something to consider when choosing a major

This is a topic I keep wanting to write about, but I'm not really an expert on it, just a lowly seventh-year undergraduate student, so I keep changing my mind and deciding not to. But today I felt again like I'd really like to share my thoughts, and if anybody wants to comment and add to the discussion, I'd love to hear from you!

Our society needs to change the way we look at higher education. My observation is that most students who are planning on going to college have the perception, "I'm going to get my education." My education. It's not an entitlement. College is not the just the thing you do after you're done with high school. It's an investment. I admit that I was guilty of this perception. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting higher education. I think it's valuable for people to attend college. But it's more than the next step.

(As an aside, I think another change we need to make is for high school to prepare students for better jobs than McDonalds. Students who want to work after high school should have access to classes in high school that give them job skills.)

I think parents and advisors need to encourage high school students and new college students to think farther ahead than which major they will choose. When I was in high school there was plenty of talk of majoring in what you are passionate about. And that's important to some extent. But college is not just about entertainment. I said it before--college is an investment. It's great to go to college and learn about all sorts of interesting things, but when you graduate you're supposed to be more qualified for a job than you were when you graduated from high school.

Every year it's always interesting to hear all the freshmen, who are all trying to get to know everyone, talking about what they're going to major in. Usually the talk goes along the lines of, "Oh, I'm not really sure what I'm going to major in yet. I love linguistics, but I think philosophy would be really interesting, but then I also love English literature." There's not a lot of talk about what job they would like to be hired for after they graduate. It's all about what is interesting.

And then we have thousands of students all over the United States who are now complaining that they have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loan debt and that they can't find a job. I will acknowledge that jobs have been a little more scarce for the past few years, but at the same time there are many industries that would love to hire more people, but there aren't enough people who are qualified. There's something to be said for studying what you're interested in. You can have a horrible life doing something you hate but making a lot of money. But if you want a reliable income, there's also something to be said for choosing a field that is in high demand.

We need to think about college differently. If you do a search on Google, there are many lists that show unemployment rates and salaries for different majors. Students going to college need to look at these lists and seriously consider whether the major they are passionate about would be a wise investment of their time and money. They need to realize that there are trade-offs in different majors. Some majors are really interesting, but people with degrees in those fields aren't paid well, or there aren't a lot of jobs in that field. If you choose that kind of major, you might want to supplement it with a minor or internships or jobs that get you more useful skills. Or you might need to resign yourself to the fact that you will always need to be frugal. Some majors are very challenging, but they lead to good-paying or high-demand jobs. There's something to be said for studying and working in a field that you are passionate about, but then again job security and financial security are also very valuable.

So in other words, pick something that you can stand and that can make you enough money that you can cover your expenses.

This post is in no way meant to disparage anyone. I can't make any judgment about an individual person's choices, because personal revelation and personal experiences play a significant role in choosing a major or a job or any other path. My main point is that in our society we need talk more about which majors are more likely to lead to jobs instead of focusing so much on majoring in what we are passionate about, so that at graduation it won't be a surprise to so many people that certain fields don't pay well or don't have a lot of available jobs. Then if some people still choose those fields, they will know what they are getting into.