“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

When students are considering the next step in life, they frequently get this question from adults. Whether the next step means choosing the classes for the next school year or choosing the major for your next school, the consideration of what profession you want to pursue plays a role in these decisions, no matter how far away the start of your career seems.

When you consider what you want to be, people always tell you how critical it is that you major in something that will help you advance your career in that field. However, it is possible to major in something and have a job in another field. In fact, in 2013, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that only 27.3% of college graduates had a job that was closely related to their major.

Even if you are pursuing a career that requires postgraduate study, you can still major in something that doesn’t directly correlate to it. For example, if a student wants to be a doctor, he does not necessarily have to be a STEM major. Admission rates are almost equal for science and non-science majors, and most medical schools encourage undergraduates to take a hefty load of humanities courses to demonstrate that they are concerned with more than the human body–they are concerned with the human condition.

In addition, having a major that isn’t related to your job allows you to excel at the interdisciplinary aspects of it. Continuing off the example of a person going into a medical field, if you study economics or policy analysis & management, you could better understand how the health care system works.
Most important of all, it isn’t your major that people notice–it is your experience. Having experience in internships, volunteering, or in the job market is what will put you above other applicants, not your major.

The future is uncertain, and for some, their choice in majors is even more uncertain. Though many high school students don’t know what major to choose, it is comforting to know that there are many options for all majors.