose one out of three departments that will eventually decide what you're going to study in college (also, people are around 13/14 in the ninth grade back there) so A LOT of students would switch departments by the second semester(there are three semesters) or sometimes it gets so bad that they go back to the ninth grade.
So being here where you can be anything you want is thrilling. I want to Major in Psychology (and get a master's and Psyd in Forensic Psychology) but I also love government and literature and am also interested in cinematography (I want to get a camera by the end of the year) is it possible to get government, literature, and cinematography as electives, or am I living a pipe dream

[zachdoesgaming]

If you don’t know what to study; go to a community college for the gen Ed’s where they could transfer over. Save yourself the future money kids!!! I WISH I did. Please hear me.

[yourfavoritepessimisticexi]

I love this series as someone whose going to college in a little over a year

[gabrielspizzirri]

This was a very insightful video on how college works in the states.

[zqmatthews]

I'm graduating in December (a semester early!) with a triple major so while I choose a major... I just did it again and then again again (it's rarely too late to modify your plan if you find the need/want). So, the balancing classes and life is particularly important, but also knowing how to plan your desired college experience is important... though I imagine that it's simpler when you're taking less complex majors. Also, it's important to note that not all majors have equal course loads and the type of assignments can differ from major to major (I haven't really had tests in my majors, instead being paper and project heavy... but other majors have a lot more tests).

[iceywolf]

Im 4 years into Ph.D program and I still love watching these lmao

[kroberts]

This model was applicable when the schools held paths to workforce entry. How successful businesses headhunted twenty years ago. The hiring tempos, endowment goals, and alumni relationship has evolved to a more diverse approach.

[NiteSaiya]

I think I only ever got 3 true electives in college. Everything else was consumed by my engineering major. I spent my three electives on philosophy courses and they ended up being some of the most useful courses I ever took.

[old-moose]

Flexibility can be very important too. I started in 2 year college and got an AA in physics but I had an outstanding history instructor. I started university but switched my major to history. This meant some fancy foot work to get in a couple of 1st and 2nd year prerequisites for upper level courses. But to make matters worse, I found I loved anthropology as well and ended wanted to major in it. My advisor recommended I do an interdisciplinary social science BS degree in history and anthropology. I then started a MS in the same field. In grad school I studied computers and education as well. I don't like urban areas but because of my generalist background I got to teach wonderful locations in Canada.

[honeyrolls]

Hello! I'm doing a dual enrollment program in Georgia and next year I'll be doing both college classes and high school classes. I want to have my own home bakery business so I'll be majoring in Baking and Pastry Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Website Design. These videos are very helpful to me so thank you for making this playlist. ^^

[firebeardlongfellow]

Depending on your specific colleges legal credentials also comes into what you can reasonably do, and also their learning curriculum as well.

Say for my college that I attended. You are able to be very flexible in your minors, but your primary major is rather rigid. So I have a mechanical engineering technology major at the Bachelors level.

HOWEVER if I wanted to I could and could've had a minor in materials with a focus on stainless steels due to having a materials course within the realm of stainless steels, and if I took a secondary even more niche course on stainless steels on top of the first required class I could have a main major and a materials minor.

This can also be spun to expand your main major as well. Instead of simply going all in for a Masters level of a realm of study you can simply build with your main majors base to also have another major as well. For me personally I could go full in Mechanical Engineering which is more heavily theory based engineering (more drafting, theory, and desk work) simply by attending for another semester or 2 classes wise at my university because my MET degree goes right into the core building blocks of an ME degree minus the higher level chemistry and physics.

So you can flex your degrees and majors via how your school does them. My school is smart in that they outright differ from being engineering using the crutch of calculus to weed out the riff raff with instead being algebra oriented. This allows for more focus on core problem solving that can be applied to many realms of study while still also having calculus being a core but not a make or break major facet of the learning curriculum. On top of this they can have a sort of built in filtering setup for how their classes are oriented.

My school has it to where all lower courses for the realm of engineering touch base on electrical, computer, engineering, and technology realms of learning. Depending on what you love, or excel at is where my mentors/professors would chime in in saying "hey you do well in this would you want to pursue it?" Along with setting up talks or discussions with previous or current students both studying, and working to let you get glimpses of the field of work to make better decisions.

ALSO THERE IS NO SHAME OR STIGMA IN TAKING LOWER COURSES AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES BEFORE GOING TO THE PERCIEVED "BIG NAME SCHOOLS"!!!

ALL THAT MATTERS IS THE SCHOOL IS ACCREDITED AND ALSO THAT YOUR CREDIT HOURS

May any and all who pursue higher education excel, and prosper!

(Also for those currently in the grind. Yes it's a dark moment to second guess yourself. But you will make it through it. Failure isn't the end of the world. You can do it! Keep trying, and also possibly try a different professor because that works too. KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!)