As a college student one of the first questions I am asked is, “What is your major?”
I am luckily at the stage where this no longer a difficult question to answer, but it has not always been this amazing and tranquil period that I am in now.
You have probably encountered the period prior to smooth sailing as well, when the question came up and you looked back at the person who offended you with this horrible question.Your face was askew and there were a few moments of hesitation when your brain scampered around frantically looking for an answer, until it finally reached a halfhearted reply to regurgitate. Been there, done that.
If you are still in this frazzled state, that means you are probably in your late teens or early twenties. This stage is where you are meant to decide what major you want to study. A major may seem like it basically chooses your career path, which is going to influence what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life. That is usually wrong, unless the major is something like nursing or accounting; a major is going to teach you about specific skills and leaves you open to a broad variety of career paths. Regardless it is still not a simple question to answer, but it is one that we are expected to answer. This is a pretty crummy fact of life, but here we are.
As a person with varied interests and and a lot of differing outside influence, whether it be from my family or teachers or bosses, choosing a field was difficult.
Then I came to find a solution: experience and knowledge.
To find out what you want to major in, apply for internships or job offers that interest you. Or just look into something completely different than what you have ever done before. This is what I mean by experience; search out work that fits you, or maybe even doesn’t fit you, so you can know through experience what you like and don’t like. I worked in a law firm as a project manager for over a year and decided it wasn’t for me. It was initially a strange experience that turned into a great one. It led me to know more about myself. Firstly, I learned that I wanted to be immersed in a different environment, and secondly, I liked working with clients. This led to me working a front desk job, which was again another whirlwind experience for me. It was more relaxed than the law firm but was not a competitive environment, nor did I like being questioned by people who thought they knew more than I did, like hello, I work here, you do not.
It may not even be necessary to take a job yourself. You may not have time or even the means to pick up an internship. This is the point when you reach out and contact people. This is what I mean by knowledge; if you can not experience the job for yourself, learn about it! You talk to the friend of a friend, whose mom works at this company that you like. Ask her if you can have a tour of the workplace, or if you can simply have a chat or exchange emails about her experience there.
Choosing your major is about knowing who you are and what you want to do in your life. People are far too complex to want to do just one thing, but there is usually something you have a strong interest in, so explore it! These are your college years. It is a time when you make mistakes, take chances, run risks, and learn who you are as a person.
