关于选择大学专业的建议

Choosing a major is one of the most important decisions a college student can make. Ideally, a college major can open doors into the workforce and help pave the way to a high-paying job and fulfilling career. As major life decisions go, choosing what to study in college isn't to be taken lightly. 

选择专业是大学生要做的最重要的决定之一。理想情况下，大学专业可以打开职场大门，为获得高薪工作和充实的职业生涯铺平道路。作为人生的重大决定，选择在大学学习什么并不是一件容易的事。

Prospective students should be aware of how majors will position them for their desired industry and how earnings may vary by field over the course of a career. Read on for expert advice on how to decide on a college major.

未来的学生应该了解专业对他们所期望的行业的定位以及职业生涯中不同领域的收入会有怎样的差异。以下是关于如何选择大学专业的建议。

A student's major will greatly influence his or her college experience. Many students join clubs related to their major and befriend classmates within their area of study.  Considering how a major can affect a student's life both during and after college, it's optimal to choose an area of sustained interest. 

一个学生的专业将极大地影响他或她的大学经历。例如，许多学生参加与他们专业相关的社团并和他们学习领域内的同学交朋友。考虑到一个专业会影响一个学生在大学期间和毕业后的生活，选择一个持续感兴趣的领域是最佳的。

Students should choose to focus their studies on topics they are interested in exploring and on skills they want to build.

学生应该选择把重点放在他们感兴趣的研究领域，以及他们想要培养的技能上。

Students who are set on a specific major should consider how that subject is taught at their target schools. For example, does a college have a reputation for minting graduates who go on to successful careers in their chosen field? Or does a college even offer the major that an applicant is interested in?

选择了特定专业的学生应该考虑目标学校是如何教授该学科的。例如，一所大学是否以培养毕业生在自己选择的领域取得成功而闻名?或者学校是否会提供申请者感兴趣的专业?

students should check college websites to learn more about available program offerings. Another source to learn more about quality programs is the U.S. News rankings and QS World University Rankings, which include breakdowns of top schools in engineering, finance, marketing and various other fields of study.

学生们可以查看大学网站，了解更多可供选择的课程。另一个了解学校课程质量的来源还可以是U.S. News 发布的排名榜单、QS世界大学排名榜单等作为参考。这些榜单可以提供如工程、金融、市场营销和各种其他研究领域的顶尖学校的分类。

College applicants may gain a better understanding of the jobs in certain majors by speaking with industry professionals instead of family and friends.

大学申请者可以通过与业内人士而不是家人和朋友交谈来更好地了解某些专业的工作。

In a 2017 survey on students who sought advice on what to major in, 84% rated advice they received from people with experience in a field as helpful, and 82% rated advice from an employer or coworker as helpful. Ultimately, parents should step back and remember that choosing a major is not their decision. Let your child pick the major that he or she is most interested in。

在2017年对寻求专业建议的学生进行的一项调查中，84%的人认为他们从具有该领域经验的人那里得到的建议是有益的，82%的人认为雇主或同事的建议是有益的。最后，家长们应该了解，选择专业不是家长自己的决定。让你的孩子选择他或她最感兴趣的专业。

For many jobs, a bachelor's degree is sufficient. But some professional roles require additional training. For example, aspiring doctors and lawyers should know that college is just the beginning. So while majoring in prelaw or premedicine may be the right step at the undergraduate level, those students should be aware that an additional degree will be required to practice law or medicine. 

对于许多工作来说，学士学位就足够了。但一些专业性高的职业则需要额外的培训。例如，有抱负的医生和律师应该知道大学只是一个开始。因此，虽然在本科阶段主修法律预科或医学预科可能是正确的一步，但这些学生应该意识到，从事法律或医学工作需要额外的学位。

Experts say that before declaring a major, students should look to their end goals to understand if they will need a graduate or professional degree to land the job they want.

