Major to Career Guide
The Four Steps of Major Decision Making
The major you choose can lead to many different career possibilities. The area you
choose to study will shape the way you view the world and have a direct impact on
your academic engagement and interest, your passion for learning, and your overall
satisfaction with college. Review the steps below to help you more confidently decide
on a major.
- STEP ONE: SELF-EXPLORATION
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Developing self-awareness is the first step in choosing a major that is a good fit
for you. A self-assessment can help you better understand your values, interests,
personality, and strengths.
Start Taking Self-Assessments
| - STEP TWO: GENERATE IDEAS
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After reviewing the results of your self-assessments, check out the complete list of academic majors at Stony Brook. Now that you have a better understanding of your interests, begin
to narrow down your majors of interest.
Provides information on the relationship between specific majors and typical career
areas, employers that hire people with each major, strategies to make you a more marketable
candidate, and professional associations and other related resources.
Highlights data and information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S.
Census Bureau for a variety of academic fields. Each page provides a glimpse of workers
with the degree and shows occupations, outlook, and more for people in that major.
| - STEP THREE: TAKE ACTION
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Research: Use reliable resources to learn more about majors that interest you and connect them
to potential career paths.
Talk: One of the most effective ways to learn about what a major/career is really like
is to have informational interviews or career conversations. Talk with:
- Professors who teach courses in subjects that interest you
- Classmates who have taken courses in your major of interest
- Major advisor
- Alumni with majors/careers that interest you
- Career Coaches in a related Career Community of interest
- Family/friends in careers that interest you
Not sure how to conduct an informational interview?
Try: Take action! Find small things that you can do to gain more in depth knowledge of
a major or career. Options include:
- Sit in on a 100, 200, and 300 level class in the major you are interested in
| - STEP FOUR: IMPLEMENTATION
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Once you have decided on a major, connect with an academic advisor to discuss your
major requirements and plan out your academic journey.
Connect with an Academic Advisor
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