Somehow, I knew when I was 11 years old that I wanted to be a physicist. Right since the first-ever Physics chapter, I studied in school – “Rest and Motion”, I was hooked! Rest and motion are relative! How cool is that! So, I picked Physics as my major in college.

But, I daresay, I am an exception in this regard. Most people don’t know by the age of 17 or 18 what they should major in. And, I don’t blame them one bit. Even the ones that do know what to pick, don’t always pick for the right reasons…

I didn’t really know what it means to be a physicist.. or how science is done… that it is one thing to like science and quite another to do science… I didn’t really know what I was doing at all when I picked my major. Because it is impossible to know.

What did I know?

• Nature was beautiful and Physics was basically a study of this enormity called the Universe
• I didn’t want to miss out on learning more about it
• I wanted to try being a practicing scientist and work in a lab

It was something I felt very passionate about and couldn’t not do. If that makes sense.

So, if you feel for a subject anything like how I felt about Physics, then major in that.

English… History… Communications… Dance… International Relations.. whatever it is, go for it. I think (I hope!) you will make it work no matter what. And, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Go for it because if you don’t, you will regret and life is too short for regrets. This is super cheesy but:

Follow your passion

If you are passionate about a subject but don’t know enough about it to make a call or don’t feel sure about college, I totally get that too. In this case, I highly recommend taking a bunch of classes on the topic in a Community college or a two-year program.

Community college is much cheaper than Four-year colleges (pretty sure!), so this might be a good way to learn if you really want to go for something or not. If you take the classes and hate them, you know to avoid a major that requires those classes and also you didn’t spend a fortune learning that.

I know there is a caveat here. It could be that you hated the classes because of bad teachers, or just that those particular topics were uninteresting. It is good to be aware of these limitations. In general, though, I am a fan of being informed as much as you can be before making big (and expensive) decisions.

If you love the classes and do well in them, they should at least partially transfer toward your four-year degree in college. So, either way, it is time well spent.

I think people that scope it out at community college instead of jumping into college with a major they know little about are so smart and should absolutely be respected and supported for making this choice.

Go to community college

Another way is to take university classes while you are still in high school. If you live in/near a city with a big public school like Ohio State, for example, you might be able to arrange to take some of your classes in high school at the university. At Ohio State, this is called the Ohio State Academy Program. Learn more about it here: https://academy-ccp.osu.edu/

Basically, instead of taking something like Pre-Calc or Calc 1 in your high school (where it might not even be an option), you can take it at the university and also have it done and transferred when you join college. High school students can really benefit from a program like this in a number of ways.

You can take a bunch of Intro classes, say, in Math or Physics, that then you don’t have to take in college because you already took them. You will be ahead and you might save in college tuition.

But also, you will get a real taste for how these classes work at the university level so that you know whether you want to major in something that requires those classes or not. So, find out whether you want to major in something in college by taking college classes for that major before you start college! Ask the Internet, ask your high school teachers to find out if you can:

Take classes at the university while you are still in high school

The last way that I recommend is:

Take a gap year. Or many.

Nothing will teach you what to major in / what to do with your life, like life itself. So, if you can, get more life experience. Exactly how you do that will be unique to you. Get a job… volunteer at a non-profit, volunteer at a hospital (especially if interested in med school), work in a lab as a lab technician, go backpacking, serve in the military.. do it your way.

For what it’s worth, I totally support individuals who get life experience instead of jumping into college right after high school. Returning students are not always topping the class, but they are almost always the ones that have the best college work ethic.

They have superior study habits, they know to take notes, listen, work hard, get over bad tests, cope in an overwhelming environment, etc. They know what they want and they are able to chip away until they get it. I daresay, they get more out of their college experience! Their life experience taught them what to major in and also how to succeed in the same.

Is there a foolproof major?

In my humble opinion, yes! If people are always telling you how smart you are but you have no clue which major would be a good fit for you as you really don’t feel that passionately about any particular subject yet, but you are interested in taking some cool classes and being able to land a well-paying job later (cuz who wouldn’t like that!) then I have this safe-to-follow suggestion for you:

Major in Math

Or Statistics. Math is broader. Take super-interesting classes like Cryptography, Number Theory, Combinatorics, and Math modeling of real systems, the list is endless.. these might help you channel your interest.

Math never hurts anyone

So, if you are feeling confused and afraid to commit (which is totally understandable!), start with Math and then afterward, if needed, you can always switch to a different major. A lot of STEM majors are made much easier if you are ahead in Math.

A lot of STEM majors require multiple Math classes. After taking all the Math for my Physics major, I was 2 classes away from a Math minor. Point is, Math is ubiquitous and useful in multiple fields. That tells you about the major’s job prospects too.

So, you can never go wrong with taking Math classes. And who knows, maybe you will want to stick with it. If you really really like Math and are really good at it, and you feel like you could do it all day and wouldn’t it be great if you could apply it to something greater out there, then I suggest the following, primarily because I cannot help myself:

Major in Physics

Since Physics is my field, I will be happy to elaborate on this major if you are interested 🙂 Please share any thoughts or questions in the comments below!