Picking a major is a difficult thing to do. Especially when you consider that most (keep in mind that “most” is not a statistically accurate representation) people end up in careers that are not in the same field as their college major. It is also hard to tell when we are 18 years old and have never been away from home, what might interest us as a life choice.

So, my advice is to start broad, and specialize later. What I mean by this is -- since your first year’s class schedule is usually filled with required courses, why not take that time to use your elective classes to decide what you are interested in? Either wait to declare you major, or declare a liberal arts education until you are ready to decide.

Do not wait too long, however, because you may find yourself missing some necessary prerequisites for your major if you wait until your junior year to declare…and that could end up delaying graduation.

If you have had a major area of interest, say medicine or art, your entire life, you may be the type of person that can declare that major early and stick with it. But if you think you might be interested in psychology or astronomy, you may want to go the general education route until you have more classes under your belt in each area to decide which you like best.