As a college student, choosing a major is one of the hardest things you can do. This is especially the case if you haven’t decided where your passions lie and how you can make a career out of your interests.
As a parent you have the opportunity to help guide and support your child as they pick a major. It is important to declare a major sooner rather than later because that way your child will be able to earn the credits he or she needs to graduate before his or her senior year.
Fortunately, there are a number of ways that you can collaborate with your child on picking a major. Here is how to help your college student choose a major.
Review Options
Of course, one of the best ways you can help your college student choose a major is to sit down with him or her and hash a few things out. It is important to find out what your child is truly interested in and what he or she wants to do in terms of a career and more. Take this information and look through available majors to see where there is overlap.
Visit Different College Campuses
On top of sitting down with your soon-to-be college student, you also want to visit various college campuses before freshman year really begins. The best time to do this is when your child is a junior in high school. Visiting colleges early will help your college student not only explore possible majors, but also find a school to apply to and attend after high school.
The other option is to visit various college fairs, which can actually be really convenient because colleges will come to you. This cuts out all the expenses that come with traveling.
Talk About Your Experience
If you are a college graduate, then you may want to talk about your major and how you decided to choose this pursuit. This may inspire your child to follow in your footsteps or recognize what they would want to focus their studies on.
Moreover, you can talk about any challenges you had when it came time to choose your major and how you overcame them. Relaying your experience can be a motivating factor, because many college students feel alone when they just aren’t sure what they want to do with their life and career.
Look Over the Stats
It may also help to show your college student some stats about future careers. For instance, Norwich University’s online MBA degrees offer a lot of opportunities for future business leaders. With the current economy, the future is going to need more administrators, CFOs and CEOs. These positions can offer a high annual salary. There are also a number of other fields that are going to be in high demand when your college student graduates.
Meet with Advisors
On top of everything, you want to encourage your child to introduce him or herself to various advisors that can help find an appropriate major. Sometimes, it can be easier to choose a major when you have someone looking at your transcripts. Plus, an advisor will know exactly what some of the best major programs are in a given college.
