Set Your Direction

Did you land in college without any idea of what to major in or what to do after college? Join the club: "Undecided" is the most popular major for first year students.

Or maybe you started a program ,but now you're having doubts. Is it really for you? The first step in finding your direction is to get a better sense of yourself.

Get to know yourself

Take the time, every term or at least every year, to sit down and evaluate yourself and your situation. What are your main abilities and interests? Are you making the most of them in college? How would you like to improve? Bring a close friend or relative into the conversation. Are you headed in the right direction in college?
Go to your college career and counseling office and ask to complete a career assessment. It will help you identify your strengths.
Ask an advisor at your college for help, or take a class in direction-finding, such as Xavier University's Career and Life Planning course.
Experiment to find out what classes or activities suit you. College is a time to explore. Maybe you can't draw, but find you're great at computer modeling. Maybe you'll consider running an organization after you've been in charge of a successful fund-raiser.

Think about possible majors

Study the courses different majors require. Would they interest you - or bore you? Challenge you or scare you?
Talk to teachers and academic advisors about majors you're considering. Ask about related fields - you may learn about something new.
Ask people you know what they studied in college, and why. How did it fit with their later work?
Find out what majors or studies are important for jobs that interest you. Look at career publications on the web or in the library.

Look at majors at your college

If you're happy at your college, you may want to choose a field of study from its offerings. You'll find listings and descriptions of majors on their websites. Use these links to find programs and majors at colleges and universities in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College - www.cincinnatistate.edu/courses/program_courses.aspx
College of Mount Saint Joseph - www.msj.edu/academics/majors
Gateway Community and Technical College - www.gateway.kctcs.edu/new/programs.htm
Northern Kentucky University - www.nku.edu/academics.php
Thomas Moore College - www.thomasmore.edu/academics/
University of Cincinnati - www.uc.edu/programs/findprog.asp
Xavier University - www.xavier.edu/undergraduate_programs

Look at careers

When you choose a major, you're choosing a career - or at least shaping it. So think about the jobs that you could get with a degree or certificate in the area of study you're considering.

Visit your college's career information office. Look at publications and talk to advisors there.
An especially useful tool is the "World of Work," a diagram created by the American College Testing program (ACT). It shows how interests or abilities relate to all types of career possibilities in the United States today.

The possible job activities are divided into working with:
Data: Facts, numbers, files, business procedures
Ideas: Knowledge, insights, theories, new ways of saying or doing something
People: Care, services, leadership, sales
Things: Machines, tools, living things, and materials such as food, wood, or metal

Even though you're busy with college, take the time to explore workplaces and talk to people who may be doing what you'd like to do. Ask to shadow or interview people on the job to gain more information.
Take a part-time or summer job that's related to your career interests for insight into the work and for practice in the field.
Ask your advisor or the career services office about internship and co-op possibilities. An internship is a paid or unpaid temporary job meant to help a worker learn about a business or career. A co-op job is a paid temporary job in a student's field which alternates with academic study. Both kinds of experience are terrific for getting a permanent job later. For more information on co-op possibilities, visit the Strive Partner Co-op Coordinators.