Honest, objective reflection on your personal preferences and previous academic experiences are essential to the major decision making process. It is important that you evaluate the evidence available to you, so that your decisions can be as accurate and informed as possible.

Start by evaluating your academic progress. Use Banner Web to review your CAPP Report/Degree Evaluation. What is your Cumulative GPA? How many credits have you completed? Are you able to recognize any patterns? Is there a group of classes where you have done better/worse in the past?

Ask Yourself

• What are my values?
• Are my decisions and choices influenced by certain religious or philosophical beliefs and teachings?
• What are my motivations?
• Are outside pressures (from family, peers, or the job market) shaping and influencing my decisions?
• Am I choosing a major because I believe it will be easy?
• Is my primary motivation based on the amount of money I believe I can earn in a given field rather than interest in the field itself?

Academics

It is important to take careful consideration of your academic abilities. Is it reasonable for you to build strengths and skills in the areas necessary to be successful in a particular field of study? Try making projections for your success in certain academic areas: Will you receive higher grades in a natural science major than a humanities degree? If you have experienced poor academic performance in the past was it based primarily on lack of aptitude or lack of effort? If lack of effort, will you have time, money, and motivation to make up for the previous poor performances?