Around this time of year many Sophomores are being pressed to declare their majors, and no doubt many Freshmen are thinking about possible majors as Winter and Spring class registration approaches. So how does this relate to your life after Middlebury and possible career choices?

While many people (ahem, parents) think of a major as a precursor to a career, the liberal arts philosophy sees it differently. The academic departments at Middlebury do not necessarily give you every skill needed for a career in a specific field like an MBA or Law School would, but instead provide a broad foundation for many different careers, no matter what your major is.

To provide some cold, hard facts on the topic here’s a quick exercise to see if you can find the linkages between recent Middlebury grads’ majors and their future careers. See if you can match up the major and careers, then see how you did after the jump!

Well, how did you do?

The point of this chart is not to say that the French major will lead you to being a VP at Goldman Sachs, but rather to illustrate how, despite the rules of study imposed by academic departments, the real world is far more flexible.

Of course, there is more to it than that, and certain majors at Middlebury will provide you more of a foundation than others for certain industries. Here is a site that can help you trace out these connections between major and career, as you consider what your might what to major in. However, there are merely guidelines to show you common paths, but by no means the only ones.