Your Best Fit: Choosing a Major Based on Your Personality

Are you strug­gling to pick a col­lege major? Maybe you’ve read up on how much mon­ey you can make in dif­fer­ent careers, or which degrees are in most demand for the future. Maybe you just want to know the eas­i­est major. But have you thought about the most fun­da­men­tal thing — your per­son­al­i­ty? Under­stand­ing your nat­ur­al pref­er­ences and traits can be a valu­able tool when it comes to choos­ing a major. This arti­cle will exam­ine var­i­ous per­son­al­i­ty assess­ments and point you to majors and careers that make sense for your personality. 

Relat­ed Articles:

• Nav­i­gat­ing The Bach­e­lor’s Degree Maze: A Quick Guide To Pop­u­lar Majors
• How To Choose A Niche Bach­e­lor’s Degree
• Dis­cov­er The Top Emerg­ing Fields For Bach­e­lor’s Degrees
• A Sim­ple Guide to STEM Majors: Sci­ence, Tech, Engi­neer­ing, Math

Section 1: Personality Assessments for Degree Selection

Before div­ing into assess­ments, remem­ber: they’re tools, not absolutes. Use them for self-dis­cov­ery, not rigid pre­dic­tions. Here are some pop­u­lar options with their pros and cons:

1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Myers-Brig­gs Type Indi­ca­tor (MBTI) was devel­oped by Isabel Myers and her moth­er Kather­ine Brig­gs, inspired by psy­chol­o­gist Carl Jung’s work on per­son­al­i­ty types. It cat­e­go­rizes peo­ple into 16 types based on four preferences:

• Extra­ver­sion (E) or Intro­ver­sion (I): How you gain and expend ener­gy (out­er world vs. inner world).
• Sens­ing (S) or Intu­ition (N): How you gath­er infor­ma­tion (facts vs. possibilities).
• Think­ing (T) or Feel­ing (F): How you make deci­sions (log­ic vs. emotions).
• Judg­ing (J) or Per­ceiv­ing ℗: How you approach life (struc­ture vs. flexibility).

While wide­ly used for self-dis­cov­ery and team build­ing, it’s impor­tant to remember:

• It’s not a sci­en­tif­ic test: No sin­gle ques­tion can cap­ture the com­plex­i­ty of personality.
• Types aren’t rigid box­es: You’re not lim­it­ed to one type, and your pref­er­ences can blend.
• Focus on strengths, not labels: Use your results to under­stand your pref­er­ences, not dic­tate your career path.

The MBTI can be a start­ing point for self-reflec­tion, but it’s cru­cial to explore your inter­ests, skills, and goals to chart your unique path.

2. Strong Interest Inventory (SII)

Devel­oped by psy­chol­o­gist Edward K. Strong Jr. in the 1920s, the SII was built on the idea that peo­ple with sim­i­lar inter­ests tend to choose sim­i­lar careers. He com­pared the inter­ests of suc­cess­ful pro­fes­sion­als across var­i­ous fields, result­ing in the inven­to­ry we know today.

What it mea­sures: Unlike the MBTI which focus­es on per­son­al­i­ty, the SII direct­ly mea­sures your inter­ests across six broad areas:

• Real­is­tic ®: Pref­er­ence for work­ing with hands and tools, solv­ing prac­ti­cal problems.
• Inves­tiga­tive (I): Enjoy­ment of ana­lyz­ing, research­ing, and solv­ing abstract problems.
• Artis­tic (A): Inter­est in cre­ative expres­sion, design, and communication.
• Social (S): Desire to help oth­ers, inter­act with peo­ple, and influ­ence them.
• Enter­pris­ing (E): Pref­er­ence for lead­ing, influ­enc­ing, and per­suad­ing others.
• Con­ven­tion­al ©: Enjoy­ment of order, detail, and work­ing with­in estab­lished rules.

