What do you do when you can't pick a major?

Liberal Arts. It won’t get in the way of teaching.

Some colleges have an Interdiscplinary program for indecisives. I had two friends in college who chose to do this, late in their studies [i.e. junior year] so they wouldn’t have to remain in school for longer than their classmates.

“Interdisciplinary study degree programs are available at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree levels. Students enrolled in an interdisciplinary studies degree program usually choose at least two areas of concentration. Interdisciplinary students can create their own major with virtually any combination of topics, such as history, science, math, cultural studies, media studies, computer science or international relations.”

“This 4-year degree is often conferred as a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies or a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. Students can combine tracks, such as social and natural sciences, media and film studies, fine arts and humanities or information systems and computer science. Many undergraduate interdisciplinary studies programs are geared toward working adults. Consequently, many schools often offer part-time, evening and online classes.”

The thing is, no one ever tells you this degree exists. Not sure why. Good luck!

You could take a break from school and do something else for a while to buy some thinking time.

I highly advise not taking time off from school.

Pick something and then work around it. A cool thing about graduating from college (that no one ever tells you) is that you can learn stuff afterwards too.

@squirbel I’ve never heard of that but it sounds really interesting. I’m gonna look into it thanks!

Well if you’re like me you decide you want to go to law school because that is off in the vague future, several years away. Then you pick a major which will help you in law school, such as History, Political Science, or English Literature. You can pick other majors for law school of course, but these are the best ones.

I took History as my major and law school worked out well for me.

I could never be a lawyer but I was thinking of majoring in English or history. I could teach one of those subjects

What do you enjoy studying? At what level do you hope to teach? If you are planning to teach elementary school, you might as well major in something you really enjoy. If you wnt to teach at the high school level, you might want to focus more on a specific discipline.

Wouldn’t it be easiest to major in Education if you want to be a teacher? Then you can get your teaching certificate while you’re in school instead of having to go through a transitional or temporary teaching certificate later.

Well, it’s crunch time. Go with math or any other academic major if you want to teach.

Your university probably has a Career Services office. Go there and speak to a career counselor. They should also have some personality tests that you can take such as the Myers-Briggs Test, which the counselor can then help you interpret the results of. The best part about the Myers-Briggs test in particular is that there is data as to what kinds of careers people with your same personality ‘type’ end up in.

I changed my major 17 times and I stressed myself out….take what you want to learn…not what other people think you should learn

Get a job.

I want to be a high school teacher. But at my school we can’t major in education, they recommend that we major in the field that we want to teach. If I wanted to teach at an elementary level then I could major in education. I just can’t figure out what subject to major in. I wanted math but it’s too hard

@Justnice: If you’re really sure you want to be a teacher, then it sounds like that’s not the right school for your. If you stay at a school without an education program you’re going to pay thousands of dollars for your BA, and then pay thousands more dollars for your teaching certification, when you could have gotten two for one, spent your time doing what you really loved, and entered the work force 1–2 years sooner.

I agree with @La_chica_gomela.

In my opinion, your first step should be to see what your state teaching requirements are. If you major in math and that’s what you want to teach, you might only need to take a semester or two of education courses and pass some state tests in order to become a credentialed teacher. The career center at your school might have some information about this, and they might be able to help you craft a plan.

Also, see if you can get some classroom experience, either through a community program, a university-based program, or AmeriCorp/Teach for America. That way you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into and you’ll be better prepared to take on your own class(es) when the time comes.

By the way, you’ve got a tremendous advantage over some people. At least you have a clear idea of what you want to do in life! If it takes even a year after your BA/BS to become certified, it will be well worth it. Good luck!