...How to Choose a College Major At some point in the process of choosing a college, you may have to choose a college major, or at the very least begin to narrow your options. While being undecided for awhile is fine, you probably want to have some idea of what you want to do when you start the college application process. You want to make sure you make the right college choice, and there’s nothing worse than finding your dream school only to realize it doesn’t offer the major you’ve ultimately chosen. Even though you know you can’t put it off forever, choosing your major can be tough. When it’s time to starting making solid decisions about enrolling in college, many people have questions about how to choose a college major. Selecting a college major is a personal decision that involves you to spend time reflecting on your goals, likes, dislikes, skills, and aptitudes. You have to not only look at your interests, abilities, and goals, but also what you’ll need to be happy in the future. While it would be nice to have an interest in one of the highest paying college majors, it’s also important to choose a college major that will ultimately lead to a career you want in a place you want to live. The best advice we’ve found for how to choose a college major is just to ask questions. Talk to your high school guidance counselor, or if you’re already in college, consult your academic advisor or a career center counselor. Ask friends and family members about how they chose a college...
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...Factors Affecting the Choice of Courses in College By Cat Reynolds, eHow Contributor When students begin college, they're often intimidated by the rarified atmosphere of intellectual life, so their colleges walk them through course enrollment and see to it that they enroll in a variety of courses designed to give them a good start on academic life. After the first semester, however, students begin to make more informed and independent course choices, which may be based on requirements, practicalities, and personal bent. Other People Are Reading * Factors Affecting Career Choices Among Students * Factors Affecting a Student's Choice of Colleges * * * * Print this article 1. Is it Hard or Easy? * Many freshmen and sometimes sophomores and upper classmen often try to schedule courses that they have heard are easy. This may be a symptom of laziness, but it may also be fear. Sometimes taking a course that seems easy is a practical concern: When a student enrolls in challenging courses, she may offset the workload by enrolling in one "easy" course so that she can still carry a full-time credit load for financial aid purposes and allow enough time and intellectual space for more challenging courses. In fact, College Board, a student advisement organization, recommends this approach. Who's the Professor? * It's not unusual for students to try to get into a course because of the reputation of the professor teaching it. This may be because...
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...questioned how or if it should be implemented into college curriculum. Liberal arts education is defined as “the academic course of instruction at a college intended to provide general knowledge and comprising the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, as opposed to professional or technical subjects” (“liberal arts”). Generally, American colleges allow students to choose a major and take prerequisites, however students usually aren’t able to get into the meat of their major studies until their junior year, leaving the first two years of college to liberal arts classes. So, how should it be put into practice? In Patrick N. Allitt’s essay, “Should undergraduates specialize?” and in Mark Jackson’s “The Liberal Arts: A Practical View,” both authors explain how they think such education should be implemented. Although Allitt argues that students should be able to choose whether or not they want a liberal arts education, and Jackson argues that it should be required in order to create versatile students, I believe their ideas should be combined, and that a liberal arts education should be encouraged but not required of students, because I think it is ultimately up to the students themselves what classes they want to take as well as whether or not they want to be considered well-rounded. Patrick Allitt asserts that a liberal arts education in college is not for everyone, and it doesn’t meet the interests of the majority of students. By comparing his own college experience...
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...A New Perspective In the month of October, I sent out my first college application. I could not believe high school was almost over and it was time to pick a school. My first choice was Ball State University, because my father went there. I wanted to follow his footsteps and also Ball State was nearby my hometown, Westfield Indiana. I could not comprehend everything and the seniors before me were right, senior year flew by. Waiting and waiting for any news to know that I got accepted felt like an eternity. Then, surprising news came on an astounding day. On December 25, 2014, my acceptance envelope came and looking at the folder spelling out “Admitted” made me thrilled to see what the future has in store for me. I could not believe this was happening, especially having three older sisters going to college before me. I never knew it could come so fast. Then I realized… what am I going to pack for college, what will my major be, how can I budget and save my money, and who will my roommate be?...
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...easy while some are applying for the course because of the big profit that the future job can offer. According to Vince Silva (2014) an engineering student, one of the major factors that have been affecting college students to graduate earlier is the shifting of courses of the college student, especially after the first to second year of experience of the student's studies. Shifting of course is a way of college students to change their chosen program to another that may have been chosen by many. In this generation many college students shift courses because of personal, social, and educational conflicts. Shifting courses became a delay for the progressing development of the country even in the Philippines. It is commonly experienced these days that a good number of freshmen students shift from one course to another every semester. It has always been a burden on the part of the student's immediate superior who approved the shifting of courses. In fact, the incidence of indecision in occupational choice among college students has become a burden to some faculty members in college level, since shifting is a product of irrational decision which is notably interferes with the educational growth of the students. According to the University of West England, one of the reasons why students change their college major or course is because the academic level is too high or low for the student. Some students like their skills to be challenged while other students might find it difficult...
