How and Why I Chose My Major

August 14, 2015

Deciding on a major is a big decision, one that can be very difficult to make. Some students go into college thinking one thing, just to find out they want to major in something else. This week, some of our Admits tell us their stories on how and why they decided what to study in college.


I am double majoring in psychology and business, and possibly minoring in economics. Psychology was something that has always interested me, especially social psychology. I thought it was fascinating how people made decisions. Later on I realized that advertising and marketing dealt with social psychology. So I began to learn more about it, and realized that business was pretty important for marketing. I picked out my majors by looking at areas that interested me, and then I did some research on what I should focus on in college.

Currently, I am an undeclared English major with an Economics minor. I came into Georgetown as a pre-med biochemistry major, then switched to biology. After a semester, i found that I am not a fan of the sciences. I then decided to do Economics as my major but after another semester of that, I realized it wasn’t for me either. So, I took a step back and reevaluated what I wanted to learn from college minus all the “practicality” people put into majors and came to the conclusion that English is what I want to study. Bonus: everybody loves a great writer and critical thinker!

I chose my major essentially because I had a hard time deciding between the other majors. There are several majors in the school of foreign service, and they are all International Relations majors with concentrations in Economics, Politics, History, and Culture. I was very interested in the political aspect of IR but also wanted to get the quantitative skills necessary to get a decent job after graduation. To combine interest and practicality, I chose International Political Economy (a mouthful to say in interviews). This major combined the political and economic sides of the field of IR, giving me both the quantitative and qualitative classes I wanted.

My full major is Writing, Literature, and Publishing. It is a more extensive version of an English major, basically. I picked it because ever since I was a little girl, I have always had a book in my hand. Even when I couldn’t read and all I had were picture books, I would make up stories to go with the pictures. Emerson College’s WLP department is one of their biggest, and it is also one of the only colleges in the USA that allows you to take publishing classes undergrad. Because of all of these opportunities, the major seemed like a no brainer to me. With my WLP major, I have access to workshop classes, a multitude of literature classes, and a handful of incredible publishing courses, all of which are stimulating and only serve to show me that I made the right choice with my major.

I have changed my major four times since my freshman year. Luckily, changing my major and taking classes in different departments is made incredibly easy, so I was able to search for courses that I was truly interested in when I started to think about possibly career paths. I am currently majoring in Learning and Organizational Change in the School of Education and Social Policy. I chose this particular major because of its hands-on applications within the job field by examining the structures of organizations and how companies are changing due to advancements in technology and globalization. If you are an incoming freshman and don’t know exactly what you want to do, do not worry! Colleges are designed to allow students to explore their interests and learn about different industries before choosing a major.

I chose International Studies because it would give me a broad exposure to global history and I’ve always been a big fan of history classes. On the other hand, I have gotten advice from other pre-laws that International Studies and Political Science would be the best majors to get prepared for law school. I researched more into the required major courses as well as the possibilities of choosing a different career path and International Studies was one that I was inclined to. I love the course I am required to take. You might as well enjoy the things you’re required to do!

 

I am currently technically undecided, but I plan on majoring in Math and Economics. I was lucky in the fact that I have liked math since childhood, and wanted to continue to study it in college. However, I decided on Economics in my senior year of high school, when I took AP Economics and loved it. My major could definitely change, but for now I just chose my two favorite classes, and they tend to coincide nicely so double majoring in both just makes sense. Right now, I’m taking a wide variety of classes to see if anything else might be more interesting for me. If you don’t know what you want to study, I would encourage you to explore different classes and find a subject you love!

My major is Biochemistry. I came into college thinking I was going to be a doctor and by the time I figured out I was not going to be in the medical field but the business sector instead, it was too late to change my major. I am happy with my choice regardless of how my career choice ended up. I think biochemistry really teaches someone how to think critically and become a problem solver. Biochemistry is a good major to get an overall understanding of how the world works around us on a molecular level.

At first I had no idea which major I wanted. I put down Literary Journalism thinking that I’d just stick with it until I found a major I liked. To my surprise, I really loved the LJ major and decided to stick with it. In a way, I didn’t choose journalism; journalism chose me. Writing for newspaper affirmed my decision to stick with my major. Writing stories takes you too many interesting places and events that you’d never have thought to pursue on your own.

My path to choosing a major took me across the world! After high school, I took a gap year and moved to Germany, where I learned the language and worked at several internships. I fell in love with the language and culture, and I also realized that I am good at learning languages - especially German. When I came back from Germany, I took a German class during my first semester and realized it was the only class I looked forward to going to. It was the only class I looked forward to doing homework for, and I realized that German really is my passion. So now I’m a German major

 

I originally came into college as a pre-med biology major, but soon realized that it was not the right fit for me. After looking at all the different majors offered, I decided that Communication would be the best fit for me. The requirements were not too bad and, when graduation comes, it is broad enough where I will have plenty of options to choose from in the “Real World”. But since I have always loved science and medicine, I decided to take up a Medical Humanities minor. It does not deal with the scientific side of medicine, but rather the philosophical and ethical nature of it. I knew that this was the perfect fit for me, despite the fact that it might not necessarily come into use for my future. Do not worry about picking the right major right away—one tour guide once told me that students start college either undecided or soon-to-be-undecided!



Browse Successful Application Files

jackmac401
USC


Accepted to USC, UMich, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Swarthmore, CMU, NYU, Vassar, Reed, Kenyon, UC Davis, Syracuse, CU, Fordham, Santa Clara, CSU Chico, CSUF, UC Riverside , UCSB, UCSC, Bard

Theater/business double major from traditional & online highschool background. Can help cut essays & navigate audition/business interview process! On full tuition merit scholarship
bluedevil25
Duke


Accepted to Duke, Binghamton

Aristotle said, "A friend to all is a friend to none." I disagree.
BrownBear23
Brown


Accepted to Brown, UMich, UT Austin

Artist, Writer, wannabe-philosopher
ssp2020
MIT


Accepted to MIT, UMich, Rutgers, Cornell, Rice, JHU

computer science / design / music / film

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