Choosing a major in college can be one of the most important decisions a young student makes to shape their future. Ultimately, it is deciding what kind of classes you will be paying thousands of dollars for and what type of academic background you will have. This all goes without saying. I’ve heard more than one student say that you should major in what you love, and that your major doesn’t matter. I’ve also heard stories of students who chose a major they anticipated had the most employability after college.

I think that these are both valid reasons to major in something, but ultimately what it boils down to is what kind of experience you are seeking from college.

Do you want to spend your days in science labs, gaining the skills necessary to understand and write reports based on experiments? Do you want to take art classes, and really challenge what you can achieve with your artistic skills? Regardless of what you choose, you are going to be gaining some kind of experience you can carry with you into your desired workplace.

The kicker is that not everyone who majors in something specific ends up working in that field when they graduate.

This is often true for majors like “Philosophy” or “Statistics.” There are no real “Philosopher” positions out there that aren’t general teaching positions, but an understanding of philosophy can help in law, business, writing, or truly anything that requires a critical understanding of ideas. Similarly, “statistician” positions are rare, and you will most likely be working some kind of analyst role.

My point is that regardless of what you love or what you think will be the most employable, concentrate on what you want to gain out of college.

Think deeply about the classes you will be taking, read through each of their syllabuses and try to gather what you can about the types of skills you will be learning. You might be shocked about how much or how little a major can prepare you for the workforce. In the end, it is your wallet that pays the price, so make sure you are getting absolutely everything you can out of your college education and truly consider everything your major can offer you and everything it can’t so you can make sure you are getting your money's worth.