I chose the wrong major. Now what?!

[wildfeather111]

During a recent "quarter-life crisis" I realized that I have most likely chosen the wrong major. I am about to be a senior in college, and I am a Sport Management major. I chose it as a freshman simply because I did not know what else to choose, and was firmly opposed to doing anything my parents had done. Now I realize that I should have chosen something that meets more of my interests, uses my strengths, and challenges me intellectually.

I attend a small liberal arts college, which my family has been scraping by to afford. There is no chance I can change my major now. With the career track I am on now, with my education and work experience, I MUST go to grad school in order to get a full time position. However, I don't want to go through the process of getting a Master's degree in something that I am not sure I have an interest in any longer. I am unsure that I have enough experience in anything else to find a career in another field.

How does one recover and find a fitting career with a degree that they are no longer interested in?

[Jcannon98188]

Ah the dangers of choosing a major as a freshman. The only thing I can think of is to switch majors. Hopefully a lot of the classes you already took will cover credits needed for another major :/

[KellyElizabeth]

Could you add a minor??

Maube try for

an entry level job and hope for life experience and maybe look to see if you can some how go to grad school for something else with your under grad, I'd also recommend talking to your counselor just to see if they have any other options, maybe there's a chance!

I hope it works out!

[leadchipmunk]

Depending on what field you want to go into, you may be able to find an entry level position that doesn't require experience or schooling. Some places will help fund schooling and you could go on from there. It might be a very entry level job (at times almost completely unrelated to what you want to do), but you can work your way up from there. I suggest just trying to find jobs somewhat related to what you want and applying no matter what qualifications it requires. Who knows, maybe they need someone to fill the position instantly but haven't gotten any suitable candidates, and the one person that has a degree (even though unrelated) and the want to move up the rank wins out over the others?

Also, could you do something else with a sports management undergrad degree? Maybe you can think outside the box and do a job that you won't hate and slowly work towards a degree that you want. Maybe get a job as a PE teacher/coach or something like that if you could? I'm not sure what Sports Management major entails.

Also what JCannon said, look to see if there is another major that has mostly the same requirements as your current track. When I was 3 quarters (before everything switched to semesters) away from graduating, I added a third major. Between it and my first major, there were only 3 courses different. You may just get lucky like that (though the only difference between my degrees was the company that sponsors it; Cisco and Microsoft).

[Raincloak]

What you wind up doing as a career is often unrelated to your major. So if you don't want to be in sports management the rest of your life, relax. Not one of my relatives, with the possible exception of a police officer who majored in psychology, is doing anything related to their bachelor's degree. (We have a lawyer who majored in zoology, another lawyer who majored in civil engineering, a federal agent who majored in some sissy liberal-arts thing, a business executive with a master's in marine science, a social worker with a degree in library science, and so forth.)

Instead of talking to us (or after talking to us), you should make an appointment with a career counselor at your school. If you have a department adviser, talk to them as well. They exist to help you find solutions to just this kind of problem.

While you're finishing the degree, make some heavy use of your school's career center. They can help you think up jobs you like (possibly with personality tests), put you in touch with people who might hire you, help you polish your resume, help you rehearse job interviews, connect you to volunteer opportunities that can lead to better skills and paying jobs you'll enjoy ... etc. etc. etc. You see, colleges keep statistics on the "hiring rate" of their graduates. They will also expect you to make donations to the school as an alumna. So it is in their interest to help you get a happy, well-paying job as soon as possible after graduating. Take advantage of their resources while you can.

You should also take the time, if you haven't yet done so, to get personally acquainted with one or two of your instructors. Go to their office hours, chat them up, show an interest in the subject and ask good questions. You may need them to write letters of recommendation for you to help you get a job. It doesn't have to be a Sport Management job; the letters can also testify that you are hardworking, have good character, are creative and awesome, good at meeting deadlines, whatever. Personal contacts are verrrry important. Besides, you're paying a fortune for the time of those professors; you might as well make sure they're really earning it.

Volunteer in a field that is related to something you want to do for a job. Or take a really moronic, low-paying job in that field and work your way up. My aunt thought she wanted to be a marine biologist, but a few years after earning the master's, she got sick of counting fish and went to Wall Street instead, worked her way up to some high rank at a mutual fund, and 30 years later she's happy and rich. It's never too late to change your career. But why wait, if you have already decided you want to change it? You don't have to change the major, just change what you're doing outside of class.

