College? Minors, Majors, and coursework?

Hi Jack,

I was the first in my family to go to college, so all of these things were so new to me when I started. These are all excellent questions.

1. Getting your prerequisites out of the way in High School (by taking AP courses or via concurrent enrollment) is a really great idea. It will help you in completing your college work timely and give you the opportunity to take some of your core courses early. It can also help you save money as you could potentially finish your bachelor's in 3 years or less.
2. One piece of advice that I wish I had been given is to go to community college for any general ed courses you did not complete in high school. While at community college you could also take some courses to help you find what interests you the most. Be careful to check though that your credits will transfer. Most community college credits transfer to most major universities and colleges. Again, this will help you save on college tuition and allows you to explore a little more freely.
3. I only had a major when I graduated. Your Major is kind of like your preliminary career choice- I majored in accounting, and now work as an auditor for a public accounting firm. A minor is not required at a lot of universities/colleges. However, if there are two topics/career fields that you are interested in and that go well together, having a minor can help you get into certain niche jobs/fields. If I had chosen a minor, I would have minored in information technology, as that is a large part of my job and also an interest of mine.
4. Most Bachelor's take four years, and a Master's depends on your field of study. Generally a Masters is between one to three years. So total years to obtain a masters is between five and eight years. That may seem like a lot of time right now, but looking back, time flies! I am three years out of college now and currently pursuing my Master's part time since I work full time, and I can't believe how quickly time has passed.
5. As far as choosing your Major, that really depends on what your goals and interests are. Personally, job security was really important to me, and I've always had a strong interest in business and technology. So, I chose accounting. Computer science was my second choice, and I may go back to school later to get a computer science degree.

Overall, I would advise you not to stress about making all those decisions right now. You still have a lot of time, and many people change majors halfway through college. Others change career paths completely later in life.

Great question, and best of luck to you.

You are at the right time and place to be asking about careers. By starting now to do research and get to know yourself and career options better, you can better plan you course in your education/career journey. Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .