Ten Steps to Help You Choose a Major at SU

Contrary to popular belief, most career fields do not require a specific major.  In fact, the majority of employers who recruit on campus or on-line through eRecruiting, Salisbury University’s employer database, advertise their job openings across  all SU’s major fields. 

There are some exceptions, namely those majors categorized as pre-professional--career fields requiring certifications or licenses,  such as Nursing, Education, Clinical Laboratory Sciences/Medical Technology, Accounting, Engineering, Athletic Training, Environmental Health, and Respiratory Therapy.

Since most college majors don’t offer specific preparation for a single type of work, your choice of major is only one factor in determining your future job prospects and career path.  The skills you acquire through your coursework, and the career-related experience you acquire through internships, volunteering, participation in on-campus activities, travel and study abroad, on and off-campus employment, undergraduate research, and service learning opportunities, are often more important to employers than your major. 
 

Ten Action Steps to Help you Choose a Major 

1. Consult the University course catalog to find the courses you like best, and then go to this Career Services website to see how you can use a degree in the major.

2. Conference with your academic advisor about various options. 

3. Talk by e-mail to an alum who has majored in your target field via Salisbury’s eRecruiting Mentor Network. 

4. Enroll in an introductory course in your prospective major to see if you like it or consult the course syllabus and browse course textbooks at the campus bookstore.

5. Join a student club (or at least attend a few meetings) related to your prospective major, such as the American Marketing Association, the Medical Careers Club, the Spanish Club, the Social Work Club, or the Philosophical Society.

6. Complete a career interest inventory in Career Services—either computer or paper-based--to help you pinpoint your area of interest.

7. Make an appointment with a Career Services professional to guide you as you move toward a decision. (410-543-6075)

8. Volunteer your time to test the waters in a particular career path. 

9. Find a career- related summer or part-time job to help you test out your “major”  decision.

10. Shadow a professional in a related field.  (Career Services staff and eRecruiting Mentor Network are good resources for connecting with such a person.) 
     

What are some Further strategies for choosing a major? 

First, you will probably do best in what you like to study most.  A close reading of the course offerings in the university catalog will help you to determine that.  Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, Carly Fiorina, for example, was a medieval history and philosophy major at Stanford.  She cites a parallel between the transformation from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and her challenge to address today’s digital awakening.  Michaela Rodeno, French major CEO at a French-owned winery, credits her knowledge of France’s institutions, arts and letters as the factor that “stunned” French executives and put her on the fast track. 

Second, consider whether that major meets your needs for personal development.  Will it help you to sort out your values and gain a broader view of the world?  Blue Shield of California CEO Bruce Bodaken says of his bachelor’s in philosophy: “Philosophy teaches you to ask deeper questions, how to think through a tough problem.” 

Third, will your major provide you a solid background for the professional focus you hope to have in graduate school, such as the study of law, medicine or marine biology?   

Fourth, you might combine your major with a minor that will increase your marketability, such as coupling a major in Biology with a minor in Gerontology, or a major in Communication Arts with a minor in Marketing Management.  Or, you could even double major, like Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner, remarking that English and Theatre gave him “an appreciation of what makes people tick.”  Look over the Minors list in the University catalog to give your major a niche.