The University of Toledo

Career and Major Exploration

Deciding on a major and a career is an important decision.  By choosing a major that fits with your interests, abilities, values and circumstances, you are more likely to enjoy the classes you take, feel academically challenged and be motivated to finish your degree. 

Here are some resources that will help in the decision making process.  We would be happy to meet with you to discuss an action plan for choosing a major:

4-Step Career Development Process

Your Career Development Process provides a step-by-step look at the stages of career development, from self-assessment to creating an action plan. There is a checklist with resources and programs at UT that can be used to carry out each step, as well as a suggested activity. For many, this is a life-long process, whether deciding on your major to moving into your 5th career!

Step 1: Self Assessment
Step 2: Career Awareness
Step 3: Decision Making
Step 4: Action Planning

Deciding on a major tip sheet

UT's Majors and Programs
Explore more than 230 majors and degree programs offered at UT - chances are if you are thinking of a career, we offer a degree to get you there!

FOCUS is a self‐paced, online career and education planning tool for use by college students. It will enable you to self‐assess your career relevant personal qualities and explore career fields and major areas of study that are most compatible with your assessment results. Students who use FOCUS make better decisions about their goals and plans and how to self-manage careers. FOCUS is provided free of charge to currently enrolled students, alumni, and employees.

 Focus Career Exploration Login  (Focus Instructions)

UT Resources:

Informational interview/ job shadow: Informational interviews offer a way to explore a career field in thirty minutes or less

What can I do with a Liberal Arts degree?

AL 1120 Career and Self Evaluation class:  This course will work with you to explore academic options and how they relate to careers. You will also take assessment tests to identify what majors fit your strengths and interests and begin to develop a plan for deciding on your major.

Additional Resources:

O*Net Online

The O*NET program is the nation's primary source of occupational information. Central to the project is the O*NET database, containing information on hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors. The database, which is available to the public at no cost, is continually updated by surveying a broad range of workers from each occupation. Information from this database forms the heart of O*NET OnLine, an interactive application for exploring and searching occupations. The database also provides the basis for our Career Exploration Tools, a set of valuable assessment instruments for workers and students looking to find or change careers.

Occupational Outlook Handbook

The Nation′s premier source for career information! The profiles featured here cover hundreds of occupations and describe What They Do, Work Environment, How to Become One, Pay, and more. Each profile also includes BLS employment projections for the 2010–20 decade.

What can I do with a major in...

Exploring Majors/Careers