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...Reading 115, Section 6 Professor Hill 28 November 2012 Four Major Problems Facing College Students Today and Possible Resolutions Going off to college is probably one of the best times in a teenager’s life. Right out high school teenagers are anxiously awaiting the arrival of college “move-in” day or the first day of school. They may look at it as a great opportunity to gain further knowledge about a particular study or better yet a way to finally escape the rules and regulations of their parents. College is supposed to be an educational, yet fun experience, a time for meeting new people, exploring opportunities, joining organizations, but most of all a time to be responsible. Little do teenagers know college comes with problems, some minor and some major. The most common major problems college students face are problems with partying, relationships, choosing a major, and money. Partying in itself really is not a problem (Gates). Parties are thrown so that the students can have a good time (Gates). However, today, many parties have the potential to cause problems (Gates). At numerous parties drinking and smoking is the life of the party (Gates). Drinking alcohol can lead to drunkenness, which can possibly end up as a deadly situation (Gates). Partying irresponsibly is one the causes of a college student’s poor academic performance (Academic Performance). Of course, along with partying comes drinking and smoking. Students tend to act out when away from their parents...
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...Overview When students begin college, they're often intimidated by the rarified atmosphere of intellectual life, so their colleges walk them through course enrollment and see to it that they enroll in a variety of courses designed to give them a good start on academic life. After the first semester, however, students begin to make more informed and independent course choices, which may be based on requirements, practicalities, and personal bent. Is it Hard or Easy? Many freshmen and sometimes sophomores and upper classmen often try to schedule courses that they have heard are easy. This may be a symptom of laziness, but it may also be fear. Sometimes taking a course that seems easy is a practical concern: When a student enrolls in challenging courses, she may offset the workload by enrolling in one "easy" course so that she can still carry a full-time credit load for financial aid purposes and allow enough time and intellectual space for more challenging courses. In fact, College Board, a student advisement organization, recommends this approach. Who's the Professor? It's not unusual for students to try to get into a course because of the reputation of the professor teaching it. This may be because a professor is perceived as easy, or because the professor is an outstanding scholar in her field or because the professor is regarded as a fine teacher. It's a College Requirement Nearly all colleges and universities have general education requirements, which cover a variety...
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...Mario Talavera English 1A Often times we see articles on the internet about college education and how important it is to get one, what are the majors that are most likely to give you the higher paycheck, degrees with the higher and lower unemployment rate, we see degrees that will give you a better chance to pay back all of the loans at the end of graduation, but also the ones the are on the opposite side of the spectrum. Reading all these reports online can either help you or make it even more difficult to decide for the type of degree you want to go for, some students prefer to go for careers that will give them the most money over following their real passion, only because they feel they have better chances of having more success and financial stability, but there’s one thing that a lot of people can agree on, that getting a college education can increase your chances at success and you’re more likely to achieve excellence and grow at any type of job. But what is success or how do we define it ? Sucesss can have various different meanings according to people, to some it may mean going to the college of their dreams and eventually getting that “perfect” job that they’ve always wanted, driving a fancy car and being able to go on vacation every year, and not having to worry about paying bills because you make enough money to cover those expenses. While for other people, success just means maybe getting married and having your own house, waking up every morning...
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...semester of trying to make the correct choice on a major in college. Based on what I choose as my major will show other people who I truly am, not because of what I have accomplished already in my life. Abilities and skills don’t mean anything until you can prove yourself and make the right choices in life. For instance, you could be very good at math and decide to choose a major that has a very light coursework so that you could easily graduate without any problems. Making this decision would be wrong and would show others that the real you aren’t motivated or determined in life. The major that I choose will be something that will challenge me during college and will also agree with my skills. Thinking back to August, I was choosing a major between about three different options. I knew I was interested in animals, construction, and math, but I had no idea how or if I could ever combine the three interests. In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to challenge myself in college so that I would actually be able to get a high paying job in the future. I knew that choosing a challenging major would pay off in the long run and employers would then see who I truly was, a determined, hard-worker that will do anything to succeed. This is how I coincide with my introductory quote. When our class took the Strong Interest Inventory, I learned a lot about myself. Whether I liked the results or not, I knew they were accurate based on how I live my life. First of all, the inventory said that...