While the SII isn’t the sole answer, it can be a valu­able tool for under­stand­ing your nat­ur­al incli­na­tions and iden­ti­fy­ing poten­tial career paths that align with your interests.

• Use the SII to explore your inter­est pat­terns, not pre­dict your per­fect career.
• Com­bine it with self-reflec­tion on skills, val­ues, and goals for a holis­tic view.
• Con­sid­er pro­fes­sion­al inter­pre­ta­tion to gain deep­er insights from your SII results.

3. Holland Codes

Devel­oped by psy­chol­o­gist John L. Hol­land in the 1950s, the Hol­land Codes cat­e­go­rize both indi­vid­u­als and work envi­ron­ments into six broad themes based on inter­ests and pre­ferred activities:

• Real­is­tic ®: Doers who enjoy work­ing with their hands, tools, and machines.
• Inves­tiga­tive (I): Thinkers who love ana­lyz­ing, research­ing, and solv­ing problems.
• Artis­tic (A): Cre­ators who excel in imag­i­na­tion, self-expres­sion, and artis­tic pursuits.
• Social (S): Helpers who find ful­fill­ment in serv­ing oth­ers, build­ing rela­tion­ships, and communication.
• Enter­pris­ing (E): Per­suaders who thrive in lead­er­ship, per­sua­sion, and influ­enc­ing others.
• Con­ven­tion­al ©: Orga­niz­ers who val­ue order, detail, and work­ing with­in estab­lished systems.

While not com­pre­hen­sive, the Hol­land Codes can offer a sim­ple and acces­si­ble way to explore your pre­ferred work envi­ron­ments and iden­ti­fy poten­tial career directions.

4. Big Five Personality Traits

Devel­oped by sev­er­al researchers in the 1940s and 50s, the Big Five mod­el iden­ti­fies five fun­da­men­tal per­son­al­i­ty traits that encom­pass a wide range of indi­vid­ual differences.

The Traits:

• Open­ness to Expe­ri­ence (O): Appre­ci­at­ing new ideas, adven­tur­ous­ness, intel­lec­tu­al curiosity.
• Con­sci­en­tious­ness ©: Orga­ni­za­tion, dili­gence, self-dis­ci­pline, responsibility.
• Extra­ver­sion (E): Socia­bil­i­ty, talk­a­tive­ness, ener­gy, seek­ing stimulation.
• Agree­able­ness (A): Trust, altru­ism, coop­er­a­tion, friend­li­ness, empathy.
• Neu­roti­cism (N): Emo­tion­al reac­tiv­i­ty, anx­i­ety, mood swings, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty to stress.

While not direct­ly dic­tat­ing your career path, the Big Five mod­el can pro­vide valu­able insights into your per­son­al­i­ty and help you explore careers that might nat­u­ral­ly com­ple­ment your strengths and preferences.

There are sev­er­al reli­able and well-respect­ed tests avail­able to assess your stand­ing on the Big Five per­son­al­i­ty traits. Here are some of the most pop­u­lar options:

• 1. NEO Per­son­al­i­ty Inven­to­ry (NEO-PI)
• 2. Inter­na­tion­al Per­son­al­i­ty Item Pool (IPIP)
• 3. Big Five Aspects Scales (BFAS)
• 4. Ten Item Per­son­al­i­ty Inven­to­ry (TIPI)

5. Enneagram Tests

The Ennea­gram is not a “test” in the tra­di­tion­al sense, but rather a per­son­al­i­ty frame­work based on nine inter­con­nect­ed types. It empha­sizes core moti­va­tions, fears, and desires as dri­ving forces behind human behav­ior. Unlike many per­son­al­i­ty assess­ments, the Ennea­gram does­n’t focus on label­ing or cat­e­go­riz­ing peo­ple into rigid box­es. Instead, it offers a more nuanced under­stand­ing of indi­vid­ual complexities.

