In the third and final phase, you will reflect on all that you have learned about yourself and the majors here in the Herbert College of Agriculture to ultimately select your major. After completing this phase, you will be able to answer most, if not all, of the following questions: What do I like and dislike about each of the majors on my list? What do I like and dislike about the careers on my list? Which of these majors and careers fit with my interests, values, and other important aspects of me and my life? What are my top choices for majors? What is important to me when making a decision? How do I make decisions? Which major am I going to choose?
To begin, review the information you learned about yourself in Phase 1, such as your interests, values, skills and other self-knowledge. Using this information and your list of majors and careers, compare and contrast how each major aligns with this information. Do any of the majors match with what you know about yourself? Do any of them not match?
Using the list of majors you created in Phase 2, write a Pros and Cons list for each major. What do you like and dislike about each? Be sure to consider the careers related to each major on your list.
For additional assistance, check out this video to run a What-If DARS for each major to see what classes you would take. Which classes you would enjoy and not enjoy taking?
You should also account for your answer to step 1 – which majors aligned or did not align with your self-knowledge?
Based on this information, identify and prioritize your top 3 major choices.
Consider the following Big Questions and see which major best fits with your responses. We highly recommend you record your answers to these questions.
- What do I love learning about?
- What marketable skills do I want to have?
- How will my education prepare me to be a leader, have a personally satisfying life, and be a productive member of society?
- I’ve found that I enjoy … or I’ve found that I am good at….
- Which major will open many different doors when I graduate?
- What did I really like and what didn’t I like?
- If I choose a major, what will be my next steps and future opportunities? Does this excite me?
- How would a major fit my identity? Does it feel right to me? Can I grow and still feel confident in that major?
To aid in selecting a major, think about a previous big decision you’ve made. How did you make this decision? What was important for you to know or do before making the decision? How did it feel to make that decision? How did you feel once you made a choice and follow through with it? How did you know it was the best choice?
Once you have selected a major, or at least narrowed your options to 1-2 majors, schedule a meeting with Brent Lamons discuss your potential major choice.
Once you have completed this phase, you may continue to your Next Steps.
