FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

General Questions

Major Decision allows high school students and families to connect directly via text or video chat with Student Advisors – current students at colleges they’re interested in. These conversations can improve decision-making and deliver peace of mind and confidence throughout the college search journey.

Major Decision is one of a wide variety of tools that will be useful in the college admissions process. Our Student Advisors provide a unique perspective by sharing their insights, but other tools can be useful as well. We encourage you to take advantage of as many tools as possible in making these major decisions.

We’re parents, too, and we have a commitment to safety, privacy, security, openness and honesty. Here are some of the steps we take to ensure a positive experience for you and your children:

  • We check a national student database to ensure that our Student Advisors are currently-enrolled students at their respective colleges.
  • We require that you sit in on all conversations with your children and ask that you report any questionable behavior to us immediately.
  • We ensure that your data is protected with encryption according to industry best practices.

For more information about our principles and policies, please see About Us, and for more detail on how we choose Student Advisors, please see Student Advisor section of these FAQs and our Terms of Service.

Being a Major Decision Student Advisor allows busy college students to schedule conversations around their other commitments, and there are no minimum or maximum time commitments required. Advisors can devote as much or as little time to Major Decision as they choose, and  their first priority should always be their studies. Major Decision should not be viewed as a replacement for other on- or off-campus part-time work, as the hours will vary.

To be listed on the site for search purposes, colleges must:

  • Be accredited by applicable accreditation bodies
  • Be non-profit organizations
  • Have at least some physical campus presence (but may offer hybrid and/or online courses in addition)
  • Grant undergraduate/bachelor’s degrees
    • May also grant post-graduate degrees, but cannot be solely graduate schools, such as medical or law schools.
    • Schools which also offer only certificate or diploma options are also not included
    • Adult education programs are also excluded
  • Be located in the United States

It’s possible we missed a school, or one may have added bachelor’s degree programs or been recently accredited. Please email us at [email protected], and we will research it. Be sure to include your email address so we can reply.

It’s possible that you were too specific in your search criteria (filters). Try using fewer filters and search again. If you still don’t get a match, let us know what you’re looking for at [email protected], and we’ll help. Be sure to include your email address.

Referral Program Questions

All customers (high school students and families), Student Advisors and Brand Ambassadors are eligible for the Referral Program and Referral Rewards. Customers must have an account in good standing, and Student Advisors and Brand Ambassadors also must be in good standing.

Referral Rewards grow the Major Decision community. Earn $5 for every new customer (high school student/family) you refer and $5 for each new Student Advisor you refer. Anyone who’s a member of the community in good standing can refer a new member and receive Referral Rewards.

Brand Ambassadors receive an additional $1 per completed and paid conversation with Student Advisors on their campuses.

Referral Rewards are current as of January 2020, and are subject to change. Visit our Terms of Service for complete rules.

When you recommend someone joins the Major Decision community, give them your Referral Code (three letters followed by three numbers, with a dash in between). They’ll give us that code when they join, making you eligible for Referral Rewards when they conduct future conversations. Note that they can only provide one Referral Code when they join.

You get a Referral Reward credit when the person you refer completes their first conversation, either as a Student Advisor or customer. If they never take advantage of the Major Decision platform, you won’t receive credit, so please encourage them to be active members of the community.

Referral Rewards payments will be applied as a credit to your account and transferred electronically.

No, you can earn Rewards for every member of the community you convince to join. We’ll apply the credit to your account to offset conversation fees. You cannot “cash in” Referral Rewards for cash.

Student Advisor Questions

Major Decision Student Advisors provide real-time, first-hand knowledge of their college experiences to high school students and their families through online conversations such as text sessions or video chats.

Advisors provide their unbiased and confidential insights about everything from academics and sports to the local scene and Greek life. They share their own personal experiences–information no one else can provide.

Major Decision Student Advisors must:

  • Be enrolled as full-time students in good standing at an accredited four-year college in the US
  • Be US citizens
  • Be willing to adhere to enrollment verification procedures
  • Adhere to the Major Decision Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
  • Be willing to participate in a variety of online conversations with high school students and their family members
  • Be open to feedback to improve the quality of future conversations
  • Be willing to accept digital payments to their account as compensation for conversations completed and for Referral Rewards payments

The application process is short and simple. Applicants complete an online form and receive acceptance as soon as their enrollment is verified, usually within minutes.

Next, they complete their online profile and are ready to accept appointments for conversations.

