Going to college means many different things to many different people: It’s the chance to move out, finally be on your own, make new friends and experience an incredible four years. You learn a tremendous amount about yourself, like how to live on your own, what you like and dislike, and who you truly are as a person, or what you were put on this earth to do. A huge expectation of college students, however, is figuring out what comes after graduation, and how we are going to achieve our life goals. So what happens when you’re in the final stretch and still unsure about what career path you want? Well, I can tell you what won’t happen--you won’t burst into flames upon receiving your diploma or be destined to live in your parent’s basement forever. As worried as every unsure person is, (myself included) not being 100 percent sure about what you want to do for the REST of your life upon graduation or even going into college is not the end of the world. There is plenty of time for you to accomplish whatever your heart desires, but while you’re at college, there are a few things you can do to help yourself figure it out.

Go in undecided:

If you have absolutely no idea about what type of field you want to go into as a career path, entering college undecided is a great way to begin. This way, you’ll get your Gen Eds out of the way and still have time to take some extra classes to help find out what your interested in. It’s definitely a good idea to take classes that sound interesting to you or ones that you think you would like so you can get a feel about what you like to do. Finding out that you have no problem sitting through a two and a half hour Biochem lab, but have trouble with the work involved for Comp 1, can help you determine what classes you will do well in, as well as your possible career paths.

Get internships:

Another great way to find out what you like to do are internships. These positions will give you a chance to learn outside the classroom, and help you apply your knowledge to real life working situations. You may think you know what a certain job entails, but actually working in that field everyday could help you realize its not exactly what you expected; or the opposite, you might fall in love with something you never thought would be your niche! You could even get paid or receive school credit for them, plus if you like your internship and do well, there could always be a real job opportunity at that place for you after you graduate.

Do your research:

If you’re tired of going to real people for job advice, Google is the next-best way to find information about any job you want. You can look up what a career actually entails, the typical salary for it and how long you will be in school to obtain the certifications for that career. There are a lot people don’t tell you about certain jobs, like the nitty gritty stuff or how long it will take you to get to that job, but the Internet can’t hide anything from you. The best method though is to talk to people around you--your counselors, people at your internship, or professors and ask them any questions you have about their jobs or past. They will help you and give you advice and information that can help you with your decision.

Don’t be afraid of extra schooling:

Perhaps you’ve discovered your passion for engineering during your senior year of college but you spent the last three years working towards a Psych degree, or you can’t see yourself doing anything other than medical school, except spending the required eight years there. Whatever the reasoning, if you find yourself needing extra school time, do it. Sure, paying for it will suck, as well as seeing some of your friends begin real life while you’re still an undergrad, but the fact is most careers now require you to get a higher education, whether it’s a Masters or a Specialty. It may suck for the time being, but continuing your education is definitely worth it--especially when it will help you get to the career of your dreams.

DON'T STRESS:

My final words of advice would be to not worry about it. Yes, some days it might seem like everyone around you knows exactly what they want to do with their lives and you’re just wandering around, but I promise that’s not the case. As sure as they seem, some of those people will end up drastically changing what they do or worse, spending time in a career they hate. Today, a degree in a certain thing doesn’t seem to matter as much; I’ve seen Psychology majors go into Public Relations work and English majors become Human Resource managers. People are more focused on experience, work ethic and how much school you got rather than what you went to school for. So for now, relax and have fun- enjoy college while you can and you’ll eventually have the epiphany about what you want to do and know exactly what it takes to get there. One day it will click, I promise!