Welcome to our newest Baylor Bears, and welcom back to our returning students!  I hope your summer provided time for rejuvenation, relaxation, and most of all…career exploration opportunites.  If you follow this blog, you will quickly learn that we advocate for major and career exploration even at the earliest stages of your college experience.  Why, you might ask?

The answer is that most of you will one day try to obtain a full-time job.  For the majority of you, your college degree on its own will not be the golden ticket to employment.  Your relevant experience and your network are critical components, too, and these elements cannot be developed overnight.  Our hope is that you have already started learning about yourself and seeking ways to gain exposure to and experience in the world of work.  It is important to remember that it is never too late to start, and this is an ongoing process.

Career development can be much more targeted if you have a clear goal in mind of where you are headed, even if the goal may change.  How can you obtain relevant experience if you do not know what is relevant?  Are you unsure of your major or career goals?  The Career Counseling staff are here to help you.  We offer a process designed to help you with self-exploration, major and career comparison, and action planning.  Our services are free and confidential.  Please take this valuable opportunity to invest in your future.  You can request appointments by visiting our website and clicking the red “Request an Appointment” button on the right-hand side of the page.  We look forward to working with you!

Today we will explore a list of links available on the Career Counseling website for exploring your major, so grab a cup of coffee and join me on the tour!

1.  Majors and Prehealth Programs at Baylor

Our first stop is a list of all the majors and prehealth programs Baylor has to offer.  One really nice feature of this list is that each program is linked to the departmental website where you are sure to find even more information about the particular area, especially the list of courses you would need to take.

2.  GPA Calculator

If you are ever curious about your gpa status, this link can be very useful.  Just follow the steps for inputting your hours and grades (or anticipated grades) for your courses and you will gain a clear picture of what your gpa might look like.

3.  Majors in Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences has done a tremendous job, taking each of their majors and giving a description, course examples, and potential job opportunities.  I think this resource can be quite valuable if a major in the College of Arts and Sciences is on your list.

4.  Minors List

This link provides a list of all the minor options available at Baylor.  Since not all majors are minors and not all minors are majors, this resource can be a valuable way to gain a clear understanding of the minors offered.

5.  The Princeton Review’s Major Descriptions

The Princeton Review offers an alphabetical search of a wide variety of majors, listing descriptions of each.  If you want to get another perspective of what is involved in a particular major, this resource might be what you are looking for.

6.  What Can I Do With This Major?

Career Services has put together a generous list of resources that address this very question.  Search the list for majors of interest to you and click the bold heading for a link to a PDF with valuable information about different possible areas to pursue with the major, employers for that major, and also strategies for pursuing a career in that field.  I find the PDFs to be full of practical information.  The link below the bolded one is also filled with valuable resources ranging from links to professional associations related to the major field to actual job listings in the area, so you can see exactly what employers are looking for in the hiring process.

7.  What Can I Do With a Major In…?

For this link, we go to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  They provide a rich list of majors their school provides, linking each to a list of information and valuable resources that students with interest in that field may find useful.  One of my favorite pieces of information they provide is a list of careers that may be pursued with that major.  This list is very detailed, so you may find other careers related to your major field that you might not have thought of yet.

8.  Major Weblinks

Northern Illinois University has also put together a list of majors linked to valuable information for each.  This website is another great resource to peruse to discover more information regarding majors you are interested in.

9.  What can I do with my liberal arts degree?

If you have been asking yourself this question, then this link might be just right for you.  A click on this link will take you to an article from the Winter 2007 edition of the Occupation Outlook Quarterly that specifically explores this topic.

10.  Baylor’s Pre-Law Program

While not a major itself, Baylor’s Pre-Law program is a valuable pre-professional program that will help you prepare well for a future in law school and beyond.  This link takes you to Baylor’s Pre-Law website, which is chock full of key information necessary for pursuing the field of law, from pre-law contacts in different university departments to a timeline that will help you stay on track as you pursue your goals.

I hope these resources are helpful as you explore majors of interest to you.  Enjoy your weekend and Sic ‘Em, Bears!!!

The third session can go in a variety of directions. Sometimes you may have narrowed your list of careers and majors down to one specific thing. Other times, you may still be looking at all five different options seriously. Either of these extremes or anything in between is great!

When you visit us for the third time, we will start out by looking at your narrowed down careers list. Your career counselor will give you a worksheet to help you structure this list and include things like the career title, education needed, and why you think this career fits with you. Do you remember the things you and your career counselor discussed during the first session (interests, values, career influences, strengths, etc.)? Well, during the research time between your second and third appointments is the perfect time to bring those ideas back out, because they will help you with the narrowing down process. Also, the websites the career counselor shows you at the end of the second appointment will give you lots of detailed information to help you gain a deeper understanding of what all is involved in that career field or major.

Hopefully, after finishing your research, you will have a more focused idea of where you are headed and you and your career counselor will develop a Plan of Action with different resources and referrals (people and places) to help get you closer to making your dreams realities! The plan of action may hold websites, department contacts, professors, and professionals in the field. Really, the sky is the limit.