College Major Crisis

Question

I am a freshman in college completely lost in what I am going to study/major in. My test results point to INFP, and I got a list of careers that were pretty creative and enticing. However, I am at a highly competitive research university where 60% of students are STEM and/or premed. It freaks me out that I don't know what I'm doing, and I feel so dumb for sticking to humanities or social science majors when everyone around me is a big-brain STEM major. It's basically proven that humanities/social sciences majors don't really fare the best in the economy (I think?) and I just want to be financially stable. I'm pretty sure my family is convinced I'll go to medical school. For a while, I thought about being premed; but honestly, some things aren't for everybody, and I wouldn't be able to handle all of the classes I'm 90% sure. Where do I go from here?

Answer 1

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hey Z,

I completely understand your frustration and it’s okay to feel that way.

First, take time to figure out what you already like to do outside of the classroom. For instance, what are your hobbies? Are there any social issues that you deem important? Once you find that out, the next step is to figure out how that can be incorporated into a major.

Another option is to temporarily change your major to Undecided. By doing this, you should be allowed to freely choose classes from various majors, which would help you in deciding what you want to do. However, make sure to speak with your guidance counselor about it before doing that.

One more option that I think would actually help you is to, if possible, sit in one of your friend’s favorite classes. You might end up taking notes and leaving the class intrigued. If you feel this way by the end of the class, if possible, talk to the professor about it. Explain that you were interested and would like to know more. Most likely, you would end up taking that class the next semester and changing your major to something you would love.

I hope this helps you in any way. Good luck!

-Noella