Find a Major

a set of diamonds outlining the five steps: Engage in Opportunities; Expand Your Self-awareness; Expand Your Major and Career Awareness; Reflect; Decide
It’s normal to not know what major you are interested in or to change majors. Each year, around 4,000 CU Boulder students start their college experience as open option or exploratory studies, which is almost 40% of all first-year students. Of the first-year students who start their CU Boulder experience with a declared major, 40% of those students will change their major.

Consider these common misconceptions about the connection to your major and future career.

There are additional factors that set you up for working in a meaningful job. Consider your social identity, skills, personality, culture, geographical location, interests and values.

We recommend using this process to expand your awareness of yourself and your options so that you can make an informed decision about your next step.

Steps to Take

1. Engage in opportunities 2. Expand your self-awareness 3. Expand your awareness of majors 4. Reflect 5. Decide
1. Engage in opportunities
  • Try a class or two from that major if you aren’t in a rush to declare a major. Meet with an academic advisor from that area to get recommendations on which classes provide you with a good idea of what that major will be like.
  • Gain different experiences to gain clarity on what you like (and do not like). Explore Handshake for part-time jobs and internships and review opportunities for on-campus jobs.
  • Review BuffConnect to find student organizations that sound interesting and to further clarify topics that are appealing to you.
  • Use CUServes to find local volunteer opportunities to identify additional topics you may enjoy working on.
  • Connect with students in the majors you’re considering to hear what their experience has been like.
  • Make a list of topics that interest you and consider how you like to learn (through reading and writing or more hands-on?). Then, prioritize the topics that are of most interest and you could see yourself studying for several years.
  • Clarify your values to help you identify what’s most important to you, understand how that impacts your worldview and help you make a decision. The is a simple, free and fun self-reflection tool for anyone to use and apply to their own careers at any time.
  • Utilize the free challenge cards to clarify the problem(s) you’re motivated to solve.
  • Complete the Majors Card Sort to see what majors might align with your interests.
  • Check out the “What Can I Do with This Major?” resource to see if some of the careers associated with that major look interesting to you.
  • Search the for the majors to learn more about what it’s like. Read the course descriptions to see if the individual courses look interesting. Consider how much flexibility you have in the required courses and if that aligns with your interests.
  • Review the requirements and applications for each major. Look at specific classes and see if those look interesting to you. Read through the department website to see what opportunities are available to students in that major.
  • Review Programs from a Different Lens to explore additional academic options.
  • If you know what kind of career you’re interested in, utilize the I want to ... website to explore majors that connect with your interest.
  • What have you learned about yourself through this process?
  • What opportunities are you interested in for the majors you’re considering?
  • What are your assumptions about the majors you’re considering?
  • What is your mindset about the different majors you’re considering?
  • How do you know you would like the majors you’re considering?
  • What have you found most surprising about the majors you’re considering?
  • What is one thing you’d change about each of the majors you’re considering?

Are you ready to decide? If not, that’s OK. Meet with a member of your career team to review your reflections and experiences as they can help you identify the themes and how to take the next step.

If you’re ready to declare a major, meet with an academic advisor to confirm your decision.