Choosing a major can be a tough decision for students and can sometimes be overwhelming. However, some students already have their major in mind and are firm with their decision. Majors are a big decision in someone’s education that can potentially dictate their future. This is why it’s important to think about which major you want to go into thoroughly.
After a grueling process with college applications and financial aid, seniors at Middle College High School have already received their acceptance letters and most have made their final decision. While senior students get ready to start their next step in life, insight into what path they chose might be helpful to future seniors.
After asking seniors at MCHS to fill out a form with their intended major and reasoning, one can see the most popular majors among the class of 2024. Of all the students, biology won as the most picked major with five people choosing to go into it. Other popular majors among the students were psychology, criminology, and engineering.
There are many reasons a student chooses a major, most pick it because of their interests, personal career goals and their strengths and weaknesses. When students were asked if they had a specific reason for choosing their major most said that it had been an interest of theirs for a good amount of time. Some said it was a hobby they had for a while and would like to pursue it further and others said they wanted to bring something to their community.
For senior Josiah Valdivia, working in something he enjoyed was his goal when choosing a major. He decided to major in video game development as it was something he was always interested in.
“I’m interested in this major since I’ve always loved video games and when it came to me choosing a job I figured why not be one of the people that makes them. So I then took some classes and an elective which solidified my choice,” Valdivia said.
Valdivia wasn’t the only one that followed his passions. Senior Christian Naxi also picked a major that fit his interests, computer engineering.
“I like working with hardware electronics by fixing them. It originally started as mechanical engineering which is still a strong choice depending on how the programs are at the school I am going to, but overall I liked how my college class introduced computer/electrical engineering to me that made me decide on computer engineering,” Naxi said.
Although some students base their major on their personal interests, there are some students whose passion is helping others and making the world a better place. Senior Haidy Valencia wants to major in political science, and is an embodiment of this.
“I would want to have a career in where I would be able to help others. I believe that many times the policies that are made are what affect our lives often so I’d like to have some say there,” Valencia said.
Not everything is set in stone and some things can change in a matter of days. With this in mind, seniors were also asked if they had just stuck with one major, if they had decided to either have a backup plan or if they were interested in double majoring.
Senior Marybeth Ruiz wants to go into software engineering, a major that some schools don’t offer. To get around this she decided to go with a major that was close enough to her originally intended major.
“For colleges that didn’t offer software engineering, I applied with computer science. I applied to UCR with computer science as a first choice and mathematics as a second choice. There’s a lot of math in software development so that was one reason why and also becoming a math teacher was my backup plan,” Ruiz said.
Of course, Ruiz wasn’t the only senior who chose different majors for some schools. Student April Carbajal also chose to apply for different majors, however, her reasons were different.
“During the application process, I’ve had conflicted feelings in just taking STEM-based courses due to my major. So for some schools, I applied as a political science or history major,” Carbajal said.
No matter what major students chose, they all seemed to have a plan for their lives after high school. Choosing a major can define your future, it can either push you forward or push you back a few steps if you don’t choose a major that’s correct for you. Choosing a major based on your interest ensures that you won’t come to regret it and will be happy doing what you love.
