It's that time of year again. Bells are ringing, choirs are singing and seniors are getting the heck out! They don their caps and gowns and prepare to venture into the real world. A few of them already have a job that they are ready to go dominate, but some of those graduates are scared to death that this is somehow a mistake.

There is a question that plagues us, starting around our junior year of high school (in the US). What am I going to do with my life? The immense pressure of college begins before we even get there. We have to choose which university to go to and decide which initial classes to take. Every college has its strengths, and if you don't know what you are going to do with your life, it can be rough to pick one. Oh, and by the way, there's a ton of money on the line! My little sister is going through this now. T-minus just days until she gets her diploma and she is still bouncing back and forth between schools.

Alright, acceptance, check! First classes, check! Declared major— this is where we back up and go, "Oh, should I have chosen this before I chose my school? Before I chose my classes?" A lot of people actually do, me included, but was I sure this was the answer to my question, the finish line for my quest of life's answers (because none of us are thinking about marriage or children then)?

Though many will recommend to us that we put off choosing a major until we have some of our gen-eds out of the way, most of us don't listen. It's nice to have at least some direction, right? Then, for many, our major will change once, twice or even thrice. Personally, I can think of very few people I know that have ended up in the major they started with. It has happened, but not too often. The really crappy part is that if you come into college with some credits already, then by the time you've changed your major a few times, you get to where you have to start over in the major classes and you don't have a lot of gen-eds left to piddle around in. Reality hits, you don't have the time or the money to start over again, this choice has to be for real.

If this is happening to you, don't fret! You know what? I'm graduating with the wrong major and I'm going to be proud to do it. What am I going to do with it? Who knows! On one hand, there's a family business I'm supposed to go into, on the other hand, it could really be just about anything. I was really worried about it, too, but I know I'm not alone. One of my friends was dogged by a teacher this week for not knowing. She said it was not about to help her get a job. However, I think she's wrong (the teacher). This may end up being really good for her.

Now that I sound crazy, let me explain. In the U.S. today, it is not guaranteed that graduates actually have an easy time getting a job, if they can get a job at all. I remember when my family moved closer to the city, my dad kept getting turned down for job positions because he was "overqualified" or had "too much experience." To me, that was really bogus. This man has a better work ethic than anyone else I've ever met, he knows right where to draw the line between professional and approachable, and his loyalty knows few bounds. Who on Earth would turn that away? If he had trouble finding local work, what hope is there for little ol' indecisive, inexperienced me? Nowadays, experience seems like a requirement for people our age even for just minimum wage jobs. That's probably why schools are starting to require internships before graduation.

There is hope! One of my best friends graduated from Truman State University last December. Samantha was just like us. Not knowing exactly what she wanted to do, I remember her advisor constantly rapping on her to choose a major semester after semester. Finally, she picked a fairly generic major that she knew she would enjoy and graduated with that. Not having a job lined up when she graduated, still, here it is, the end of April, and she's been at her new, "big-girl job" for about a month! Why was she so successful? A. She chose something she enjoyed. B. She kept her options open. And C. Her credentials weren't exactly what every other applicant had.

Instead of zeroing in on one specific job or career path, Samantha applied to many things that both her degree could lean toward and that she thought she might like. Instead of being disappointed at not getting "the job" she had set her sights on, she was excited to try something new. When interviewing, all you have to do is convince the boss you're the one for hire. It isn't, who has the most gumption or who has the most know-how. Those are definitely plusses, but it isn't any secret that we need whatever we can get to set us apart from the rest of the pool. Maybe having a different background can do just that. As long as you show the interviewer(s) how enthusiastic you are and prove you have the ability to better the position, why should he/she/they question how you got there?

So don't fret about graduating with "the wrong major." If you've discovered something else along the way that you love, there's usually a way to tie the two together because all fields have branches. Once you're in, it's easier to move around and some jobs will even help pay for specialized schooling. We won't all be like Sam, but we won't all be lost either. It's like they say, "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Good luck!