I’m about to finish up my associates degree in Business Administration. During the summer semester, I came to the realization that I didn’t want to major in business anymore. I just don’t like it enough. So I’m trying to figure out what I do want to do.
So I come to you all to ask, how did you decide what to major in? Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Dart toss, mostly.
I was writing a book and I got a computer to type it on. My book really sucked, but I had a talent for programming. So I went to college for it.
Well, when I was very small may dad taught me how to make some basic explosives. I decided that I really liked figuring how how to make large amounts of fire, but that I wanted to get paid for it. The career path that was most closely associated with that was Chemical Engineering.
The other major was more whim like, I like reading philosophy and thinking about it and writing about it but I will do none of the above unless some outside force is applied. I’m happy as a clam to read/think/write about many other topics all on my own, but I figured out that if I wanted to learn any philosophy, I’d have to put myself in a position where other people were telling me to.
General major selection note: Go for what you enjoy. Majors (outside of the professional ones, and even a lot of those) have little to do with what you end up doing as a job. Pick something you love, do it well, go on from there. The last thing anyone needs in their beloved Advanced Thermodynamics class is some whiner pissing and moaning about how much they hate math but they need this class for the major that they also hate.
I’ve been writing computer code since age 9. Picking a major was trivially easy. 
I started in Electrical Engineering but failed miserably as I was under the impression that we would be playing with wires and lights all day, not trying to understand really fucking hard math. One of my good friends was in Computer Science. The first 2 years of both majors are nearly the same.
Computers is fun.
I didn’t decide until my junior year, after taking a whole mess of classes that ended up not counting for anything. I had an idea my freshman year of what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do, but just picking one made me really nervous. I decided on economics after taking a lot of business, history, and music classes because that is just what I liked best. I knew if I pursued a business degree I would have hated life. To be happy, you really should just do something you are interested in and enjoy doing. Odds are you won’t end up in a career that is tailored exactly to your major, but you can’t really help that. Talk to a counselor, too. If you have an idea of something else you would like to do, talk to the counselor for that school about career options and requirement and what have you.
I’m like rjung: it wasn’t hard for me to figure out what my major would be. (Deciding to add a second major on the other hand, came about as a last minute “what the hell” decision.)
I figured that I may as well get paid for something I like to do.
<< All computers wait at the same speed. >>
Took some classes in a lot of subjects (for example: Math, English, Physics, Religion, Political Science, Modern Languages, Theater, Anthropology)… chose the major of the classes I enjoyed the most (Anthropology).
I started in English, because I like writing. I took Intro to Psychology, loved it, knew a bunch of Psych majors, changed to Psych. Loved all my Psych classes. Dropped out of school. Went back. Turns out to finish with a degree in Psych, I’d have to take another semester or two over what I already need to work in all the labs and stuff. Switched back to English (Creative Writing) and took a Psych minor.
At least, that’s as of today.
I was in high school working as a library aide.
We had a small tv studio, and one day I was asked to help out.
I walked around the rest of the day in a daze, planning my future.
I went to college, got a degree in radio/tv broadcasting, and I am working in my field.
I was in college for 13 years. (Hey, it was a long war, alright?) I kept changing majors to fit my current interests. When I finally got serious about getting my degree, I went into a counsellor’s office, tossed my transcript on her desk, and said “What am I closest to?”
So I ended up with a degree in Social Sciences (Anthropology major, and a dual History/Sociology minor). It has served me well these last 17 years as a high school teacher.
I originally had randomly chose History as my major because I found it interesting and had English as my minor because I was good at it.
Then, early in my junior year, I took a cab from my school (NIU) to Ohare airport and the driver was telling me how he had a History degree from NIU. The next week, I switched and became an English major.
I like chemistry and biology in high school. I also like money and making stuff. Thus I became a chemical engineer. Plus there’s opportunities for management positions later on.
I had a friend I hung around with since I was five years old. When we were 19, a mutually friend committed suicide very horribly. He went to U to major in psychology to help people. I followed suit, but changed to sociology on the belief that most maladaptive behavior is learned, so the thing to do is change what is learned in the first instance, rather than cure the person at the last.
Today, my pal’s a psychiatrist, and distributes drugs as indicated. I work for the government, and distribute funds as indicated. That’s all I have to say.
Well, I was going to be a bio-chem major, but I didn’t do all that well in my classes, so I switched to an English major. Then my brother graduated with an English major and started working at Wal-Mart, so I switched to history. Then I realized that I could get two BS’s for the price of one, and switched to Theatre and History. This was all in my first year. I graduated with a Technical Theatre degree, with a minor in history. Now I make an ok living working in theatre, and I sometimes wonder how much money I could be making with that Bio-Chem thing. Aahh, whatever. I’m happy.
Complete and total accident. After changing majors from engineering to journalism to history to psychology and back to engineering, I almost literally fell into architecture. Haven’t looked back since.
A few years ago, while working at a book store, I picked up a book called “The Story of Philosophy” on a whim. I enjoyed reading it more than I thought I would - there were all sorts of problems I’d never thought about, but some that I had, and it was quite the revelation to find that far greater minds than mine had reflected on these things too. I really, really wanted to be a philosopher. (Hah!) About that time I fell into Ayn Rand by accident; I luckily escaped with an intact intellect, but I don’t think I’ll ever shake a commitment to libertarianism and a predisposition to an egoistic ethics.
So I’m majoring in philosophy and economics. I might drop the philosophy - who knows; every time I consider doing so I remember how much I like the subject. I’m trying to be practical. Hell, if I could go back and do it all over again, I might be a math major. It’s too late for that now.
I always knew I wanted to minor in technical writing, the major wasn’t offered. My major was a little different. I started in business, changed to engineering, and finally to english. I graduate in two more semesters and don’t see myself changing again! LOL
I worked hard in HS so when I graduated I had the pick of 99% of possible uni courses.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do professionally, so I decided to do my degree in things I like. I’m doing a dual degree, and I will end up with dual bachelors degrees:
Bachelor of Business Management (Tourism Management) / Bachelor of Arts (Chinese and Journalism)
I love travelling, so I picked tourism.
I learnt Chinese in HS, and it’s useful to have a language in tourism, so I’m studying Chinese.
It would be my dream to write for Lonely Planet, or any sort of travel journalism, so I’m studying journalism. (Although I’m not enjoying it; I just don’t like news reporting, which is the focus.)
I like the fact that I will have a base of business management knowledge when I graduate, so if I decide I don’t like what I’m doing I can change to some other business enivronment.