Expert: Susie Watts - 6/20/2009

Question
Hi my son is going to be a junior. I would like him to take an aptitude test to see what majors would interest him most. All of the colleges want to know what majors he is interested in and there are so many choices. Do you know of any tests that could help. Thank you, Stacy

Answer
I work with a lot of students and very few juniors have any idea what they want to major in.  Most schools do not require students to register for a major until the end of their sophomore year in college.  I would suggest he indicates that he is undecided about a major and wants to keep his options open.  Colleges ask the question because if they have a student who is set on engineering or something like that, they can send them the specific information.
I have used a number of aptitude tests but I seriously question how effective they are with teenage students.