专家表示，在选择专业之前，学生们应该考虑自己的最终目标，弄清楚自己是否需要一个研究生学位或专业学位来帮助自己找到理想工作。

Though a college major will make up a large portion of the courses a student takes, a minor is another avenue to learn useful skills. A useful major and minor combination can reinforce skills across disciplines and prepare students to work in more than one industry.

虽然大学主修课程占学生课程的很大一部分，但辅修课程是学习有用技能的另一个途径。一个有用的专业和辅修结合可以加强跨学科的技能，并为学生在多个行业工作岗位做好准备。

"I think of a minor as an interdisciplinary link," Micah Sadigh, a psychology professor and department chair at Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania, told U.S. News in 2019. "It links you, connects you to another discipline and changes, expands how you think about disciplines, but also, expands how you think about life, people, working with people, creativity and how creativity can manifest itself differently."

2019年，宾夕法尼亚州西达克斯特学院的心理学教授兼系主任米卡·萨迪在接受《美国新闻与世界报道》采访时表示:“我认为辅修课程是一种跨学科的联系。它将你与另一门学科联系起来，并改变、扩展你对学科的看法，同时也扩展了你对生活、人、与人合作、创造力以及创造力如何以不同方式表现出来的看法。”

It can be valuable for prospective and current college students to know which majors are more or less likely to lead to a high salary. Students who have an idea of what they'll make after college can get a jump-start on budgeting for things like student loan payments or graduate school.

对于大学生来说，了解哪些专业毕业后可能获得高薪是很有价值的。了解大学毕业后能赚多少钱的学生可以开始为学生贷款或研究生院等事情做预算。

As a student takes more college classes, his or her interests will likely expand alongside the knowledge gained. That could mean a student suddenly discovers a new passion that translates into a career. As long as the decision to change a major is made early on, it should be a smooth transition.

随着学生上更多的大学课程，他或她的兴趣可能会随着获得的知识而扩展。这可能意味着学生突然发现了一种新的爱好，并将其转化为职业。只要及早做出转专业的决定，都是可以平稳地从原专业过渡到新专业的。

However, if a student waits until late in college, changing majors may mean it takes longer to graduate.  Students should discuss the change with an academic adviser to make sure it works, but generally speaking, the earlier the better.

然而，如果一个学生在大学阶段的后期换专业可能意味着需要更长的时间才能毕业。学生们应该与学术导师讨论转专业的事宜，以确保其有效，但一般来说，越早转专业越好。

Here are the 3 college majors with the highest median starting salaries for graduates with a bachelor's degree only, as well as the schools at which graduates earned the highest median starting salary for each of those majors, according to the nationally representative Online Salary Survey by Payscale.

根据具有代表性的Payscale在线薪资调查，以下是仅有本科学位的毕业生起薪中位数最高的3个大学专业，以及这些专业的毕业生起薪中位数最高的学校。

Computer engineering

计算机工程

Median starting salary: $80,300

起薪中位数:80,300美元

College with highest median alumni starting salary for this major: University of California—San Diego

该专业校友起薪中位数最高的学院:加州大学圣地亚哥分校

Median starting salary for University of California—San Diego graduates in this field: $97,500

加州大学圣地亚哥分校在该领域毕业生的起薪中位数为97,500美元

Computer science

计算机科学

Median starting salary: $77,300

起薪中位数:77,300美元

College with highest median alumni starting salary for this major: Stanford University (CA)

该专业校友起薪中位数最高的学院:斯坦福大学(CA)

Median starting salary for Stanford University graduates in this field: $119,000

该领域斯坦福大学毕业生的起薪中位数为11.9万美元

Software engineering

软件工程

Median starting salary: $75,900

起薪中位数:75,900美元

College with highest median alumni starting salary for this major: San José State University (CA)

该专业校友起薪中位数最高的学院:圣何塞州立大学 (CA)

Median starting salary for San José State University graduates in this field: $92,100

圣何塞州立大学在这个领域的毕业生起薪中位数:92,100美元