Each conversation type is paid at a different rate, based on the time involved and the mode of conversation. Student Advisors will find their compensation rates in the My Money tab of their Profiles.

Student Advisors are not employees of Major Decision; they are independent contractors. As such, they will not receive any employee benefits and are responsible for tracking earnings and paying appropriate taxes. 

Please refer to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state tax authorities for instructions on how independent contractors report their earnings and pay taxes. Also check our Terms of Service.

Bonus payments will be applied to your account and transferred electronically, the same as conversation fees. The bonus will be paid monthly, subject to a minimum threshold of $20. 

No, you can earn bonuses for every member of the community you convince to join, and you’ll be paid monthly, subject to a minimum threshold of $20, after they complete their first conversation.

The minimum information is included on your application, which will be viewable and searchable in your public profile: your name (first name and last initial), college, major, and expected year of graduation.

It depends on how specific they get. The required information might be enough for some, but others may want information on academics, Greek life, sports, the local scene, etc. That’s why we also allow you to display and make searchable optional or additional information as part of your profile. 

The more you share about yourself, the more likely there will be a match with a prospective customer. We give you the ability to turn various information on or off, so you can adjust your profile to provide only what you choose to share.

We check with your college to make sure you’re currently enrolled and in good standing. The service that provides this checkpoint needs your date of birth to query the database of enrolled students (contributed to by your school). Your date of birth won’t be displayed in your public profile.

You can devote as much or as little time to Major Decision as you choose. Your first priority should always be your studies. Being a Student Advisor allows you to schedule conversations around your other commitments, at a time and place that works best for you. You can do a video chat from your dorm room or a text chat between classes—it’s up to you.

We also provide a scheduling function in the Major Decision app, so you can let clients know when you’re available based on your schedule.

Brand Ambassador Questions

Brand Ambassadors are Student Advisors—they fulfill requests for conversations with customers and are paid the same rates as Student Advisors.

In addition, Brand Ambassadors:

  • Help establish, grow and maintain the network of Student Advisors on their campuses. This could include texting, emails, social media, flyers, and direct conversations.
  • Attend periodic meetings and/or conference calls with Major Decision staff regarding the performance of the Advisor network.
  • Discuss suggestions for improvements or changes to network recruiting and identify gaps to be filled in the Student Advisor network.
  • Provide giveaway promotional items, provide presence at charity and other events, and/or hosting awareness events of the brand in properly-designated areas in accordance with their college’s guidelines.
  • Make Major Decision staff aware of sponsorship opportunities for charity and other on-campus or online events that would be beneficial to achieving or maintaining Major Decision brand awareness.

The complete description of Brand Ambassador duties and responsibilities is included in the Ambassador Addendum to the Major Decision Terms of Service.

If you’re currently a Student Advisor and wish to be considered for a Brand Ambassador position, check the box on your Profile to indicate this, and we’ll follow up.

College Career Services Team Questions

Student Advisors and/or Brand Ambassadors are not employees of Major Decision; they are independent contractors. As such, they will not receive any employee benefits and are responsible for tracking earnings and paying appropriate taxes. 

Please refer to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and state tax authorities for instructions on how independent contractors report their earnings and pay taxes. Also check our Terms of Service.

Student Advisors devote as much or as little time to Major Decision as they choose. Their first priority should always be their studies. They can schedule conversations around other commitments, at a time and place that works best for them. They can do a video chat from a dorm room or a text chat between classes—it’s up to them.

The name of our company is Major Decision LLC. We’re registered in Texas, with the registration number 803228689. We’ve been in existence since February 2019.

Our address is 2101 Citywest Blvd., Houston, TX 77042. We also have team members based in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. You can reach us at (346) 329-1928 or [email protected].

No, Major Decision Student Advisors will most often operate from their dorm rooms or other convenient on-campus locations for text or video conversations.

Yes, in fact, we believe Major Decision adds more value to the college admissions process by having the largest and most diverse Student Advisor population possible.

The job description is at the top of the FAQs and also here

Our team has a diverse set of educational backgrounds. We’re alumni of such schools as MIT, Northeastern University, Boston University, Cornell University, The University of New Hampshire, The University of Houston, The University of St. Thomas (Texas) and the University of Northern Iowa.

Major Decision provides the greatest value when our Students Advisors represent the maximum number of colleges. We look forward to working with as many career services professionals as possible.

Want to stay in the loop?

Let us update you with the latest college admission news.