As an incoming freshman and throughout the rest of your college career, there is always this misconception that your major determines the quality of your education and the path it creates for your future. However, it is important to realize that college should be a completely different experience. College should be a place to not only study and prepare for a future career, but it should also allow you to develop a greater interest in everything that fascinates you. Here's what I've learned from switching majors multiple times and enjoying every moment of it:
1. Turn one path into many.
If you're determined to stick to your major and prepare yourself for a specific career, it's quite a spectacular feeling to see yourself grow and begin to understand what you want to do with your life. Yet, you're spending your time in an institution that can offer so much more! Take some classes that are the complete opposite of your major or delve into some of your extra-curricular hobbies by sharing those interests in a classroom with others. You never know how those different perspectives might change you as a person.
2. Discover your true interests.
Sometimes we are told to pick a major or a career that we can use to support ourselves in the future. While creating a stable platform for the future is important, don't lose sight of why a certain field of study is interesting to you. When you lose interest, studying can become meaningless and tiring. Search for those interests, even if you find them in a completely different department. Find what you love and take your time.
3. Become a well-rounded person.
If there is anything I will take away from my time spent in college, it will be the fact that I've done everything I can to learn. Learning different things from different classes, different professors, different students and peers; various experiences have allowed me to interact with so many people in so many ways. Take a science course, indulge in some poetry, study foreign films, or learn a new language. The possibilities are endless. If you're paying to be here and using your time to be here, don't waste it. Having these different experiences will allow you to communicate with numerous people with an incredible variety of backgrounds.
The last thing to remember is... have fun. Even if you discover that a certain field of study doesn't seem to interest you, or you've decided to completely change your career goals, enjoy the fact that you've discovered these things by trying something new. Don't settle for college as a career path, go through it with the willingness to discover yourself and the world around you.