And even if your major is not related to your new dream, find ways to talk up your major and link it; for example, suppose you want to be a movie director. That has a lot of executive managing involved, lots of working with people under pressure, and lots of discipline: all of which you have studied in sports management, yes? So be a little creative. No education is ever truly wasted, even if all you learned was what not to do.

Do not say you "must" go to graduate school. You don't "have to" do anything, especially when that thing involves putting off your entry to the workforce for several more years and taking on huge additional debts. I'm not saying grad school is a terrible plan, but don't do it unless you really, really want to. The price is too high for a mediocre commitment. Ask your advisers; I suspect they will say the same thing. If you want to back out, there is always time, but the cost will only get higher from here on, so if you're going to do it, now's the best time!

And don't panic. You have the rest of your life to figure out what you want to do, and pursue it. Just try something and see if it's fun, and if it's not, evaluate and adjust accordingly. As long as you're following your true values, things will turn out okay in the end.

[PhoenixAce]

First of all, I hear you on that one. I attended a "small liberal arts school" too, and my senior year I decided I wanted to go into healthcare, not political science like my degree says. But at the time I didn't have much choice. So I finished my degree in my major, but I took as many classes in the sciences as I could before I left, which was a life saver for me emotionally. I was lucky that I had a job with the school that paid my tuition and allowed me to stay another year taking classes I was interested in. Luckily for us liberal artsers a) we're required to take classes across the board so we're "well rounded" as far as employers are concerned and there's always another general ed requirement to fulfill.

Like other people said, your bachelor's often has little to do with the field you go into. A lot of places just care that you have one, and that includes graduate schools if you wish to attend. I don't know about at your school, but at mine, seniors usually only had one or two classes to finish their major, so you could fill the rest of your credits with other classes to explore what you're into. Worst case scenario is that you market your sports management degree for the other useful generic skills you've obtained like negotiation, handling of various interests and different parties, business, etc.

Best of luck to you! Remember, life is messy. And messy things are always the most fun

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

During a recent "quarter-life crisis" I realized that I have most likely chosen the wrong major. I am about to be a senior in college, and I am a Sport Management major. I chose it as a freshman simply because I did not know what else to choose, and was firmly opposed to doing anything my parents had done. Now I realize that I should have chosen something that meets more of my interests, uses my strengths, and challenges me intellectually.

I attend a small liberal arts college, which my family has been scraping by to afford. There is no chance I can change my major now. With the career track I am on now, with my education and work experience, I MUST go to grad school in order to get a full time position. However, I don't want to go through the process of getting a Master's degree in something that I am not sure I have an interest in any longer. I am unsure that I have enough experience in anything else to find a career in another field.

How does one recover and find a fitting career with a degree that they are no longer interested in?

I have two cousins that did that major, one of which who has a Master's in it. Their mother is very well known in the women's sports world, and neither is doing anything related to that major.

On the plus side, you can get your Master's in something else closely related as long as you can get into a program. I know many engineers that have a BS in one type of engineering and went and got an MS in the other. You may be able to do something similar in management. Especially if you add in a minor.

Switching majors may also still be an option. You would have to go to school another year most likely, but you also may not have to go to grad school right away under another major either.

Also, a lot of management jobs just care that you have a degree in something from what I understand from those in the management field. You may not be able to start as high up with a degree in business admin, but you should be able to find something. I have an engineering degree and started as an engineer, but now I'm low level management.

best bet would be to see a counceler, they'll be able to give you the best advise.

[Zima]

I'm going to disagree with almost everything people have said.

What field are you trying to go into? Have you looked at jobs you can get in that field without a bachelor's degree in it? Would those jobs pay the same as the ones that require a degree?

You're a senior now. You've got a year to go. Most college majors generally take two years to complete, with the other two years being used for core requirements, minor, and unrelated classes. Do the research on the major you actually want to pursue and plan out a schedule for the future that will allow you to complete it in the shortest amount of time possible. If you have to stay an extra semester or two in order to get a degree in something you actually see yourself doing, SPEND THE MONEY AND DO IT. Take out a loan somewhere if you must. Doing a job you don't care for in order to pay the bills is a nightmare, don't let your life go down that road. Furthermore, you should NEVER get an advanced degree unless you really want to work in that field. And hey, if the field you're interested in doesn't require a master's, it could be cheaper for you to stay the extra year and get a bachelor's in that as opposed to getting a master's in the field you don't care for.

Also, research grad schools. Can you get a master's in your field of choice while having a bachelor's in a different field?

