Choosing a major

Choosing a College Major
Based on Your Personality

What does the research say?
Information and advice for students and adults returning to school, as well as parents, counselors, faculty advisors, and education policymakers.

Lawrence K. Jones, Ph.D., NCC
© 2010 - 2013 by Career Key, Inc. www.careerkey.org
Copyright holder is licensing this under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to copy, share, post on your blog, or email for non-commercial use but do not change it.

Table of Contents

Choosing a College Major Based on Your Personality
What does the research say?

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Summary

3

A college major . . . one of the most important decisions you will make.

4

Should you consider your personality when you choose a major?

5

First, some background to understand the research findings.
John L. Holland’s Theory of Careers
Personality-Environment Research
What does the research say?
Personality-Major Match and College Success
Congruence (Degree of Match) and:
- GPA
- Persistence in School (staying enrolled)
- Persistence in Major (sticking with a major)
- Graduating on Time
Limitations and Acknowledgements

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Why does personality-major match affect college success?

17

Personality-career pathway match and school success

19

5 strategies you can use to make a good match.

21

References
About the author

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Copyright © 2013 Career Key, Inc. All rights reserved. www.careerkey.org

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Summary
“Choose a college major based on your personality and interests.” That’s what the research indicates. Major studies over the past ten years show that with a good match you are likely to,
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Earn higher grades,
Stick with your choice of major through graduation,
Graduate on time, and
Be more satisfied and successful in your career.

You don’t want to ignore those

References: Allen, J., & Robbins, S. (2008). Prediction of college major persistence based on vocational interests and first-year academic performance Allen, J., & Robbins, S. (2010). Effects of interest-major congruence, motivation, and academic performance on timely degree attainment Astin, A. W. (1993). What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.) Kristof-Brown, A. L., Zimmerman, R. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2005). Consequences of individuals’ fit at work: A meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit. National Center for Education Statistics. (2010), Fast Facts, 2010, nces.ed.gov, Washington, DC: U.S. Porter, S. R., & Umbach, P. D. (2006). College major choice: An analysis of person-environment fit. Prime, D. R. & Tracey, T. J. (2010). Psychometric properties of the Career Clusters Interest Survey. Smart, J. C. (2010). Differential patterns of change and stability in student learning outcomes in Copyright © 2013 Career Key, Inc Smart, J. C., Feldman, K. A., & Ethington, C. A. (2000). Academic disciplines: Holland’s theory and the study of college students and faculty Tracey, T. J., & Robbins, S. B. (2006). The interest-major congruence and college success relation: A longitudinal study