I can’t decide what to major in …

If you’ve arrived at this page, chances are that you’re either in college, or will be in college soon. Presumably, you know that you want to get a degree, but you haven’t decided yet what to major in. What should you choose?


The short answer is: It depends on what kind of “undecided” you are. Some undecided folks have narrowed it down to a few specific possibilities, while others couldn’t care less what they major in.

If you’ve narrowed it down a little, your task may be a little easier. Consider taking a class or two from each of your possibilities, if you haven’t done so already – presuming that you still have some time to do so. (If you’re in your late junior or senior year, though, you might just want to go with whatever will get you out of school sooner. College is expensive, of course, and most of us don’t want to spend more on it than we really have to – unless we have something to show for the added time, such as a graduate degree.)

But what if you couldn’t care less which major you end up in? What if they all seem equally bad to you (or equally good, for that matter)? If you’re in this category, one possibility that you might consider is business. A business degree is often the best solution for this kind of indecision. You may or may not find it boring, but chances are that you’ll at least be able to apply it in everyday life.

Engineering tends to be useful mainly in specific areas, and is often harder than business to boot. (And I was a business major myself.) If you still would rather go for engineering (or another major), then by all means, do that. But if it doesn’t make much difference to you, you might consider that few things are more generally applicable than a business degree. It can be used in industries of all kinds – anyplace where one makes a profit. And accounting classes can often be used in the public sector, too, and so can some other kinds of business classes.

If you’ve got two potential choices, you might consider majoring in one and minoring in another. Some will choose to both major and minor in impractical subjects. Others will choose to both major and minor in practical subjects. But others combine a practical major with an impractical minor, or vice versa. It just depends on what you want to do.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

Some thoughts about economics education

Some thoughts about business education

How I decided to major in business

What college majors are good for entering the finance field?

What should I study to go into marketing research?

Part of a series about

Education

General education
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History education
Classical education
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Economics education
Math education
Finance education
Marketing research education