Moms, dads, aunts, uncles, friends. As soon as you reach high school, they're asking you where you want to go to college. Their next question, invariably, is "what are you going to major in?" The answer is supposed to come tripping off your tongue, but your likely reaction is to want to bury your head in the pillow. The reality is that most teens are confused about their direction. Colleges provide plenty of majors that aren't even available in high school. And what you are good at in high school may be very different from where you excel at the college level. To help you figure out the right major for you, here are some questions you should ask yourself.

• Are you sure you want the subject matter of your major to be your career? If you major in accounting, employers will assume you want to be an accountant. A pre-professional major can be helpful if you know exactly what career you want to pursue when you graduate, but it can also pigeon-hole you.



• Are you truly interested in a particular subject? If your passion is history, don't be put off by the fact that you can't associate history with a future job title. If you study a liberal arts subject, you'll be gathering plenty of job-related skills, like research, communication and problem-solving ability. And if you study a subject you enjoy, you're likely to work harder and get a better GPA.



• Do you need to decide now? Many colleges allow you up to two years to declare a major. This gives you time to try new subjects and explore where they may lead. The vast majority of students change their minds about what to study -- often several times -- between the time they start college and the time they declare a major.

    When you get to college, you'll find plenty of advisors who are willing to help you plan your education, and tell you how to reach your educational and career objectives. So unless you have to commit to a particular course of study prior to going to college, tell your family "I haven't decided on a major. But I'm sure I'll figure it out."

Sheila J. Curran is the Fannie Mitchell executive director of the Duke University Career Center. She is an academic advisor, and coauthor of the book Smart Moves for Liberal Arts Grads: Finding a Path to Your Perfect Career, published in 2006 by Ten Speed Press.