One of the possibly annoying things about college is choosing a major. As soon as you apply to college, some colleges expect you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. Why do we have to make this decision from the age of 17? We’re going to change and grow as people, and we shouldn’t be tied down to something so soon. Thus, if you don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life, it’s completely natural. That being said, when you do finally decide on a major here’s a list of Do’s and Don’ts.
Do, look at all of your options. College is this time in your life where you’re finally able to explore and venture out to do new things. Don’t let something that you might be semi-interested in, prohibit you from looking at new things and exploring. Who knows? Exploring could lead you to finding your true passion. It did for me. With this being said, look at the courses that you have to take for your major (you can do this for all schools, but exactly how depends on your college,) and see whether or not you want to take those courses. That’s the beauty of college, you get to choose your classes and most of the time you have total control of what you want to take.
Do, be open to changing your major. You’re in college, and this is a brand-new experience. Your interests might change, if they do look at where your interests guide you and let them guide you. If these new interests do guide you to switching your major, do so because it’s probably guiding you to what your lifelong passion is. This might happen multiple times. I changed my major once and I know people who’ve changed their major three times. In college, my mom changed her major like five times, it’s completely natural. Don’t be scared to do so.
Don’t, choose a major because you feel like you have too. College is a place where the first time in your life where you have full control of your life. Choose a major that you actually can envision yourself doing beyond college. Also, although you might come from a long-family line of accountants, don’t feel pressured to major in accounting if you’re not interested in that because of your family history. Major in something that you’re interested in. For example, everyone in my family is in Business, I have no interest in Business. My interest was in science and then it turned into secondary science education through time. My mom never pressured me into becoming a Business Woman, it’s not my thing and she understands that. We all have a passion in our lives, sometimes it takes time for that to develop and grow.
Don’t, feel pressured to choose a major right away. Although choosing a major seems like the easy way out for some colleges, if you’re unsure of what you want to do, take your time and stay undeclared for a little bit. As stated previously, your interests and going to change and you might end up switching your major and backtracking at some schools. Also, a lot of schools have general education requirements, while being undeclared you can fulfill these. While you’re fulfilling these take classes that spark an interest to you. At the University of Delaware, we have Breadth Requirements and one class to fulfill one of those Breadth Requirements is Theatre, I never took that in high school. I am going to now because it seems interesting and fun. Hence, take a wide variety of classes because who knows maybe Theatre is my passion? Worry about the specifics of whatever you decide to be your major later on.
Overall, college is supposed to be this fun experience. Don’t let something as minuscule as choosing your major ruin your college experience. You’ll eventually find your passion, and that comes with time. If you do have a major decided, good for you, just be open to changing it if that option does come up and you realize that your original isn’t your passion. It’s okay.
