“Choose a college or university program based on your personality and interests.” That is what the research shows over the past many years. Research studies also demonstrate that with a good personality-program match you are likely to,
- Earn higher grades,
- Stay with your program of choice,
- Graduate on time, and
- Be more satisfied and successful in your career.
Obviously you don’t want to ignore those findings and jeopardize your career!
There are different strategies you can adopt to make a good decision and match your personality with the right career.
- Take a scientifically valid interest inventory or career test that measures your Holland personality types;
- Use a valid list of programs/majors organized by Holland personality types to identify those most likely to fit your personality;
- Learn about the environment for each program that interests you;
- Use similar strategies to choose a career field; and
- Make your choice using a 4 step decision-making process.
Generally, the better the match the better students do.
Certainly, there are other factors to consider in choosing a college or university program, but personality-program match is one of the most important.
This blog has been adapted from the article written by Lawrence K. Jones, Ph.D., NCC