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How to Choose a Major

No one seems to want to listen to my assvice around here lately, so I've decided to share some with the broader Internet—and, more specifically, with those college-bound individuals who've yet to choose a major. There are probably many ways to go about this, but I wanted to share the way *I* did it because it's [a] simple, [b] logical, and [c] might surprise you. I know I was surprised by the outcome of this exercise when I did it back in 1986. (Yes, I'm OLD. Doesn't mean this isn't still a good idea.)

There've been a few times in my life where I've embarked on some new adventure without the least bit of planning, without knowing where I'm going, and without even knowing whether I've packed the right clothes. An example of this was the time I worked until 4am the day before leaving for a business trip to LA, called the airport shuttle service before leaving the office to arrange for a pickup "tomorrow" (because I hadn't been to bed yet), finally realized my mistake when the shuttle did not show up at 7am as requested, and then, when I arrived in LA, realized I had no idea where I was staying. Another example of this was the time I went off to orientation at the University of Georgia without any of my paperwork and with only a vague notion that I might want to major in psychology. I eventually thought to call an admin at the office from LAX and got the name of the conference hotel, and I managed at orientation without my paperwork, too, though both experiences probably would have been a lot more enjoyable had I planned ahead a little.

I came back from orientation feeling stupid for not knowing who R.E.M. or The Smiths were, confused about how the bus system worked, wondering what I'd gotten myself into ("goooooo Dawgs, sic 'em, woof woof woof woof"?), and absolutely certain that I didn't want to major in psychology. (It turned out that a major in psychology also required several courses in biology, which I suck at, and sociology, which I'd become rather skeptical of after a less-than-satisfactory experience with it in high school.) Luckily, I also came home with a course catalog, and I decided to try an experiment.

I went through the course catalog and read the descriptions of every one of the courses on offer. (Well, OK, maybe I skimmed a few of the less interesting ones.) More importantly, I CIRCLED the ones that sounded interesting. When I was finished, I went back and counted up the circled courses under each department. At UGA at the time, one needed 8 courses at a certain level or above (I think it was 300 or 400) to constitute a major. There was only one department under which I'd circled more than 8 courses (more than 8 is important, because not all courses are offered every quarter/semester): English, where I'd circled 14. The runner-up was History, with 6.

Suddenly it was very clear where my interests lay and what my major should be. I even had a good idea that what I was really interested in were language and writing rather than literature. (The few literature courses I'd circled were things like Beowulf in the original Old English and Chaucer in the original Middle English.) Before I performed this exercise, I honestly didn't know that English was a major. I'd taken it every year in high school, obviously, but it never occurred to me that it was anything other than a compulsory step toward one's high school diploma, a requirement analogous to Consumer Ed. Finding out that this was what I was interested in was just cooler than cool. Also? All the other non-English courses that sounded interesting but didn't manage major status could be used to fulfill history, language, humanities, and science requirements, not to mention electives. Suddenly, I had a plan.

As I went through registration each year and tried to find classes with seats left that would fit my plan, I had to make adjustments, of course. Some of the English courses that sounded so interesting never came up during my junior or senior years, when I was eligible to take upper-level classes. I learned from taking one class that I liked the professor or the topic more than I thought, and so I added more like it; the opposite happened, too. It's important to be flexible as you go, and to recognize that what you thought was interesting as an entering freshman may not be what really floats your boat as a junior. Still, knowing what your educational options are before you start your first class will help you figure out where you're going.

So get out that course catalog (you've got one somewhere in that pile of orientation materials), grab a pen, and hunker down for an hour or two. You just might emerge with a major.