I was thinking about it a lot. I had two "loves" : mathematics and music. My first love was music - I loved piano, classical music, all the wonderful pieces... I dreamt of playing on the stages (of course it did not happen, but I do not mind), I was practicing a lot, I was listening to music. My love to music was shaped in my childhood by my parents (who are both musicians).
My second love was Mathematics. In the beginning of my studies I did not like it and I did not perform well. But after entering high school I got an amazing Math teacher and she helped me to find magic in working with numbers. I started feeling more and more confident in Math...
So I was looking for school that would enable me to continue to study both, mathematics and music. And I found school for teachers. I decided to do them both: Math at the Faculty of natural sciences and Music at the faculty humanistics. It was not easy, but I made it.
So the factors that influenced me when choosing my major/minor were: my interests (and skills), parents, teachers.
I decided to study Chemical Engineering when I realized that I love technology and Physics. Basicly I choose a major where I can use scientific tools to understand how things works.
If we take a look back deep into our history we can see that Maths and Music in ancient Greece were almost "the same". Applied maths was music so your choice for me is natural and not surprising.
I chose my Bachelor's major based on what I didn't know. I was interested in education since childhood and had an opportunity to tutor a child with a reading delay in high school. I did not know what to do, nor did the teacher in the classroom at that school. The child was due to go to another school soon where she could get special education services. So I did special education to fill in the gaps.
My master's degree in OT was chosen for economic and work needs; I wanted to stay in early intervention services with babies and knew that my bachelor's would keep me in the field for only a few more years.
My doctoral in Educational Psychology was based on interest in how occupational therapy education is developed, pursued, and provided. Choosing Ed Psych took about 4 years of discernment and discussions with people in the field of OT and others who had pursued their doctorates.
At first my aspiration was to become a priest. It didnt work. I went for a diploma in teaching and continued pursuing my new career to degree level, masters and PhD.
I like working with young people and adults, learning from them and assisting them to realize their potential.
In my humble opinion, I chose my major out of three reasons: 1. my interest and aptitude (for languages); 2. positive career development (I am also gifted and interested in music but in China it is easier to develop a career for language majors); 3. support from respected and loved ones (they helped me to build confidence in my own field before I really knew it).
My academic major was German with French as an aside. I intended on teaching as my future profession but did not at the time want to teach language. It did however, grant me lots of opportunities to teach abroad as an ESL teacher, study with a bursary in Quebec, Canada, and follow through teaching ESL populations in the Board system here in Canada.
As first time college student, a much older student I felt I needed to be specific in my endeavours, by several directives. First my needed to keep my end goal, really focused, I didn't/don't have a lot of time for a lot of schooling.I was then 48 years old when I first started attending a junior college, then continuing as a transfer, I went on to UC Berkeley, at 62 years old I just graduated August 2018.
My choice was also influenced by the choice of career I sought, I needed to be very mindful, per se, each decision made was based on how I would eventually fit the qualifications I would need to be listed on the job application. I eventually would apply and be required to fulfil those requirements desired, breaking down each, finally accomplishing them meant I would arrive to the career best suited to contribute to, I wished to make a difference, but too would economically support my humble life.
As well, most importantly to me I felt it was paramount to utilise innate strengths -not reinvent the wheel, so to speak, rolling with the the propensities, my knack for skills and "gifts", strengths, being resourceful if you will my god given talents.
Lastly, my choices for each major was ultimately lead to the current goals for which I am pursuing. I am applying to grad school for a Masters in Counselling(Vocational Rehabilitation), completing the requirements to apply as a Student Advisor at a postsecondary educational institution. My passion, inspiration sprouts forth from being a student with learning differences, a life processes of not gaining access to an education has thrusted my desires to make a difference, support disabled students pursing higher education, ensured by great supports and accommodations. I wish to make a difference for those students who are marginalised, historically underserved, simply not advised, encouraged to achieve higher educational degrees. These are the reasons I chose the major, obtaining the degrees in higher education.
I studied Education with two teaching subjects (English Language and Literature). In the second year, I majored in English, knowing that Literature is the "Right hand" of English Language, given the expected APPLICATION of the knowledge as a teacher.
I loved mathematics thanks to the influence of my late uncle (my mentor) and I was interested in chemistry also. Thus I chose Chemical Engineering as a major to realize that there is more physics than chemistry in chemical engineering!