Here’s a break­down of the key aspects of the Enneagram:

• Iden­ti­fies nine core types, each with a unique set of moti­va­tions, fears, and desires.
• Explores the dynam­ics and rela­tion­ships between these types.
• Offers insights into uncon­scious pat­terns that influ­ence thoughts, feel­ings, and behaviors.
• Can be a tool for per­son­al growth and development.

How it works:

• Peo­ple are said to res­onate most with one of the nine types based on their core motivations.
• Each type has a wing, mean­ing they share char­ac­ter­is­tics with one of the types adja­cent to their core type.
• The Ennea­gram also describes move­ment arrows that show poten­tial growth direc­tions for each type.

While the Ennea­gram is gain­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty in per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, it’s impor­tant to use it with cau­tion when mak­ing major life deci­sions like career or col­lege major choic­es. Choose a path that aligns with your pas­sions, skills, and val­ues, not just your Ennea­gram type.

Of course, many indus­tries and com­pa­nies have their own assess­ment tools that they use for eval­u­at­ing poten­tial employ­ees. Many col­leges also use their own tests for appli­cants. It’s impor­tant to remem­ber — there is no standard! 

Section 2: Matching Career Goals with Degree Characteristics

Now, let’s con­nect your aspi­ra­tions to aca­d­e­m­ic choic­es. Consider:

• Desired work envi­ron­ment: Do you thrive in team set­tings or pre­fer inde­pen­dent work? Research fields known for your ide­al atmosphere.
• Pre­ferred tasks and skills: Enjoy data analy­sis? Con­sid­er STEM fields. Love sto­ry­telling? Explore com­mu­ni­ca­tion or human­i­ties majors.
• Val­ues and ethics: Pri­or­i­tize social impact? Look into pub­lic ser­vice or sus­tain­abil­i­ty-focused pro­grams. Seek finan­cial secu­ri­ty? Explore busi­ness or finance degrees.

Research poten­tial majors to understand:

• Course­work focus: Does the cur­ricu­lum align with your learn­ing style and interests?
• Required skills: Does the pro­gram devel­op skills cru­cial for your career goals?
• Career paths: What job oppor­tu­ni­ties does the degree lead to? Are they aligned with your long-term vision?

Remem­ber, degrees offer trans­fer­able skills valu­able across fields. Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, crit­i­cal think­ing, and prob­lem-solv­ing are uni­ver­sal­ly sought-after.

Section 3: Identifying Majors that Align with Individual Strengths

Build­ing on self-dis­cov­ery, explore these aspects:

• Strengths and tal­ents: What are you nat­u­ral­ly good at? Which sub­jects ener­gized you in high school? Match these to majors that lever­age your strengths.
• Learn­ing pref­er­ences: Do you excel in hands-on projects or the­o­ret­i­cal analy­sis? Seek pro­grams that align with your learn­ing style.
• Moti­va­tion­al fac­tors: What dri­ves you? Choose a major that ignites your curios­i­ty and passion.

Remem­ber, find­ing the per­fect major is a jour­ney, not a des­ti­na­tion. Be open to explor­ing dif­fer­ent paths, talk­ing to career coun­selors, and shad­ow­ing pro­fes­sion­als in your areas of inter­est. Use your per­son­al­i­ty as a start­ing point, but ulti­mate­ly, let your pas­sions and unique tal­ents guide your aca­d­e­m­ic adventure!

Addi­tion­al Tips:

• Talk to cur­rent col­lege stu­dents or recent grad­u­ates. Get their insights and experiences.
• Shad­ow pro­fes­sion­als in fields you’re con­sid­er­ing. Observe their dai­ly work and ask questions.
• Net­work with alum­ni from your poten­tial school. Learn about their career paths and advice.
• Don’t be afraid to change your mind! It’s okay to adjust your major as you learn and grow.

By com­bin­ing self-aware­ness, research, and explo­ration, you can nav­i­gate the excit­ing world of choos­ing a major and chart a course towards a ful­fill­ing career journey!

FAQs