Like most high school students, when junior year came around, I was bombarded and blitzed by the overwhelming pressure of deciding on what I want to do with my life. This process started with the excruciatingly stressful process known as college applications.
For most students, the hardest parts of college apps were finding the time to write all the essays and organizing all the test scores and financial aid information, but for me, the most difficult part out of all of this is deciding what to put as my major. Even though people in my family assured me that just writing down some major for the sake of college apps doesn't mean that my future is sealed in stone. Despite all the reassurance in the world, I still felt like my whole future was going to be decided by just a couple of words.
After a long time of thinking, I finally put down an answer to this seemingly unsolvable problem. However, I am continuously teetering back and forth between three majors and three paths that my college experience could take me. In this article, I will be guiding you through the train of thought that I have been trapped on ever since my first time googling the phrase "college apps."
1. Engineering.
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For as long as I can remember, I have had a striking attraction towards technology. As a child, I would beg for more and more Lego pieces and K'nex parts and would let my imagination run wild. It was these hundreds upon thousands of hours of building, taking apart, and rebuilding that inspired me to become an engineer.
I always dreamed about upgrading from Lego pieces to actual machinery and robotics. As I got older, I slowly started to have a clearer idea about what I would want to do as an engineer. I would want to be involved in finding better ways of obtaining and storing renewable energy. I would want to work for companies, such as SpaceX, to invent new types of batteries that could store energy for longer periods of time.
Despite these honorable ambitions and the impressed looks people give me whenever I say my major, since starting college I felt as if I've fallen out of love with engineering. It's not that I don't believe I can do the increasingly hard math and physics, I'm just no longer sure if engineering is something I want to pursue anymore. I know that finding a job after college won't be an issue, it's just that I don't see myself being an engineer for the rest of my life.
2. Political Science/Law.
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My interest in world politics started in freshman year of high school. This was the year when I joined my school's debate team. I was in the event named extemporaneous speaking, otherwise known as "extemp." At each tournament, I was tasked with giving a seven-minute speech about almost anything newsworthy. As I competed throughout all four years of high school, I was exposed to more and more politics and international relations. When junior year came around, I was stuck on the fence between pursuing a career in politics and global diplomacy.
When it came to deciding what to major in, half of me is pushing myself to study law and/or political science. However, one of the main reasons why I have been hesitating to make the change is that I would have no idea how to make a career for myself. I know that I would love a job where I just simply discuss and debate global issues, but I don't see a practical job that I would genuinely enjoy.
3. Film.
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This last passion of mine that I would love to major in is film, more specifically cinematography. This passion started in senior year of high school, well after I finished applying for college.
I can't really explain why or how this passion occurred, but one day I just knew that a career in the filmmaking process was something for me. The hardest part about realizing this hidden passion is that practical part of my brain kicks in and tells me downfalls in pursuing a career in the film industry. The biggest issue I see with majoring in film studies is the lack of job security. No matter how hard I try, I can't get over the fact that I would ultimately be at the mercy of the audience, and that one bad movie could make or break me.
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