Choosing your major: A guide to finding the right online program
Getting started | More tips | Changing course | Selecting a program | Practical online majors
After deciding to earn a degree in the first place, selecting your major for an undergraduate degree is probably the biggest choice you’ll make when going to college. Your major dictates the classes you’ll take and can have a vital impact on the career choices available to you once you graduate.
Earning a degree online offers flexibility, convenience and the opportunity to pursue your academic goals while managing work, family or other commitments. By taking the time to understand the numerous factors to consider when choosing an online major, you can empower yourself to make an informed decision that aligns with your unique interests and career aspirations.
Getting started: assessing yourself and your goals
There are a lot of different ways to start thinking about what you want to major in. One important thing to determine early on is whether a school allows you to declare your major before or after enrolling.
Some schools, both online and in-person, require you to pick your major right away. Others allow you some time to take classes and declare your major after a few terms. Many schools also allow you to change your major if you decide, but schools can have differing policies around this.
Identify your passions, skills and strengths
Shannon Shivers, Coordinator of Outreach & Instruction for the University Exploratory Studies Program at Oregon State University (OSU), said that one of the first steps she takes with students figuring out what they want to study is conducting a self-assessment. This includes helping them identify what interests and excites them, what they might want to do after college and what their strengths are. This could include formal assessments but often it simply requires a candid conversation.
“I like the definition of strengths as things that make you feel strong, things that make you feel really good and empowered when you do them and excited to do them,” Shivers said.
This is different than simply identifying what you’re good at. After all, people are often good at some things that they don’t really enjoy doing. Shivers herself was always strong at math, but she knew she’d never be happy in a mathematics-centered job. Instead, start by thinking about what subjects excited you as a child, activities that make you feel proud and your core personal values.
Think about the career you want
Since your college degree is meant to set you up for a career, it makes sense to think about what kind of career you want and then determine what college major can help you get there. This goes hand-in-hand with the initial conversation about a student’s interests and strengths.
Career counselors and other academic support staff like Shivers often administer career assessments to help students narrow down some possible career options based on their identified interests, such as the free online assessment offered by O*NET.
“The other nice thing about [a career assessment] is that it will start generally linking more to careers than to majors. And I think that that’s often a better strategy to figure out, ‘Okay, what career do I want to go into?’ There’s going to be multiple pathways to get to that career, so you’re not locked in and you have choices.”
On the other hand, Shivers said, if you try to pick a major first and choose a career from there, it could lead to disappointment later on. Shivers said that the psychology major is just one possible example of this.
“A lot of people like the psychology major and a lot of people go from psychology to counseling careers, but psychology class in undergrad is not at all like being a counselor, right? Sometimes the experience of being in a major doesn’t reflect the actual job experience very well, so it can be better to go the other direction.”
Although this can be a helpful strategy, it doesn’t mean you need to have your whole career figured out before you even start school.
Try new things and reassess
Once a student has identified their interests, strengths and some possible career paths, it’s time to start taking actions that can give you a sense of what a major or future career might be like.
“An action could be going to a club to try something out. That can be a little harder for [online] students, but there’s often panels, events or speakers that we bring to campus that are brought in and are accessible virtually so that [online] students can access those and get that information,” Shivers said.
If you don’t have to declare a major right away, you can also start by taking a variety of classes in different subjects early on in your degree program. This can give you a taste of what’s out there—you might end up loving a subject you never thought to major in. Shivers said that internships are another actionable way to try something out and see if you like it.
Even once you’ve picked a major, Shivers said the process isn’t over quite yet.
“It’s ongoing. I think it’s really important to note that the world is always changing, we are always changing. This has to be reassessed because your interests and your values can change, especially as they get tested and you try new things.” A student may think they really like chemistry, for example, but after doing it for two terms straight, they may realize that they don’t like it as much and decide they want to pivot.
More tips for choosing a major (and what to avoid)
Once you’ve started thinking about what you’d like to major in, there are several other strategies to keep top of mind that may help you on your journey.
What not to do
Picking a college major is a huge decision that should be motivated by you and your individual passions and goals. As you consider this decision, try to avoid being pressured into a career path or field by family members or peers, however well-meaning they may seem. Even our best-intentioned loved ones can project their own judgements, hopes and desires and fail to recognize what’s really best for us. Picking a major that doesn’t truly inspire joy and curiosity can lead to an unhappy career later on.
Another thing to avoid is picking a major and career path based solely on its earning potential. Shivers said that people who choose majors based on the money they hope to earn often do themselves a disservice. For one, someone that lacks true passion or interest in what they’re doing is going to be prone to burnout. For another, they’re probably not going to be as good at that job because they don’t really have any personal stake in it.
Shivers said that she also frequently reminds students not to feel “stuck” on a career path based on your major. The reality is that most majors can be applied to many different fields, so Shivers emphasized that your major doesn’t have to define your entire career.
“For a lot of the liberal arts majors that make people wonder, ‘What can I do with this?’ a lot of those people go into [human resources] and business jobs. And a lot of those students would hate an HR or business major.”
Shivers said that she tries to steer people away from the way of thinking that assumes most degrees only lead to specific career paths.
“A lot of people think that you get an engineering degree and then you get an engineering job, but you can be a little more creative than that. And that’s actually more typical.”
What if I’m having regrets?
Lots of students getting a college education wonder at some point whether they picked the right major. Sometimes a change of course is necessary, but every school’s policy varies on whether or when you can change your major. For some people this question pops up later when they’re already in a career and wondering if they made the right move.
Shivers pointed out, however, that most degrees and careers are going to equip you with skills that can translate to other fields.
“I also like to talk to students about transferable skills. Teaching is a really common one—a lot of people go into education and then they get burned out and they leave teaching. Then they’re thinking, ‘Well now what am I going to do since all I trained for was to be a teacher?’” Shivers said. “But as a teacher you’ve got a lot of really great strong skills in organization, planning, creating workshops, talking to children, using tools and so much more. Your degree is more than the sum of its parts. You can go in a lot of different directions and you don’t have to feel trapped, even if you do end up in something more linear.”
Find your new online program and get connected to schools
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Selecting your school and program
Once you have a good idea of what you want to study, it’s time to start exploring schools that offer the degree programs you’re interested in. With so many online degree programs available, it can be a challenge narrowing down where you might actually want to attend. Considering some essential features can help you get started:
Practical online majors
Any online degree can help propel you into a satisfying career if you understand how to leverage that degree in your favor. That said, there are some online majors which are especially flexible and set students up for in-demand careers, making them a practical choice for anyone wondering what to study:
Final thoughts
Choosing an online major is a significant decision. By taking the time to carefully consider your passions, skills and career goals, you can pave the way to an online degree program that sets you on the path to a successful and fulfilling future. Don’t shy away from available resources if you need some help—career counselors, academic advisers and even trusted friends and family can all be tapped into for guidance and advice.
Remember to be kind to yourself throughout the process. Picking a college major can sometimes feel like a life-defining moment that opens some doors and closes others forever. Shivers said that she likes to reference John Krumboltz’s planned happenstance theory when working with students. His theory essentially states that it’s okay not to plan for everything because serendipitous opportunities can often lead to great careers.
“It’s all about how it’s important to put yourself in new situations and try new things because you never know what something could lead to.”
With professional insight from:
University Exploratory Studies Program, Oregon State University
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All Online Schools is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.
All Online Schools is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.