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...As I’m almost finishing with my college education, I have never really thought about what helped me chose my major. For a better question would be if, I’m I happy with my decision. I have never thought about that and it’s actually very important. How did I get these questions into my mind, well I was reading the novel called The Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho, it mentioned people are unable to choose their own “Personal Legends”. By Personal legends it mean’s our purpose in life and how we go after it which leads to our destiny in life. One of the first things Melchizedek mentions to Santiago about the book that “It describes people’s inability to choose their own Personal Legends” which I totally disagree for many reasons. For an example, when it came down to my education and choosing a major I didn’t just know exactly what I liked or wanted to do. I had the support from my teacher to look at different fields to see what I was interested in. I wasn’t never forced into pursuing something I never liked or thought it wasn’t interesting. Overall I had all the support...
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...Homeschooling is an Art, not a Science: The Impact of Homeschooling on Choice of College Major written by Lynn Phillips and published in Sociological Viewpoints is the article that I selected from the Strayer University database. The research and the article were written to support a hypothesis on homeschoolers and college choices more specifically how high school aged children that are home schooled are less likely to major in the natural sciences then children taught in traditional school settings. The article includes a table reporting the results of Ms. Phillips research and a section that discusses the reporting of the results. The discussion section surmises that more research is needed on this subject to make a good conclusion about this hypothesis it is mention that the researcher should further investigate many different variables, for example the education of the parents, setting of the school and state regulations just to name a few, to determine whether these result where typical among homeschooled students. Ms. Phillips choose to survey approximately 800 college students at a small Midwestern college whose population included one tenth teens homeschooled at the high school level. The type of research that was performed was a survey that included roughly 55 questions on various topics. The results of this survey concluded that about 8% of the homeschooled college students choose a major in the natural sciences versus 18% of students from traditional school systems...
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...Is College Important? A few percentage of people in the world would say the college is not essential to succeed in life. Others would try to convince you that there are no real advantages in applying and attending a university. On the contrary, a person who goes to college lives an easier life. College is important because it is more explorable, gives people a better lifestyle and earn more money. College is important because it is more explorable for a person. For example, by attending college gives people the privilege to learn about any subject they desire and what level of education they want to work in. In Document A the author states “ Doctoral degree- $1,623, HAS - $678.” The evidence reveals that with high school a person can earn some money to live off of, but by having a doctoral degree or any other degree you can earn more money. In Document B, the author claims “ Chemical Engineering- about $2.2 and Computer...
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...Colleges and universities offer a wide variety of majors to declare, but when it comes down to making that decision, how do we choose and what influences our decision? Is it our interests, our parents, our experiences, or money? I remember when I first started college I had no idea what I wanted to major in, so I just listened to my dad and he basically chose my major for me. He suggested a program where I could be making close to $45,000 a year with just a 2 year degree. I thought why not, I’d be making good money and only have to go to school for 2 years, it sounds great. Until of course I realized I’m not really interested in it, so I switched my major to biology because that’s what I liked. I believe that is how everyone should choose their major,...
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...main core of subjects you studied in high school; these are the courses that make-up most of the general education courses at most colleges and universities. No matter what major you pursue, you will have to take at least one or more of these classes in each of the major academic disciplines. Depending on the focus of the university you attend, you may also need to take courses in religion, culture, music or a foreign language. So the main question is should general education requirements be necessary to graduate college? I would have to say no for a variety of reasons. Most of these classes do not have anything to do with many of the majors students elect to study in college and are basically pointless. For some students, general education courses are extremely confusing as many require testing into classes or taking multiple pre-requisites before meeting specific requirements. Courses for general education classes also tend to be the hardest to get into as too many students vie for too few classes offered. Colleges on the other hand have plenty of reasons for requiring general education courses. One of them is that many students find that they love a certain field of study as a result of taking a required course. Second, required courses ensure that every college graduate has the same basic set of tools or skills necessary for their success. Colleges want all students to graduate with strong analytical and writing skills, plus a basic understanding of modern society. The pros...
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...As high school comes to an end, and the college days draw near, a conmstant question comes to young high school grads. “Which one should I choose?” There is a total of 4,140 colleges in the United states for kids to choose from, each with their specific set of programs to offer the student. Yes, at first it be overwhelming but with the right guidance, high school student can make the best of their college experience. There are multiple ways to choose the college that’s right for you. One of the ways is to go with academics. What are the colleges programs, are they the one for you. This may take some intensive research, (which is why juniors in high school should have already started). Also do they offer all the classes you want, what is the teacher to student ratio? Another thing to consider is the price. Is it something you can afford to pay every smester. Your dorm(that is if you going out of state, or planning on living on campus), your books, and even if the college is in the state as you reside in all play a part in your tuition. There are also government services that can help you pay such as FAFSA and TAP. Another factor is the life on campus. Usually this is a deal maker or a deal breaker. If you are given the chance to visit the college DO IT. This gives you the chance to see how it is in person. Is it to your liking, is it too big or too small, is it public or secluded, are there a lot of student...
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