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No, I mean, I should try to figure out what major/degree I want in the year/half of time I have left, for when I DO transfer to another college.
Take a variety of classes and see what interests you. I would also see if you can take some interest inventories that might point you in a good direction.
Take a variety of classes and see what interests you. I would also see if you can take some interest inventories that might point you in a good direction.
Do you mean to do this when I transfer to another university, or right now at community college?
I'll answer your question with a question, what is important to you in a college/university. That is going to vary for everyone. Mainly, however, you want to make sure the school is a match for you for your intended major or majors--after that, it could be size, location, cost, sports or not, etc, etc, etc.
Agreed.
And if you don't have a major selected, you should at least have a general direction in which you are working that will help you narrow down criteria.
Criteria is so individual, what's most important is finding the right fit, all around.
What my checklist included back in the day. You can see where these would not make everyone's list:
-Needs to be small (under 5k students in student body), and have small class size
-Preferably private
-Needs to be a liberal arts college
-Reputation of personal attention from instructors
-Classes taught by full professors with a history at the school, not TAs and adjuncts.
-Needs to be majority residential, not full of off-campus and commuter students...campus life was a selling point.
-Needs to have a strong music/theatre/fine arts program that is open to non-majors
-Needs to be in rural/small town setting, vs. urban/suburban
-Needs to be somewhere new (was not interested in going where half my graduating hs class was going)
-Needs to be far enough from home that I can't run home easily if things get tough, but close enough I can drive back in a day if there is an emergency.
-Needs to have a generous grants/scholarships package accessible, as I was low income/high academic achiever.
-Needs to have a variety of foreign study options.
Ultimately, though, once all of the above was met, it boiled down to gut feeling being the decider. All other things being equal, I went for the place that, when I visited, and when I talked to faculty and students, felt the most like a place I could actually live, call home, and enjoy the highest quality of life for four years while working on my degree. Feeling that sense of belonging was critical to my success. I wouldn't have done as well at a place that felt less personal and welcoming. For some people, that really doesn't matter much, but it did to me.
I wasn't very worried about my major, because my major is at essentially every college or university. I wasn't worried about admission critera because I was a high honors student. Didn't care about sports, so athletic division/reputation was a nonissue. Didn't care about Greek stuff, so a nonissue.
OP, at the community college level, are you on a particular track, or just "general studies?" What classes are interesting you the most? What work experience do you have? What types of things do you enjoy, consider yourself skilled at. Have you done any type of career interest inventory? Most school's counseling departments and career centers will have lots of these available.
You don't need to go into college with a major set in stone, and many people do change their majors, although not that often drastically, but it's helpful to have enough of an idea that you don't spend a lot of time spinning your wheels taking a lot of classes that may not count toward what you're ultimately needing as requirements. School's costly. And if you transfer with an associate's degree, you've already got up to two years over, so it becomes pretty imperative that you have at least a rough road map sketched out for yourself.
As for experience, I took a job training course in high school and worked at the local hospital. Last summer, I worked at Goodwill. So, I have a bit of experience with work.
I DON'T know what major I want. I'm in my 2nd semester in CC, maybe I should start deciding now.
If you don't know what major you want, I would opt for a college that offers many majors in diverse fields. I made the mistake of picking a very specialized college right out of high school. Once I realized the major I picked didn't work for me, there was really no where else to turn (at that school). I ended up transferring.
Other than that, it's a balancing act between costs, expected return (job prospects, campus culture, etc.) and whether or not it's a good overall "fit" for you (for example, can you handle living and studying in a rural area, or do you prefer cities?).
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