OK, so you have graduated from high school and have chosen to go to college. You’re most likely 18 years old and are seriously thinking about what you want to do with the rest of your life. It’s stressful. Deciding what to study and how you spend your time in college will dramatically impact the rest of your life. Deciding on a major will lead lead to the kind of career you will have. Needless to say, it’s a huge decision.

After your first two years of college, you spend the next two-plus years taking classes created for that major, and you get to spend thousands of dollars working toward your degree. I always hear about the students who change their major one, two, three or even four times throughout their college career. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind or being indecisive. The part that gets me is that it’s extremely expensive to start over each time and can be time-consuming, as well. I know that most students would like to choose their major and be happy and successful the first time around, but that doesn’t always happen. So here’s a little advice from my own experience on picking a major that you are content with and sticking with it.

As someone who has gone through the process of choosing a major and is now working toward a degree in sociology, I am here to give you a little bit of advice on how to successfully choose your major—the first time.

First off, don’t choose your major strictly based on money. Don’t choose a major because of the future career salaries you could potentially make. If that’s the only thing you are going to consider when deciding what to study and what career you want, I don’t think that is a wise choice; you may end up regretting that decision in the future. Obviously, we all have very different lifestyles and some people feel that they need to have a lifestyle that costs more to maintain to feel whole and happy. There’s nothing wrong with that, and if that’s the case with you personally, then you are going to need to make a certain amount of money to live that way and you will need to have a plan in place to reach that goal. I’m not saying that you should completely disregard the salaries for different majors and their career paths—I’m just saying do not solely rely on this factor. And definitely do not let this be the main reason for choosing a major and career path to follow.

I know we all want to be financially stable and sound in our future careers and lives. So, go ahead and take into account the kind of salary you could be getting with that major, but don’t let it be the deciding factor. This will sound really cheesy, I know. I get it. But ultimately, money cannot buy your happiness. Say you’re making a million dollars a year but you’re miserable, you hate your job, and you don’t even have enough time off work to spend the money you’re making. What’s the point?

Second, don’t choose your major based on other people’s thoughts and opinions. Try not to let the ideas of other people completely influence your own. Parents, teachers, friends, family and even the media has a dramatic influence in many different aspects of our lives. A lot of students are receiving some kind of financial help from their parents or family members. And it’s easy to fall into the position of wanting to please your parents, especially if they are helping fund your education. But make sure that the major you are choosing is in your best interest. You’re the one that will be in class every day, and it’s your life that will be mostly affected by what you are studying. Parents want what is best for their kids, but sometimes you need to choose and think for yourself and push your parents' ideas to the side—sorry, Mom and Dad.

Don’t choose your major based on what other people think. I know the first time I started thinking about my major, I was planning on majoring in business of some sort because I thought I could get a good paying job, a lot of other kids I knew were studying something in that field, and I thought it was reasonable based on the opinions of others. For me, all it took was one business class to realize that this is not what I want to study and spend my time in college learning about. Stay true to yourself and take into consideration your wants and your needs.

My best piece of advice to you is that you take as many different entry-level courses that you can in your first two years of college. While you are working on getting your basic requirements out of the way, you can take classes from many different subjects and explore possible majors that you could potentially be interested in pursuing. Once you get into college and start your first quarter or semester, you have two full years to explore different subjects and find your major.

When choosing your major and ultimately choosing which field you want to have a career in, I think the main goal is to find something you are passionate about. To end up in a career where you wake up every morning wanting to go to work, to be engaged and to contribute. Take the time now to learn more about yourself and your passions. When you do this, you will find out what you really want to do—with the rest of your life.

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -- Confucius