I'm thinking of changing my major in college and am unsure how to pick a new one?
Well, teaching is the most common field for people who love kids and want to help them, but here are some others for you to consider.
1. Social Work--you can work as an advocate for kids in trouble, or kids in foster care, or kids who have been abused.
2. Attorney--you can specialize in family law, and making sure kids are taken care of in things like divorces and custody cases--you can also work in a juvenile court, or prosecute people who commit crimes against kids--you could also end up a judge in juvenile or family court.
3. Special Education--it's a branch of teaching, but deals with kids with special needs.
4. Pediatric Medicine--be a kid's doctor--there are literally a gazillion choices, from a pediatric oncologist (cancer specialist) to a regular pediatrician to a pediatric psychiatrist or psychologist.
5. Speech Therapist--most speech therapists work with kids who have speech problems, like stutters or lisps.
6. Obstetrics--a medical doctor who specializes in pregnancy and delivery of babies.
7. Midwife--deals exclusively with pregnant women and delivering babies.
8. Early Childhood Development--some people go on to teach, but you can specialize in a lot of things which have to do with young children, from teaching to mentoring to being a kid's advocate in court by becoming a temporary guardian for legal procedures. There are a ton of things which go with early childhood development, including being a pre-school teacher or a regular teacher in the very early grades.
9. Librarian--you can specialize in being a children's librarian, and can work in most libraries, from public to school libraries.
Really, there are a ton of majors which have applications if you want to work with kids. You need to decide what really interests you, and then decide how you can work that into a career with kids. It will be easier to decide that way than to start out broadly with the goal of working with kids, and then trying to narrow it down. You'll probably end up a lot happier that way, too.
Good luck.
I'm thinking of changing my major in college and am unsure how to pick a new one?
Helping kids is a very generic idea. That can encompass everything from a teacher to a councilor to the administrator of an aid agency. Which means you could study anything from teaching to medicine to business - and many in between.
If you're not really sure what you want to do, I would suggest just taking general ed classes for now and then try to do some volunteering at a variety of places that encompass jobs you might consider.
I currently have an assistant manager who graduated with a bachelor's in Psychology but didn't know what she wanted to do until she spent the summer working as an aid in her dad's special education class.
Teachers, Daycare workers, Social Workers, Doctors, Counselors, Physiologists, Athletic Coaches, Occupational and Physical therapists, and the list goes on.
sociology - become social worker
teaching - become a teacher
psychology - school counselor
business - make a business for children, kinda like YMCA
your options are pretty much endless
Do you know who your academic adviser is? Try to find the time to talk to them. They are paid to help you make decisions like that.
You will change you major many times and once you do it it becomes easy!
spin a wheel
