Hi, i’m currently a high school Junior. I have no idea what I want to do when i’m older so I have no idea what I want to study in college. I originally was thinking I wanted to be a lawyer, but i’m not so sure any more. I don’t really have any idea what I want to do when i’m older, so i’m not sure what major I want in college. I’m worried about picking a major because I don’t know what I want to study and I’m worried it will be hard to switch out.In particular, I have considered engineering and computer science, but I don’t know enough about those profressions in order to commit to one. It is hard to transfer into those majors once I start college.
Far too many students here try to choose colleges based on what they think they want to study. It’s totally okay not to know what you want to study! Colleges offer many academic disciplines that you probably haven’t been exposed to yet; there’s no need to fixate on the well-known career paths (medicine, law, CS, etc.) until you have a better idea of what really interests you.
I came into college knowing 100% what I wanted to study. I had taken every relevant class in high school, had done a couple summers of research at a university, wrote an IB Extended Essay on the subject, etc. My freshman year I took a gen-ed class on a whim that completely hooked me, and I wound up changing fields. I got a PhD afterwards and have never looked back. That sort of thing is very common.
For now, focus on other factors. Consider:
[ul][]How much can you afford? Have the money talk with your parents. Will you need a lot of financial and/or merit aid?
[]What size college would you like? There is a huge difference between a college like Washington & Lee (1800 undergrads) and Arizona State (52,000 undergrads on the Tempe campus). If you don’t know which you prefer, visit different types of colleges in your area.
[]Are you interested in colleges in big cities, towns, rural areas, suburbs of cities, or some combination of the above?
[]What regions of the country interest you? Would you prefer to stay close to home, or do you want to get away to an opposite coast?[/ul]
While selecting colleges, look for colleges that don’t force you to declare a major until sophomore year and where switching majors is simple. It’s often relatively easy to switch majors in colleges of Arts & Sciences even at large universities, but check at each school to see if any majors have capped enrollments, especially in engineering and business (e.g. BME at JHU).
If you’re at all interested in engineering, make sure at least some of your matches and safeties offer engineering programs. Note that few liberal arts colleges offer engineering aside from Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Smith, Union, Bucknell, Lafayette, Trinity and a few others.