College is both the best of times and the worst of times. Classes are stressful, learning to manage your time can be difficult, and figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life is nerve-racking. But, as I’ve experienced, it’s also a period in your life in which you undergo an extreme amount of growth as a person. You learn a lot about yourself, including discovering interests you never knew existed and finding your true passions. Many people go in to college knowing exactly what they want to accomplish, while others go in undecided. Regardless if your journey in college is a straight path or a wavy and bumpy one, I’m here to tell you that it is okay to be confused in college, especially pertaining to future career plans.
I was one of those people who had everything planned out when they got to college. I always dreamed of being a doctor, and I was ready to do whatever it took to succeed in my classes to become one. Long story short, after taking some required classes for medical school, I discovered that I strongly disliked everything I was studying. The main emotions surrounding the realization that everything I thought to be true about myself was false were devastation and hopelessness. I was now genuinely confused about what to do with my academic future.
Whether you had to change majors, or just plainly have no idea what to do with your life, it’s completely okay. College is the time to find your true passion, which can take a few years of trying different classes. I’m entering my junior year, and just now discovered that I find true joy and passion in studying psychology, which I never thought I would even like. Yes, sometimes it does take that long to figure out what you love. Many of us get upset when a certain path in college doesn’t work out, but that just means there’s brighter plans for our future that we don’t even know about yet.
So many students are miserable in their current major, but are genuinely afraid to change it. Let me tell you that there is nothing wrong with switching. It’s not worth spending four years of your life doing work that makes you unhappy. If you’re afraid that changing majors will push you back a semester, don’t be. I promise you, when you find what makes you not hate your life studying, it will be completely worth it. For those of you who are intimidated by other students who know exactly what they are doing, there is no need to be. Good for them, maybe what they are doing will work out for them, but maybe it won’t. You are never alone in being unsure of your goals. Talk to friends, take different classes, and speak to a career advisor.
College is not the time to make hard and fast decisions, it’s the time to make mistakes. Pick the wrong major and change, once, twice, maybe three times. Learn from every mistake and uninteresting class you take what you truly love. This way, when someone asks us what we want to do with our lives, we won’t have to guess. We’ll know.
