If you're a junior or senior in high school, I'm sure any person over the age of twenty has started asking you, "so, what colleges are you looking into? What do you want to major in?" Then the answers you provide are followed up by either a thoughtful "Hmmm" in an attempt to act like they know what school you're talking about or to feign interest in the major you just completely made up or have genuine interest in. It appears to be a natural phenomenon in our society: adults, most of whom have no idea what they’re doing with their lives, expect juniors or seniors in high school to already have a five year plan with their life insurance policy all lined up ready for graduation. But the fact of the matter is, the majority of people go through life changing their minds repeatedly on what they want to be when they “grow up.” Five year olds want to be ballerinas and firemen, eight year olds want to be nurses and astronauts, and so on, until you’ve run out of every viable career option by the time you’re eighteen and preparing to leave high school behind. So how on earth is anyone supposed to know what they want to major in in college? Furthermore, even if they do know, how do they know this is the path that will be right for them? A person could take one class in comparative linguistics and realize that this area study just isn’t a good fit. Or they could love it. It’s all a matter of chance.

For some reason, our culture does not promote the acceptance of changing one’s mind. Indecision is condescended to, like a person isn’t intelligent or confident enough to feel assured in making a choice. God forbid someone go into college as “Undecided” because that means you’re stupid since you don’t already have your entire life figured out. Or worse, you go into school with one major you’re extremely excited and passionate about, until you take a few classes and realize it just isn’t for you, making you the fool who tried to follow their passion and ended up at a dead end.

Our culture has it wrong. College is the time to make decisions, both good and bad. It is the time of self-discovery and of self-destruction. I may not have changed my major, but I am changing my mind and switching my minor for the second time. It took me a couple tries to figure out what I really needed to complement my studies, and it may take more than a few times for someone else trying to discover what they want to do for the rest of their life. Hell, a person may not determine their true passion until they’re fifty years old and have a house infested by bees, leading to the realization that this person was destined to be a beekeeper. And there is nothing wrong with that. The point I’m trying to make here is that indecision is allowed, in fact it should be encouraged. Question your decisions, make sure that you feel they are the right ones to make for yourself. The choices we make in college will impact the rest of our lives, so we have to allow ourselves to explore as many options as possible. Go out for a team, be it a sport or acting team. Rush a sorority, or rush a frat. Join as many clubs as possible or don’t. Do whatever makes you feel most like yourself and change your mind whenever it doesn’t feel right. That is what college is all about: finding yourself through indecision. If you don’t change your mind at least one time in college, I think you’re doing it wrong.

So…where do you want to go to college? What do you want to major in?

And if you actually have an answer to this question, it’ll probably be different by the time you actually reach college.

That’s okay.