Custom Search
For eighteen years I served as the Director of a college career center. I now work with teens and young adults through my career counseling practice, OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning. As you might imagine, I have worked with countless students over the years as they weighed countless academic possibilities. When considering college major decision making styles from a personality type perspective, I use a popular personality type tool in my work known as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (or the MBTI for short). Since working with this tool, I’ve witnessed some interesting patterns in college major decision making styles. According to the book, Introduction to Type in College by John K. Ditiberio and Allen L. Hammer, there are four preferred styles for exploring college courses and majors. As I introduce my student clients to different personality type decision making styles, my clients smile and nod knowingly when I describe the style that matches their own. Read on as I describe the four decision making styles: The Mountain Climbers, The Bungee Jumpers, The Computers, and The Wanderers. See which one sounds most like your preferred style (if you never had to pick a college major, just think of your general preferred decision making style instead).
The Mountain Climbers of Career Decision Making
The theme for this group is “I want to decide and then get on with it.”
This group likes to finalize choice of a college major before or soon after reaching college. They tend to seek career guidance early and work to finalize their choice ASAP. They feel stressed not knowing where they’re headed and prefer to gain a clear sense of direction. The challenge for this group is that they might decide on a major or career direction too quickly and without collecting adequate information and experience to help determine whether their choice is a good fit. When things go as planned, they’re the mountain climbers of decision making. They choose a specific mountain peak to climb and proceed in an orderly fashion toward their goal.
The Bungee Jumpers of Career Decision Making
The theme for this group is “I want to do it all.”
It’s not uncommon for those in this group to want and try to experience it all. Every course, college major, or activity that seems appealing is worth a try. They tend to decide by random trial and error and prefer not to get locked into a decision. Changing their mind helps to reassure them that they still have other alternatives available to them. The challenge for bungee jumpers may come when they’re told by college administrators that they can no longer change their major or when Mountain Climber or Computer parents try to get them to lay out a plan of action with one targeted goal and a timeline for step by step completion. For the bungee jumpers of career decision making, a decision is seen as a starting place, not the final destination.
The Computers of Career Decision Making
For this group, the theme is “I want to be sure.”
This group tends to spend a great deal of time engaging in inward reflection and research before finalizing a decision. They often consult print materials and other resources on majors and careers. Since they tend to follow through with a decision once it’s made, the information they gather needs to be carefully considered. Because their thinking is done alone they may surprise people when they announce their decision and game plan. Yet, you can be sure that students in this group have given their choice considerable thought. Some might have difficulty with the computer analogy, but for the Computers of career decision making, all pertinent data (including objective information or personal values) goes in, is carefully processed, and a decision comes out.
The Wanderers of Career Decision Making
With this final group, the theme is “I wonder what I’ll want to be when I grow up.”
Students in this group are inclined to put off choosing a college major until they consider all the possibilities, which they do according to their own sense of time. While they tend to resist deadlines imposed by others, they sometimes need that push from the outside world to help them make a decision. When they assure themselves that no decision is ever final, because the feeling of being constricted would be too stressful, they can move forward. Those in this group, just like the Computers of Career Decision Making, tend to engage in solitary reflection and their style often reflects a struggle between information coming to them from the outside world (with a potential for information overload) and their efforts to remain true to their inner world. For the Wanderers of career decision making, a career journey is a limitless quest for more knowledge, facts or inspiration.
Well, there you have it…a brief overview of the four preferred decision making styles for exploring courses and college majors. While familiarity with decision making style preferences may not lead to effortless decision making, it will help students to gain a greater appreciation for their natural tendencies along with awareness of the strengths and potential challenges that coincide with those tendencies.
By Susan Posluszny, OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning LLC