How to choose the right major

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“So what's your major?” Tania asked.

“Nursing,” I answered.

“Nursing? I thought you were going to study theology. Are you sure you want to be a nurse?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t study anything else,” I answered confidently. Yet, behind my astounding confidence there remained a silent whispering uncertainty questioning whether I should be majoring in nursing.

My freshman and sophomore years I enrolled at Southwestern as a nursing major, planning on going to medical school right after obtaining my nursing degree. When people heard that I was a nursing major, they often asked: “So why nursing?” And I replied, “As as a nurse I can help hundreds of people while earning a good salary.” Yet, I knew that the fact that nurses help thousands of people while earning a good salary didn’t necessarily mean that I should be studying nursing.

Before the end of my second year I read the parable of the talents, and felt like the parable's unfaithful steward, who received one talent from his master and then hid it for fear of failure.                      

All my life I had always enjoyed speaking in public, listening to speeches, reading, doing mission work, as well as singing. At the same time, I had never developed an interest in health care. Both of my parents are physicians, and often I accompanied them to the hospital as well as to medical brigades, and through them I met many other healthcare providers. Since I was surrounded by what I thought were successful healthcare people, I assumed that to be happy and successful I also had to be in health care. And in my search for success I hid my talents. In other words, I ignored my passion for public speaking, and enrolled in nursing school. My sophomore year, God spoke to me several times, the icing on the cake being the parable of the ten talents. Through it, God asked me to use the talents he'd given me, instead of trying to coming up with my own. Unable to resist the implicit voice of God, I obeyed and changed my major to public relations and advertising.

How to choose a major

Here are a few suggestions if you are trying to decide what major to follow:

1.  Make a list of all your talents. When Christ comes, he is going to hold you accountable for the talents he gave you, not for your best friends or the talents you are trying to come up with. So instead of trying to come up with new talents, why not develop the ones you already have? As you develop those talents, you are preparing yourself to receive more. For talents are not man-made, they are God-given and man-developed. Have you ever seen a people who think they sing wonderfully, but can't even sing a note in tune? Well, everybody who denies their own talents will find himself, sooner or later, like an off-tune singer, trying to their own embarrassment to impress others with a man-made caricature-like talent.

2. Make a list of your priorities. Why are you in school? Is it to make money? To make a difference in society? To be respected? To find a soul mate? Be honest with yourself.

3. Ask God to help you get your priorities straight. Ask him to help you see any talent you might have overlooked, and give you discernment to choose the right major.

4.  Finally, choose a major and stick with it.

 With God at your side, you can be sure to make the right choice, for God promises that He will “instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” Psalms 32:8.