Choosing the right major can save you time, money, and your sanity. It sounds funny. How can choosing the right major save your sanity? Imagine the urgency at which you will want to establish yourself in the world after graduation. Now imagine heading to the career you established one morning feeling completely lost in a world that doesn't seem to need or want you. You'll suffer.

Deciding one, five, or ten years into a career that you really don't like this field can be tragic on your mental health, on marriage, relationships, and on your entire well-being. It happens to lawyers, to emergency room doctors, to engineers, and to every type of professional every day. They realize too late that they have chosen poorly for themselves.

There are two ways to select a major that will satisfy you. And there are two places to look for help. And while parents or guardians might be the traditional source for funding and advice, they can-not always-be an unproductive resource.

Don't choose law until you've spent time in a law office. Don't apply for medical school until you've spent time in a hospital. Don't think that becoming a doctor or lawyer is the only way to succeed in life. In fact, you might find that lawyers nauseate you or that everytime you enter a hospital, you get a headache. This is not psycho-somatic mumbo-jumbo, this is reality. Better pay attention to these things.

Know thyself. Now we'll talk about the two ways to choose a major. The first is to choose a major based on marketability. Students will ask whether their degree is going to be something they can sell after graduation. And in this category of students are those that believe that following in the family's footsteps is a plausible marketability. Well, for some, thinking like this could lead to a heart attack by the time they're 35. That's reality.

The problem with thinking like this is that some people get side-tracked into thinking like their mother, father, sister or brother instead of themselves. That's when questioning a degree's marketability becomes a train wreck a few years after graduation.

All degrees are marketable. English, art, math, music, criminal justice, microbiology, journalism, are all marketable. So here's a second approach. Take the time to study your passion. The time spent in college will be most productive if you can't wait to wake up in the morning. And besides, how many people actually end working in the field they graduated in. You're going to want

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