Writing skills were a close second.

Uh, a ton of doctors started as biology majors. That’s a pretty standard pre-med major. And I can’t speak for criminologists, but “practical” majors like criminology and criminal justice are disfavored in law school applicants. Studies show that students with “useless” majors like English or biology tend to do better in law school.

College can cost thousands of dollars and so much time. Get real, implying that the major is not important is financial suicide! How many doctors, accountants, engineers, criminologists, nurses started as English or biology majors? Now that jobs are scarce and the competition fierce, who wants to make a costly, useless choice? Paying that much for friendship and contacts, well…… it does not grab be either.

Just hoping that teens do not read you and take your advice seriously…

But there’s a lot of good advice in this post. I wish someone had been mentioned them to me a few years ago before I went to college. I studied hard and did well, but the “make lasting relationships” thing wasn’t tops on my list. But that’s partly my personality and I don’t regret how it worked out. Oh, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a “cheap” state school. I’d take $60k in tuition for 4 years over 1 year at a fancy school.

Good point. :) But you never know.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t people who will do better in the military or a trade school. But by and large, let’s not dismiss college just because spending four years studying, I don’t know, English literature seems “useless” to someone.

The commenter who said that this article is for college students starting tomorrow is right. The decision has been made, and tomorrow is the start of a new adventure! My congratulations to the kids who are starting college, and you should probably take Trent’s advice.

I have my doubts that this blog attracts teens, but you are right to qualify my comment with that in mind.

I live on LI, NY, where the competition is pretty intense. There are many wealthy kids who get college “coaches” directing their extra-curriculars, and contests, and class choices, from grade 9. They “coach” the essays. (I do not approve of such things.) There are so many excellent public schools, and a glut of college prep private schools as well, that while colleges insist they have no quota, there are limits to how many from a school/town/LI they will take. Everyone, and I mean everyone who possibly can, pays thousands for SAT/ACT courses. We did one of those. From first practice to the actual test, our daughter’s SAT score went up 250 on the SAT. I recommend the courses, and do not regret going all out on that.

A far as business connections I got my first job from a professor, and my newest gig, teaching grad school, from my advisor in grad school! And I get terrific recommendations from advisor from my other masters, which still gets me calls for teaching interviews, even when I am not looking, and jobs are scarce. I am sure she has other fine students, but I behaved like I was going to work, not class. I was older than the other students, and understood this. Always make the best possible impression on your teachers. If you want them to think of you for professional gigs, behave like a professional in your classes.
Often employers will call a school, and the head of the dept. will recommend the student they know will show up on time, and get work done on time.

That said, I do agree that it isn’t necessary to have a firm major in mind when starting college. (Back in my college days, we didn’t have to declare a major until junior year!) I’m a strong believer in broad application that liberal arts classes give a person. When my daughter was visiting colleges, the admissions people seemed delighted that she hadn’t yet selected a major. However, these days if you decide after your freshman year to go pursue a specific career, you can be behind & take additional years to complete all the required courses because of the way some degree tracks are built (engineering is a good example).

Having just read Dave Ramsey’s book (finally), I found his chapter on saving for college most interesting.

Among other reasons, in many majors (such as sciences and languages), you have to take a lot of introductory classes before you even get to the ones that count toward the major. If you don’t get started on the introductory sequence right away, you might not be able to finish your degree in four years, which means paying an extra year’s tuition.

Yes, there are a lot of people (like Trent) who don’t end up working in something related to their major. But there are also a lot of people (like me) who do. Your choice of major doesn’t dictate your whole path in life, but it does close off some paths, or at least makes them much, much harder. So it *is* a big decision.

(And in case any high school students are reading kristine’s comment and panicking because their schools don’t offer mentorships or that many AP classes, don’t worry – colleges will take that into consideration. Take advantage of all the opportunities made available to you, and do your best to make some opportunities of your own, and you’ll be fine.)

As for the second and third points, I think these are subjective things that likely differ from person to person, from major to major, and from campus to campus.

And for all those people whining about the value of a college education…this is quite clearly a post on getting the most out of your college experience—a decision that has already been made.