February 2005

Briefly speaking: Help available for choosing major

Linda Hughes is program manager at the Internship and Career Center. (Julia Ann Easley/UC Davis)

A student's choice of a major is often cause for concern. Like choosing which university they will attend or whom to marry, many find themselves confused, nervous about making a commitment and worried they'll be tied into something they'll later regret.

Parents may find themselves caught up in the consternation. But choosing a major isn't a lifetime commitment and doesn't necessarily mean a student has chosen a one-way, no-exit career path.

"Students should choose a major for something they really like doing, but they should also think about all the things you can do with that major," says Linda Hughes, program manager at the campus Internship and Career Center.

Hughes says staff at the center can help open up students to the many job possibilities within a major. For example, an English major could find herself or himself in a job ranging from journalism to politics and or from marketing to insurance underwriting.

Hughes says before choosing a major or examining a career option, students must first truly know themselves -- their own strengths and weaknesses.

Online tool can help

A good first step is an extensive online tool called Elevations, which helps students assess values, skills and career interests. Elevations is available to any student with a UC Davis e-mail account.

"Many students do not have a good, articulate understanding of themselves," Hughes says. "This (tool) helps them to do that."

Students seeking more in-depth advice on choosing a major or exploring career options should make an appointment with an adviser in one of the deans' offices or at the center.

Meanwhile, the majors that UC Davis students choose have remained fairly consistent over the years. Biological sciences and psychology, respectively, have been the top choices for majors for the past six years. Managerial economics/economics has been the third most popular choice. But while biochemistry ranked fourth in 1998-99, political science has now taken its place.

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