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Choosing a Major Essay

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Choosing a Major

Some people already know by the age of seven that they want to become a pilot or nurse; others, however, have more difficulties deciding what to do with their future. People who decided to go to a university or college have to make an important choice: what major are they going into? For many people this is a very difficult question. As the statistics show, one out of five students change their major between admission and the first day of classes. Nearly three out of four students change majors at least twice before they graduate. And three out of four college students express uncertainly about their major. These striking results raised some questions for me. Is it really necessary to choose a major? What influence …show more content…

You can’t learn much biology without learning the connections to chemistry or physics. You can’t analyze much sociological data without realizing that you need to know statistics, political structures, historical patterns, and cultural qualities. “In every field of inquiry both the methods and the content are linked to other fields.” Northrop explains. So, one of the things you learn in a major is the interdependence of knowledge. P. Rose, director of Career Planning and Placement at the University of Pennsylvania, agrees. She sees a major as the window you are picking from which to view the world. Since a rigorous study in that major will lead you to related disciplines, it will also provide a framework for investigation of disciplines far removed from the major itself. Nonetheless, Rose thinks you need a foundation to build on first. After you achieved a significant depth of understanding in one discipline that is your major, then you will have patterns and solutions that you could apply in a totally different field. Thus, your major is the necessary foundation to engage in creative problem solving in other fields.

Whatever reason you have for deciding on a major, the colleges require you to do so. “What is your intended major?” is a frequently asked question on the many college application forms. But how do you know what to choose before you get there? There may be some fields you

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