"This is the time of year when college majors probably garner the most attention — from high school seniors who often need to pick one to complete their admissions applications and from undergraduates returning home after the fall semester wondering if they made the wrong choice.
Plenty of guidebooks and websites exist for picking a college, but by comparison, relatively few resources exist to guide students in choosing a major. Several reports about majors that landed in my email inbox recently highlight why the decision is so fraught for so many students who see it as tantamount to choosing a career. The data about majors are often confusing and sometimes contradictory. Here’s some of what I learned from reading these studies." …