Once in college, there is perhaps no bigger decision any student must make than to declare a major (sometimes called a “concentration”). This will be the student’s principal field of study during his/her college years, meaning he/she can expect to take up to half of all courses in this field or closely related fields. That’s a lot. So what should any student take into consideration when making this decision?

Well, one obvious consideration is how interesting the field is to you. You may have always had an interest, say, in politics. For many, this means reading the news, listening to political podcasts, and perhaps even working on a local political campaign. But to expect that choosing a major in political science will simply perpetuate this kind of thing would be incorrect. Political science (or Government, as the field is sometimes referred to at some colleges) is usually organized into four distinct sub-fields by U.S. colleges: political theory; international relations; American politics; and comparative politics. A student who has merely followed political campaigns and perhaps voted once will find himself or herself ill-prepared to grasp the course material in these academic sub-fields. 

So do not fool yourself into imagining what a field of study entails by a superficial investigation. You should go to the website of a college you are interested it or enrolled at and carefully evaluate the college’s course catalog. There you will find listed all the courses on offer by each department. A department is a group of faculty members who teach all the courses in a field of study, together with administrators and staff. Each department has its own requirements to fulfill a major (or concentration) in that field. If you plan to undertake an honors major (in which case you could graduate with distinction: e.g., Highest Honors, High Honors, or Honors; or Summa cum laude; Magna cum laude; or Cum laude), there will be even more specific requirements and usually a thesis or major research project involved.

For the most informative approach to choosing a major, you should really acquaint yourself with the department’s policies and course offerings, and even consider emailing professors who teach in the department with questions you may have. Usually, you will be required to declare a major by the end of the second year of college, which should give you ample time to try different course offerings in a department to make sure the material is of sufficient interest to you to  spend what may be half of all your college courses immersed in. 

Finally, your choice of major will affect the kind of job you can expect to get upon graduation. While any field in the liberal arts (i.e., non-pre-professional fields such as business or engineering) will, if pursued in a serious manner, prepare you for most non-technical jobs, some corporate jobs may go to economics or math majors because of a prejudice that these fields are more intellectually challenging. That is not the case. Focus on learning critical thinking skills and you will impress any prospective employer. 

Questions about this post: Email robert@designsonlearning.com