How to Choose Your College Major in One Hour or Less

Feb 4, 2020

Many high school students agonize over which major they should choose. But, laboring over a decision and making the decision are two different tasks. Which means you’re making more work for yourself!

Use this simple how-to guide for you to choose your college major in one hour or less.

Is Choosing the Right Degree Important?

What I’m about to say may shock you at first, so take it with a grain of salt and while taking in deep breaths.

Most people don’t study what they end up doing for their careers.

I’m a product of that statement.

I spent 4 years getting degrees in beverage, food and hospitality only for me to graduate and run an online business freelancing for 6-figure and 7-figure bloggers.

Your college degree is not the be-all and end-all of your career. It’s merely a starting point.

I know that as DECA students, we tend to put a lot of emphasis on ourselves. We’re highly critical and it can be difficult to accept that we made the wrong decision. However, the right college degree is the one that you choose—even if you later do something different in your career.

Digital marketing was probably a better choice for me had I knew it existed, but I wasn’t going to spend 3-4 more years just because my interests changed. You can take core elements and transferable skills from whichever degree you choose and apply them to your new career.

A One-Hour Guide to Choosing Your College Major

I know it can be stressful, but try to abandon your insecurities and commit to this!

Here are the 3 steps you need to complete:

Brain Dump Your Interests
Separate Your Interests from Your Passions
Choose the Major that Aligns With Your Biggest Passion

Let’s explore these in a little more depth!

1. Brain Dump Your Interests

The first step to choosing your college major in one hour is brain dumping your interests.

An interest is defined as “a feeling of wanting to know or learn about something”.

My list of interests includes:

Food
Beverages
Restaurants
Music
Singing
Board Games
Digital Marketing
Online Business
Freelancing

I called this a brain dump because you don’t want to edit your thoughts as they come out. At this stage, you just want to get your thoughts on paper or on the computer (however you like to organize your thoughts).

Refrain from canceling out ideas before you’ve evaluated them. That’s in the next stage.

Total time investment: 15 minutes

2. Separate Your Interests from Your Passions

A passion is defined as “an intense desire or enthusiasm for something”. Passions are like interests amplified to the next level.

During this stage, you want to think about all the interests you wrote down and list which of your interests are also passions.

For me, that would include:

Beverages
Online Business
Singing

After you have your top three, think (within reason and the timeframe) on what your biggest passion is.

For me, that’s online business—now—when I was a high school student, that was food/beverage/hospitality.

Total time investment: 20 minutes

3. Choose the Major That Aligns with Your Biggest Passion

Now that you know your biggest passion, choose the actual major.

Note: choosing a major and choosing a college are not the same. Your desired degree may have to be modified slightly if your college doesn’t offer it.

For example, online business is not a degree offered at a lot of institutions that I researched, so I would have to be a little creative.

Break down your biggest passion into possible degrees:

Entrepreneurship
Business Administration
Business Management
Digital Marketing

This may take a little longer if your passion is not as clear cut. You can always minor or specialize in a more specific area, but degrees tend to be broader.

After you have your possible list, choose the degree you’re the most passionate about.

Total time investment: 25 minutes