Choosing a major- I'm not sure where to start.

juillet
Sun, 13 May 2018 17:07:31 +0000

Experience architecture was the major I was going to recommend, but that major is limited - most schools don’t have it. Michigan State is one of the few that does, so if you go to Michigan State that’s a great major to consider

I work in user experience/interaction design (and specifically in video games). Although I have a PhD, the people in my field (writ large) are mostly a mix of BA and MA holders.* As the tech industry grows and matures, this field is growing as well - there’s a need for people with expertise in the area to make sure that the tech we build is usable by, useful to, and acceptable to the people we’re marketing it to. Especially if you pair this major with some computer science classes - and maybe a computer science minor - you could potentially work as a user experience or front-end developer.

*I will caveat this by saying that video games is so competitive that the people who do user research in games, specifically, tend to have MAs and PhDs. That doesn’t mean you can’t go get an MA and move into games after some years of experience, though.

As for the second major - media and information design - well. There’s certainly nothing wrong with the major and there are lots of jobs that you can do with it after college. There are, in fact, lots of people who work in game design with all kinds of majors - including majors like media and information. This sounds like the kind of major that would lead to a career in game design or design in another area of tech. But…again…the video games industry is very competitive. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try (and Michigan State is a great place to do so from! They have built a nice little area of media/tech expertise) but it is to say that you should plan carefully, make sure you seek out internships and part-time opportunities to gain experience, and build appealing/marketable skills to help you with a Plan B. Programming and learning different art/design software programs will help you.