Interest Inventory
College Major Quiz
What should you major in? This 24-statement interest sorter helps you explore your working style and discover college major families that might fit you.
Disclaimer
This is an interest sorter, not a validated psychometric assessment or career advice. It reflects your stated preferences in this moment and can help start a conversation about majors, but the real work is reading course catalogues, talking to advisors, and observing yourself in actual coursework. Use this as a starting point, not a destination.
Take the Quiz
Your Results
Explore Major Families
Based on your top two themes, here are college major families you might explore. Each family description reflects the types of coursework and thinking style involved.
How the Scoring Works
Each of the 24 statements maps to one of six themes: Building, Investigating, Creating, Helping, Organising, and Persuading. Four statements map to each theme.
For each theme, we sum your responses (1 to 5 points per statement), giving a raw score between 4 and 20. We then convert that to a percentage of the maximum (20 points), which normalizes all themes to the same scale. Finally, we rank your themes and show your top two.
Formula: (Sum of 4 responses per theme) ÷ 20 × 100 = Theme percentage
If you answered all statements identically, the result may be inconclusive. That's OK. It means your interests are distributed evenly across working styles, and you may want to explore multiple paths.
What to Do with This Result
This quiz is a conversation starter, not a decision-maker. Here's the next step:
- Pull three course catalogues. Visit the websites of colleges you're considering and look up the full major requirements for families that appeared in your results.
- Read the required-course lists. Does the progression from intro courses through upper-level seminars feel like something you'd enjoy? Are there experiments, papers, team projects, solo research?
- Talk to an advisor. Even one conversation with a college advisor (at a school you're considering or at your own institution) can help you see whether a major aligns with your actual interests and constraints.
See also: Computer Science vs. Software Engineering, a deeper dive into two closely related majors that many students confuse.
FAQ
What if I disagree with my results?
Trust your gut over the score. If your results don't match how you see yourself, that's useful information. It might mean the statements didn't capture the full picture of your interests, or that you're between two different working styles. Read the major families anyway. Something may click.
Can I change my major later?
Yes. Most students can switch majors in the first or second year without serious consequences. But the earlier you explore and commit, the better use you'll make of four years. Start the conversation now, but don't feel locked in.
What if my top two themes are very close in score?
That's meaningful. It means you're genuinely interested in both working styles, and you might gravitate toward majors or roles that blend them. Look at the major families for both pairs (even the less-ranked ones) to see what appeals to you.
Does my major determine my career?
No. Your major is one of several inputs into what careers you can pursue. Internships, skills, and initiative often matter more than the label on your diploma. That said, choosing a major that aligns with your interests usually means more engaging coursework and better preparation for the roles you actually want.
Where does this quiz come from?
It's an original interest sorter inspired by work-style frameworks used in career exploration. It's not a copy of any existing assessment, but it's grounded in decades of career-development research. See Sources below for references.