Choosing the Right Major: Insights and Experience for College Students
Author: Admin
Date: February 5, 2011
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In today's ever-changing market, the major you choose upon entering college may not be as relevant by the time you graduate and seek a diploma. It is important to understand the scope of applicable majors and the advantages of non-applicable ones. Applicable majors often have a narrow focus, leading students to learn without critical thinking, which in terms of skill development is not much different from learning how to drive. This kind of vocational training does little to cultivate adaptability in students.
Non-applicable majors are different. For example, when I teach about ancient Greek history, I encourage students to discuss whether Athens or Sparta had a more suitable system for their society at that time. I emphasize that even if you end up in business after obtaining your associate degree, such discussions are crucial exercises. For instance, if Walmart sends you to open a branch in an unfamiliar country, you must have the ability to analyze which structural form would be most suitable within the local social and institutional framework. A humanistic education can elevate human experience to an abstract level of thought, laying the foundation for cultivating top-tier talent across various fields. However, many excellent students in China compete fiercely to enter undergraduate programs in management and law, which represents a waste of educational resources and talent.
Since the 1980s, Chinese universities have shown a clear trend: applicable majors are growing larger and hotter, while non-applicable majors are shrinking and becoming colder. In the humanities, for example, business management and law have become increasingly popular, with the highest admission scores, while literature and history remain relatively quiet, with lower admission scores. This trend is evident across all levels of universities, clearly reflecting misconceptions about undergraduate education from both universities and students alike.
In my upcoming book "The Staircase of American Education," I discuss how American college students are also increasingly favoring practical majors. Among these, business management is the most popular, accounting for over 24% of students. However, elite universities like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton do not follow this trend. At Yale, the most popular major is history; at Princeton, it's political science; and at Harvard, it's social sciences. History, political science, social sciences, economics (theory), English (literature), psychology, etc., have always been the most popular majors at elite universities. In contrast, in our top universities, the Chinese department often feels it is not practical enough, going to great lengths to create editing or even secretary majors to cater to the market, turning universities into vocational schools. Many educators and parents misguide students when choosing majors. My advice to students is twofold: first, choose a major you are passionate about. The essence of education dictates that you can only excel in areas where you have passion. Second, avoid so-called "nonsense majors" like management and law as much as possible. These majors not only require high scores but offer subpar educational content. Instead, carefully consider history, literature, and social sciences. Traditional disciplines in literature and history, if they have strong faculty and low admission scores, and you enjoy them, will yield great benefits. Even if you plan to go into business later, studying these subjects still offers advantages.
Why say this? First, the nature of universities has changed. In the past, universities were for a select few, and a bachelor's degree was essentially a professional certificate. Nowadays, with continuous university expansion, college graduates are commonplace. People won't assume you're a professional just because you hold a bachelor's degree. Simply put, universities are increasingly resembling high schools of the past. Therefore, for those who wish to become professionals, choosing a major in university should not focus on immediate job alignment after graduation but rather on what kind of major can best prepare you for graduate studies.
Second, why are non-applicable majors better than applicable ones? Non-applicable majors allow students to escape the confines of narrow utilitarian demands, cultivating broad perspectives and analytical skills, making them more adaptable. For instance, I once met a software designer in his sixties who had a very successful career and even started his own company. He studied humanities as an undergraduate and sculpture for his graduate studies. He still practices sculpture, and his works have reached museum-level quality. However, since sculpting couldn't support his family, he worked at a computer company early in his career, learning software design on the job and quickly becoming a professional. He told me that in his generation, there were no software design majors in university, but after graduation, when faced with new opportunities, they learned quickly and succeeded. Interestingly, many successful people in his generation who entered this field were artists, likely due to their greater imagination. Now, software design has become standardized and specialized. Younger generations trained in these fields have excellent technical skills, but the products they design often lack creativity. Especially now, the purely technical aspects of this industry are frequently outsourced to India. Having good technical skills might even cost you your job. However, he is an artist-type designer who excels in understanding user product needs through interpersonal interactions with local companies and coming up with imaginative designs. This is something craft-oriented talent in India cannot replace, making him an evergreen expert.
Third, precisely because of this, undergraduate education in universities has become generalist education, focusing on developing analytical thinking, insight, and interest while fostering basic humanistic concerns and ethics. In these aspects, non-applicable majors like history and literature align more closely with the goals of generalist education. I tell my students: if you want to go into business, study business-related courses, but how can a bachelor's degree alone get you into the management class? You still need to pursue a graduate degree in business school. However, having an undergraduate degree in business actually puts you at a disadvantage when applying to business school. Top business schools generally prefer not to admit undergraduates with business backgrounds, finding such students limited to the narrow technical skills taught in vocational schools, lacking broad vision and adaptability, and unable to achieve greatness. The more you study business at the undergraduate level, the more it hinders you from becoming a corporate elite. The same applies to law. In the U.S., there are no undergraduate law majors. Students aiming for law school often choose history or political science, as this background gives them an edge in the competition to enter law school. Although this is the ideal situation in the U.S., China will eventually move towards this direction.
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