Think you picked the wrong college major? Don’t fret – there are things that you can do right now to fix it.

There is nothing more frustrating than realizing you chose the wrong major in the middle of your studying venture. Whether you realize it or not, your major determines your career path in the years to come. It also becomes the core of all the things you are to do on a professional note.

Being on board the wrong one will only cause frustration, regrets, and time wasted. So as a student, it is important that you choose which college major to take carefully. Doing your best is not enough compensation for a wrongful choice, but doing your best in the right one builds a path that will surely lead you to success.

11 Warning Signs You Picked the Wrong College Major

How do you know if your major is right for you?

When you are able to speak about your reasons for choosing your major, there is a high chance that you actually did. You can tell that you made the right decision when everything comes easy. You enjoy doing your coursework; hence, you end up getting high grades on your subjects. You also get to focus easily and not get sidetracked by any distractions. Being in the wrong major makes you question your future, everything becomes a burden, but all these will be different when you are in the right one.

Why is choosing a major so hard?

Choosing a college major is hard because it is inevitably a major life decision. A person who is to choose which major to take may have some anxieties in doing so. You may have the same feeling about this because you know that your future financial standing, your regular job, and the rest of your life decisions will be impacted by this choice. Apart from that, other external forces may affect your decision making. It may be that your parents, family, or friends may want another option for you. This usually causes conflict and adds up the pressure in the decision-making process.

11 Warning Signs You Picked the Wrong College Major

The realization may not come to you in an instant or in the early phase of your study. This may develop and show off in subtle and trivial ways that make their way to building up into irreversible and damage-causing situations. Here are some tell-tale signs that you have picked the wrong major.

You dread the thought of coming to school. You wake up to find yourself feeling burdened and forced to attend school.
You have a hard time focusing and concentrating on your classes.
You may have skipped more classes than those you attended. You start having absences for the wrong reasons and alibis.
You do not understand most of the topics in your class and you end up procrastinating instead of accomplishing your tasks and beating project deadlines.
Your grades are terrible and are constantly low.
You often have “what-ifs” and regrets in the middle of your coursework.
You engage in activities that are completely unrelated to your major. You end up doing the things you love outside your classes.
You start to enumerate things that cause you to lose interest in going to class. You may blame other people like your instructors or classmates for draining your drive to study.
When you can’t come up with goals and future plans that relate to your major. You are clueless of how your life after studying will be.
You have no interest in practicing what you are studying in school.
You get frustrated every time someone asks you how school is going.

5 Tips to Choose the Right Major

People do not end up choosing the wrong major when they undergo a process in making the selection for their college major. Making the decision entails more time and effort than you think. If you are about to choose yours, here are a couple of tips that you can use as guidelines to increase the chances of making the right choice the first time.

Discover Your Passion.
A person gets motivation, drive, and contentment when they do something that they are passionate about. When choosing a major to take in college, you have to reflect and look back on the things that you have enjoyed engaging in.

Figure Out What Consistently Makes You Happy
Determine the type of work and activities that had made you happy in the past, and that you joyfully did despite tribulations and challenges. From there, you may have a hint of that “one thing” you have been exerting your efforts to. Once you identify it, check out majors that are related to it in many ways.

Plan Ahead.
You can never come up with a plan and execute it if you do not know where it is heading. As a student preparing for college, you have to take your time and consistently try to envision the life you want after college. Picture what you will be doing for a living and the life arrangement your major can position your life with. It is also healthy to consider the financial side of the major you are to choose. Make sure you can afford to sustain your studying and learn about ways you can earn after finishing your major.

Engage in Internships.
It is recommended that a student applies for internships in their chosen field to have a feel of how it is to be pursuing it in the future. From there, you can observe the working environment and culture that the field has. Take on tasks and have a feel of it and ask yourself whether it would be something that you’d enjoy doing in the future.

Take Skills Tests.
It is good to evaluate yourself first before taking the first step. Take a skills test and see which area are you good at and those that would require additional honing. Personality tests also help in ways that tell you whether you are fit for the major or not.

Conclusion

For students, choosing a college major is a crossroad. This is where they have to choose a specific among the many paths available to pursue. This can be daunting, stressful, and pressuring for many, however, it is possible to conquer and do it smoothly.

By following the tips mentioned above, you increase the chances of making the right choice. And if you happen to be taking a major now, you can start evaluating if you have indeed chosen the right one or not. It is never too late to switch to the right major for you, always remember that the more time you spend focusing on the wrong one, the more time you hinder yourself from building for the right one.