CHOOSING A MAJOR & ITS COUNTLESS DILEMMAS

Article / Baibhav Nepal

The time one spends at college is often considered to be the golden time of one’s life. However, this does not come so easily, and a student goes through countless dilemmas over the course of several years at college. One such dilemma faced by college students is choosing a major.

For students enrolled in an Engineering degree program, they are General Engineering majors in their freshman year, leaving a small window to figure out the best engineering major to pursue starting sophomore year. Even with this time frame of almost a year to choose a specific engineering major, it still remains a challenging task to students. Students are often confused about what major would complement their skills and abilities and be the best fit for their future professional life.

Even after a student chooses a major for their sophomore year and beyond, there are many aspects that contribute to further change of majors. If a student realizes that their chosen major is not helping them enjoy the part of engineering that they were so passionate about, they shift to another major. There are also other factors such as poor performance in a particular major’s classes, or lack of interest in the industry or future job prospects of the major they are pursuing, that lead to further deliberation of what major they shall change to. These are dilemmas that are more difficult for students to handle, as it puts them in a position where they are forced to decide whether they should change their majors and spend more time, money, and other resources in getting the degree that they had planned for.

So, while choosing a major, a student has to consider many parameters and gauge both the pros and cons of each one. Oftentimes, these parameters may not be generic, and the pros of a major for some could be the cons for others. Choosing a major is also dependent on the institution one is enrolled into. Some colleges are more renowned for certain majors than others, which could possibly incline students to pursue the major that their college is more highly known for in the hope that they would remain a touch ahead than other students in other universities entering the same job market as them. Although every student is capable of crossing the hurdles of each major, some have greater abilities to excel in a particular major over others. This, too, could potentially be the reason why some students might want to change majors into something that they are already wellequipped with rather than the one that they have greater interest in.

Furthermore, there are different problems faced by different students with regard to the selection of a major. For an international student from a country where there is absolutely zero scope for a particular industry or major, it wouldn’t be beneficial to pursue such an industry even if they are very passionate about it. So, this puts such students in a difficult position about which other major they could choose. Similarly, there could be some majors that have a very high number of jobs available in the industry, but provide comparatively lower salaries to employees. This could dissuade some students from choosing that major despite the fact that there is an extensive number of jobs available to it.

Fortunately, students at Virginia Tech are wellequipped with campus resources such as consultation with academic advisors and different academic departments, information sessions, and databases that demonstrate where graduates from each major land after graduation. There are websites such as Explore Engineering that provide information about each major and what all is encompassed within that major. Similarly, each department of the College of Engineering carries out information sessions about their departments or majors, and what opportunities are present for students to get involved in during the years of their study. These resources help students to compare different majors and narrow down their options into a single one.

Changing majors after choosing one can be as much of a dilemma as initially choosing a major. The reality is that students do not want to spend their time, money, and relentless effort for four or more years on something that they wouldn’t really enjoy working on in the future. The US education system is really great in this regard, as it is possible to change majors even after choosing one, something that is rare in the education systems of some other countries. Choosing a major and sticking to it is a life-changing decision and commitment that affects not just the student but also the family of the student. Because of this, it is incredibly important to counter these dilemmas to the best possible extent and choose a major that one thinks suits them best.