Lastly, career counselors are full of stupid advice, in my experience. Far too wishy-washy. You need to

1) figure out what you can see yourself doing, at least for several years. And I mean really, find out what the job is like. It's not always what you think. Talk to people on the job, find out what their day looks like. Find out how many hours they work, what kind of setting it is, what sort of people they work with.

2) figure out how to get that job - what degrees and experience is required

That's it. #1 is the hard part, but you have to figure this out. You don't have to decide something you'll do *for life*. Just, say, 5 years. Something you're good at and would enjoy doing for 5 years, that would pay the kind of money you'd be alright with. You really should talk to people in the fields you're considering, in specific positions, to figure this out. You've got nearly 2 months til the semester starts, so get cracking. Browse http://www.princetonreview.com/careers.aspx - that might help.

note: I too ended up studying something based on the idea that I did not want to do what my parents do. After graduating with a different degree and working two corporate jobs, I'm back in school to get the degree my parents wanted me to go for. Why? 1 - I'm really good at it. That's important. 2 - It pays much more. Also important - if you're financially secure, you can take time off to pursue your other passions or go back for another degree later on. 3 - It's actually more enjoyable than I thought, while the other jobs are *less* enjoyable for me and don't compensate me fairly for my time and effort. They also didn't take advantage of my real potential, and that's a waste. The field I'm studying, on the other hand...after years of saying "I'd never like this", I found that I actually enjoy doing the homework!

And the reason I'm stressing the doing your research aspect and potentially staying an extra year - the field I'm going into *requires* a bachelor's for nearly all jobs - or *occasionally* work experience in place of it, but who wants to work lowly jobs when you can get a degree to bypass them? Master's programs in the field also require the bachelor's in the same field. Either way, my only option was to go back to school and get a second bachelor's - which I found out I can complete in just 3 semesters. I'm taking out a loan to do so, which I know I can easily pay off. I payed off a bigger loan last time while working a job that pays less.

Final piece of advice - some people are ok with just floating around life without a plan. They can be quite happy working a variety of jobs, finding some way to enjoy them, and hoping things work out well. Others need a goal and a concrete plan on how to get there. They need a high degree of structure in their lives, and are happiest when they're on their way to achieving their goals. I fit into the latter category, which is why my advice is the way it is. I need to be in control of my life, and I hate wasting time. You could be entirely different, so keep this in mind when reading my advice as well as others'.

[msuroo]

^ I agree with all of this.

Edit to add:

Final piece of advice - some people are ok with just floating around life without a plan. They can be quite happy working a variety of jobs, finding some way to enjoy them, and hoping things work out well. Others need a goal and a concrete plan on how to get there. They need a high degree of structure in their lives, and are happiest when they're on their way to achieving their goals. I fit into the latter category, which is why my advice is the way it is. I need to be in control of my life, and I hate wasting time. You could be entirely different, so keep this in mind when reading my advice as well as others'.

I'm this same way, which is probably why I agree with everything you said. I discovered about halfway through my college career that I was really good at accounting. And I don't hate it. I mean, would I rather be a professional golfer? Sure, but that's not in the cards for me. It took me some extra time to finish all of the accounting requirements once I settled on that, and then I went on to get a Masters (which involved some hefty loans), but I don't regret it for a second.

[Blueberries]

This happened to my husband when he was maybe a sophomore? He was in a super-specialized field at a top-ranked and very expensive school. He decided to finish out where he was and started taking a lot of electives that did interest him more. Now (10/15 years later) he wishes he would have regrouped and figured out a plan to get out of it when he realized he was never going to want to pursue that field.

[Anivair]

What sort of thing did you wish you'd majored in? What are you passionate about?

[Jcannon98188]

And the reason I'm stressing the doing your research aspect and potentially staying an extra year - the field I'm going into *requires* a bachelor's for nearly all jobs - or *occasionally* work experience in place of it, but who wants to work lowly jobs when you can get a degree to bypass them?

Kind of OT, but in this economy, a degree will not allow you to bypass "the lowly jobs". I never went to college, and work right alongside people that went to college for 4+ years to do what they are doing right now. Even with a degree, you will still start at the bottom, after all almost everyone who is applying for those jobs will also have degrees.

[TheOtherScott]

Based on my experience, most employers know that a BA nearly always indicates willingness to learn and work hard, and that's enough for a lot of positions. Emphasize some universal skills you have (communication, teamwork, management know-how etc), and you'll be okay with the degree you have.

And volunteer work in the field you really love will definitely overshadow an unrelated degree.