Since starting college last year in most of my core and generic classes, when asked what my major is, I have been the only one in class without someone echoing the same major (usually not even the same department). I was the unknown.
What I mean is that whenever asked my major, it usually comes with a confused look and someone saying I'm going to dig up dinosaurs. It is then usually followed by a lengthy description of what I am actually studying, in which I see boredom slowly creep into their eyes and see them easily become disinterested. Then that disinterest is also followed by disbelief when they ask me what I want to do (frequent comments also include "Well that's an interesting choice now?", "Kind of a useless major huh?", and my favorite "How do you think you will ever find a job?")
Well I'm writing this article for everyone that has a quirky major that no one has heard of. For anyone that has had these questions asked about their majors. Or even for the incoming freshmen that are taking a safe major instead of one they would actually enjoy doing. People are so worried about finding jobs later after college that they refuse to explore other options, and instead go with the safest route possible for majors.
According to National Center for Education Statistics, 20.5 million people will be attending school in American universities. A majority of them will choose to be in either business, psychology, biology, or education. Although they are all fantastic majors and if you truly are passionate about them, then go for it; put everything you've got into them. But if you are even a little bit skeptical about the lesser known ones, anthropology, the arts, history, anything like that, go explore them. Take a class in those fields to see if it really is something you could see yourself doing.
I remember last year, after a hard first semester trying to figure out if this was really the right major for me, I took a Biological Anthropology course, in which we were able to handle reconstructed bones (made of plastic and plaster usually) and apply our knowledge to them. It completely reaffirmed my major and what I wanted to do later on in life.
The whole point of this article was not to say that choosing anyone of the most popular majors is something bad. I just want everyone to be able to understand that they do not need someone else telling them what is right or wrong for a major. As long as you are able to figure out what you are passionate about, you will be able to succeed at whatever major you choose.
P.S My major is a dual in Archaeology and Biology with a concentration in Pre-Medical. I'm looking into doing osteology as a career.
