How many times did you change your major in college and how has that affected your career?
I hear a lot of people change their major because they change their interests. I would want to know how if it has affected your career path or if you regret changing majors. #college #college-major #career-paths
7 answers
Amber’s Answer
Hi Norma, I changed my focus in undergrad twice! Once freshman year, and again at the end of my sophomore year. I went on to graduate with a degree in Marketing/Communications. I use these skills every day, but I actually ended up going back to school for a Masters degree in a completely different field; Nonprofit Studies. I now work in corporate citizenship for a financial firm (there are many jobs within corporations that support the business, but may not align directly with the product itself!).
My suggestion is to follow your interests, and make sure you are getting the knowledge and information on subjects that resonate with you most. You'll figure it out as you go along, and most likely you'll change your mind dozens of times. That's the joy of life!
Jared Chung
CareerVillage.org TeamJared’s Answer, CareerVillage.org Team
I actually changed my intended major four times in college. It set me back, but I made the most of the situation and ended up with a good job after college.
I went into college thinking I'd study film. But my political science classes were so much more fun, so I declared a major in political science instead. Then at the end of Sophomore year, I started to think that marketing and business might be for me to I applied to transfer to a business school. In Junior year, after transferring, I decided that Finance was the right field, and I ended up finishing college with that degree and going into Finance. I made the best of it and worked hard to catch up to my peers, but there's no doubting that my friends who spent 4 years focused on getting into Finance were much further along than I was.
The short answer is that in the scheme of life it probably does not matter how many times you changed your major in college, but changing your major can easily extend your graduation date.
Here's what you need to know:
(1) When you are choosing your major during your sophomore year, take an hour to review the classes required to complete the major and map out how you might do this over the next two and a half years. If you don't do this you will regret it.
(2) Your major is not as important as your coursework, your grades and your test scores. If you do well on the MCATs, graduate cum laude and major in Spanish you are MORE LIKELY to get into medical school that someone with an equivalent score and similar grades who majors in biology.
Janna Lewis
Alicia’s Answer
I changed my major three times in college and have no regrets. It did affect my career path, but in a positive way because I felt like I was moving in the right direction, a direction I was excited about.
I went into college undecided, became a general business major, switched to finance and then finally decided on marketing as a major. Internship experiences ultimately helped me decide which career path and major most suited me. I also paid attention to which classes I liked the most, which I disliked and which I struggled in. If there were classes that stood out to be my strong suit and I was highly interested in them, that influenced the direction of my major (I was more interested in marketing and performed well in those classes).
I hope sharing this little bit of my experience helps!
Ryan Bonaparte
Ryan’s Answer
I changed my major twice while I was at MIT. The first was after my first semester when I decided I didn't want to be in Chemical Engineering. The second time was after two semesters of taking Mechanical Engineering classes. I wasn't doing well in the classes, mostly because I realized I wasn't that interested in the material and found it hard to dedicate the time needed to do well. At that point I spoke with one of my professors and she suggested that I look at some other majors as well. That's when I decided to move into Materials Science and Engineering, which I loved.
I don't regret changing majors, I just wish I had changed sooner. One of the difficulties with changing majors is that you may have to take additional classes, as not all classes fulfill the requirements for all majors. For me, I needed to take a just a few more classes, so I didn't have to spend more than 4 years in college, but it did make the final year very busy for me.
In terms of my career, the biggest impact it had was to change what kind of jobs I was applying to when the time came to do that. It's not that it made a huge difference that I changed majors, more so that my interests changed, so I was looking for a different type of job.
Hope that helps!
Kelly’s Answer
Hi - I changed my major three times and it didn't affect my career at all. To echo the points above, the danger is that it will extend your graduation date, but overall, it didn't impact my career. Most colleges require all students take a certain core set of classes. At my university (University of San Francisco) it was a pretty broad range of classes so I got to explore quite a few different topics. My advice would be to take those core classes first as they can help you develop different interests and also explore different topics you might not have even known you were interested in. Most colleges don't require you to declare a major right away so you have a bit of time to decide.
Matthew’s Answer
It is very common for students to change majors. I did not change majors but I changed what career field I wanted to go into. I switched from the pre-med track.
Winifred Winston, M.S., CDF
Winifred Winston,’s Answer
What a great question! I did not change my major, I changed my focus. I majored in Mass Communications: Broadcast Journalism and by my junior year I had no interest in the news (we had a news station). I spoke with my advisor and asked if I could take a senior level Public Relations, (PR), course and complete a PR internship. Because broadcasting and PR had similar coursework, I was able to use my previous academic training and did not need to change my major. I secured a PR internship while in college and even after I graduated. Lastly, after graduating I interviewed at a top PR firm, was successful on their 2-hr writing test, but did not get a job offer. Afterwards, I landed my first job that had nothing to do with my major.