The Job Prob
Making the most of your major
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Picking your major or minor can be stressful—especially if you feel your career might depend on it. You’re likely to grapple with a range of factors, and prioritizing them can be challenging. You might be wondering how to weigh the following:
- Your career interests and future marketability
- Your academic strengths and passions
- Input from your parents, professors, mentors, and friends
First thing to know: If you’re not sure what path to take, it’s okay. About 75 percent of students change their majors at least once before graduating, according to Dr. Virginia Gordon in The Undecided College Student (Thomas, 2007). For help strategizing, read on.
studentvoice
Your academic strengths
Why play to your strengths?
- Better grades
- Higher confidence
- A more enjoyable college and university experience
Expert guidance
When you’re aware of your strengths and talents, you’re more likely to choose majors, and eventually, careers that highlight them. The first step is to figure out what they are and then work on developing them. “By [playing to your strengths], you’re interacting in a more stimulated way with the subject matter,” says Jon Bray, a Career Educator at the University of Toronto in Ontario. “You’ll have [more] confidence.”
Student’s story
“I always knew I was an above average math, physics, and chemistry student,” says Danyal M., a fourth-year student also at the University of Toronto, who chose to pursue these fields. “It was positive reinforcement.’”
Your passions
#1 factor
Students’ own interests are the most important factor in how they choose their major, according to a 2014 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the US.
Why it works
Studying what you love is fun and motivating. These students graduate with higher GPAs, studies suggest.
Expert guidance
“Go to the career centre if you’re wondering whether [your passions] are going to translate into a job that you’ll love,” says LeeAnne Maille, the Program Manager of Yes Employment Services in North Bay, Ontario. If you’re looking to expand your versatility, branch out by taking electives in other subjects.
Personal interests are an even more important driver for older students. This might be, in part, why many students switch majors after their first or second year.
Your career plans
Have some idea what you want to do with your life?
Research those fields to help you choose your major. “An international internship had a huge impact on my career goals,” says Jessica S., a recent graduate of the University of Ottawa in Ontario. “I became more aware of the advantages and disadvantages of real work experience.”
Is a specific major essential?
For some lines of work, such as Accounting or Engineering, it’s essential that you earn a related undergraduate degree.
For other professions, it’s about the broad skills your major helps you develop. “What’s going to help most is being able to showcase how [your] major has helped [you] take information in, process it, apply it, and communicate,” says Nicolette Sherman, Vice President of Hiring at Sanofi North America based in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
Your earning potential
Is the money in the major?
Some areas of study, on average, secure higher paying jobs, reports the 2013 Graduate Survey conducted by the Council of Ontario Universities. These include:
- Dentistry
- Optometry
- Pharmacy
But not necessarily
Your future success can depend more on your skills than on specific subject matter. For an example.
Expert guidance
“I don’t think any major [is] limiting: Every major has a variety of potential career options associated with it, and most people are unaware of what and where those opportunities are until they start investigating them,” says Denise Reynolds, an Academic Advisor at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s.
The gender gap
Certain majors lead to better-paying jobs after graduation—and women are underrepresented in those subjects.
More women graduate from university than men, but they accounted for only 39 percent of graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM fields) in 2011, reports Statistics Canada.
Most significantly, female enrolment is lower in certain especially lucrative majors, including:
- Computer science
- Mathematics
- Engineering
Increasing women’s participation in STEM fields is key to reducing the gender pay gap. Go for it.
Your learning style
Identify how you learn best
Prefer hands-on labs, large seminars, group workshops, or small classes? Investigate suitable majors or minors.
Do your homework
Research professors and students’ evaluations on courses required for a prospective major. Which classes and professors seem likely to work for you?
Ask questions
Meet with professors. See if the department community is a good fit. Professors also have connections to industry and other professional fields, and can provide tips or recommendations.
What do students consider very important or somewhat important in choosing their major, minor, and electives?
- 97%: Personal interests and passions
- 93%: Own strengths and challenges
- 90%: Building specialist skill set or knowledge
- 89%: Increasing appeal to potential employers
- 87%: Future earning potential
- 66%: Reputation of a course or professor
- 61%: Guidance from advisors & other mentors
- 30%: Input from family and friends
Student Health 101 survey, October 2014. 339 students answered these questions.
Your postgraduate education plans
You up for more?
Do you want to go to graduate school, medical school, or law school? While it may seem premature to start thinking about postgraduate plans, the decisions you make during your undergraduate years can affect your academic opportunities after graduation.
Watch out for the prereqs
For example, if you plan to attend med school, you must fulfill certain pre-med requirements as an undergrad. Students aiming for a graduate degree in Nutrition are likely to need credits in Chemistry and Physiology.
Too much?
If you’re feeling overly restrained by your postgraduate education goals, talk to your academic advisor or careers counsellor about your options. In addition, realize you will likely have half a dozen or more jobs over your lifetime.
Specific course requirements
Check out the Must Do classes
For your top subject contenders, research the course requirements. Do they excite you, terrify you, or make you want to stay in bed watching reality shows instead?
Student’s story
“I was excited about my course material,” says Shelisa K., a first-year graduate student at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, who chose to pursue her love of history. “It’s what I’m most passionate about,” she says.
Personality, parents, & practicalities
Personality
Students who are well matched with their major are more likely to graduate on time and achieve better grades.
Parental education and anticipated earnings
Students whose parents have not obtained university degrees are concerned with choosing areas of study with a higher expected lifetime income, according to a 2007 Canadian study in Education Economics. This varies by gender.
Practicalities
For students who commute to school while working or raising a family, the timing of courses can be the most important factor.
“If the course does not fit my schedule or has me rushing for classrooms I will, almost every time, choose a different course,” says Julie B., a second-year graduate student at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s.
Faculty can make a big difference, for better or worse
Students are more likely to major in a field where they’ve had an inspiring professor in an introductory course, according to the American Sociological Association (2013).
Expert view
“Faculty can positively or negatively influence student taste for a field—some compelling teachers can get students engaged in fields that they previously disliked, while other, more uncharismatic faculty can alienate students from entire bodies of knowledge, sometimes permanently.”
—Christopher Takacs and Daniel Chambliss in How College Works (Harvard University Press, 2014)
A student’s story
“I sought out professors who loved what they taught,” said Becca M., a 2012 graduate of Columbia University in New York City. “It encouraged me to be more engaged with the material, and I did far better in classes taught by dynamic professors.”
studentvoice
