UNAIR NEWS – It is common knowledge that choosing a major is a problem for prospective new students. Mostly, prospective students feel lost in making the right choice, if they had to make certain choices, they would end up choosing the wrong major.
From that problem, Dr. Dewi Retno Suminar, M.Si., a lecturer of the Faculty of Psychology (FPsi) Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) gave tips on choosing a major for prospective students.
In her opinion, the first most important thing in choosing a major is self-understanding. By understanding yourself, you will know your potential and self-interests. The second is to have dreams to strengthen motivation so you can focus on your goals.
“Right, what is important in self-understanding is that he (prospective new student, ed) must try to understand what his strengths are. For example, he or she is strong in math or calculation, strong in verbal, or strong in memory. Oh, he is strong in language, for example, because of his understanding of language concept, “explained the lecturer who has a focus on self-development on Tuesday, February 2, 2021.
Moreover, prospective students must also be familiar with the majors to be taken, starting from looking for information on university website on majors, as well as understanding what programs and courses to take in the intended university.
That way, she continued, prospective students can understand very well, not merely because they like it or follow the trends. “If only following the trend, they will stumble here and there, they obviously will graduate, but they can’t possibly handle the challenges for four years,” she added.
Furthermore, Dewi said that the track record of graduates should be a consideration. She said that the excellent track record of graduates can motivate to achieve their dreams and it gives a picture about it so they are mentally ready.
However, parents often force their will in choosing a major. For that, she continued, there must be a discussion between children and parents. It is chosen as an initiation for children and parents to find the right solution to a problem.
“I often find communication problems coming from the child. They may ask their father, for a start. Why did his father or mother ask him to choose that major. Children are pushed towards certain majors, even though in fact the children’s passion may not be there, ” she explained.
Dewi also emphasized to prospective students not to listen to what others say regarding the majors they will take. The reason is, with an independent campus program, students can develop their own skills in other fields. (*)
Author: Asthesia Dhea Cantika
Editor : Binti Q. Masruroh
