With so many majors and minors to pursue at UO, being an Exploring student can feel overwhelming. Before you feel the need to answer the big question and declare a major, take the time to think about some smaller, more manageable questions and discuss your answers with an advisor.
Identify your abilities, values, interests, and goals
- In a conversation, what are the most important things I want others to know about me?
- What are my strengths? In school? In the community? Within my family? Within my group of friends?
- When I reflect on my past jobs, volunteer experiences, and internships, what did I like the most and what did I like the least? What sort of skills did I enjoy using or learning to use?
- Which school projects, hobbies, or activities are so fun that I lose track of time?
- What drives or motivates me to do my most meaningful or important work?
- What are problems or issues in the world that I wish I could solve?
Investigate college majors, coursework, and careers
- Which majors does UO offer? Which seem most interesting?
- What skills do I hope my favorite majors will teach me? Do these match what I am seeing in the course titles and descriptions?
- What are the daily tasks in the careers I am considering? Am I interested in doing them?
- What is the work environment like in these careers? Energetic with lots of people interaction? Quiet? Always changing or relatively steady? Which might motivate me to do my best work?
- Will I be working mostly with people, number and data, ideas and theories, or material things? Which one do I most prefer or what is my best mix?
Network with students and career professionals
- Who do I already know who is working in my major(s) of interest? Can my parents, relatives, or friends help connect me with someone they know in my fields of interest?
- What companies would I like to work for in the future?
- If you were to interview someone within your major of interest, what are you most curious to know that you have not already found out online?
- If you were to interview someone working in your career field of interest, what questions would you ask them?