Successfully choosing a major is a STEP-by-STEP process. Go through the four steps in the process (Self-focus, Target, Explore, Plan) and use your resources at IUPUI. You'll be more likely to choose a major that suits you and meets your professional goals.

Begin with Step One If You:

• Don't have a clue about majors or occupations that would be best for you.
• Have an idea about a major or occupation and want to understand how it fits your values, interests, skills, and personality.
• Have thought about possible majors or careers, but want to identify other options.

To focus on defining yourself, you can increase your self-awareness by participating in self-assessment activities. Knowing your values, interests, personality preferences, and skills will help you more accurately identify academic majors and careers that will satisfy you. Self-focus information will be used in all of the three remaining steps of the STEP process as you move toward choosing a major and career.

Tasks:

• What are you involved in? Consider school subjects, extracurricular activities, and work tasks.
• What you are passionate about? Think about what excites you, what you dream about, or a cause or mission important to you.
• Talk with a career counselor; identify resources, activities, and assessments that help you better understand your interests, values, skills, and preferences.
• Ask people in your life for feedback: advisors and faculty, family and friends, co-workers and supervisors.

Online Assessments
Learn More Resource Center
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
Career Interests Game (University of Missouri)

Use this free user-friendly online resource to assess your interests, values, personality, and skills. Explore and compare majors and occupations. Then, plan an educational and career pathway that supports your goals!
 

Who should take FOCUS 2?

• Unsure of your major?
• Know of careers that best suit you?
• Do you know the IUPUI majors that lead to particular careers?
• FOCUS 2 will help you to make informed decisions!

How much time does it take?

• FOCUS 2 takes about 45 minutes to complete. We suggest you spend extra time researching different occupational choices. Plus, view over 300 career videos!
• Reuse FOCUS 2 as often as you like. Go back to review your saved results and explore new options.

How can I get started?

New Users:
Create a new account using the IUPUI ACCESS CODE: jaguars

Return Users:
Log in to the account you already created.

Watch this Tutorial for Help:
1 FOCUS 2 PowerPoint Student Orientation.pdf

The Strong Interest Inventory is a carefully constructed questionnaire that inquires about a respondent's level of interest in a wide range of familiar items (e.g., words or short phrases describing occupations, occupational activities, hobbies, leisure activities, school subjects, and types of people). The Strong provides people with information about themselves and their relationship to the working world. This
information will lead to a greater self-understanding.

The Strong Interest Inventory provides the following information:

1. Scores for six occupational themes that reflect broad interest patterns and describe your work personality.
2. Scores for 30 basic interest scales that represent work activities, projects, course work, and leisure activities that are personally motivating and rewarding.
3. Scores for 122 different occupations, comparing your interests with the interests of people actually working in those occupations.
4. Scores for five personal style scales, which describe different ways of approaching people, learning, leading, making decisions, and participating in teams.

The Strong Interest Inventory is available to IUPUI students, staff, and alumni. Individuals are required to meet with a career counselor first. A fee of $21 is charged for this instrument. After taking the Strong, the participant returns for a small group test interpretation session with a career counselor. The results are analyzed and explained to the participant.

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) helps individuals assess their personal preferences. It provides information that helps individuals resolve career or educational concerns. Such information is useful for career exploration, development, decision making, and planning. Results from the MBTI give candidates the implications of an individual's preferences for career choice and exploration, as well as occupational lists showing the occupations most and least selected by the individual's type. The MBTI is available to IUPUI students, staff, and alumni. Individuals are required to meet with a counselor first. A fee of $17 is charged for this instrument. After taking the MBTI, the participant returns for a small group test interpretation session with a career counselor. The results are analyzed and explained to the participant.