Being an “Undecided Major” can be scary. Maybe you’re just figuring out what you’re wanting to do, doubting what you’ve been doing the past couple of years, or still clueless after a couple semesters and the decision is starting to creep up on you. I want to tell you though, that you’re not alone.

Dear Undecided,

Being clueless as to what you want to do in college and what you “want to be when you grow up” is completely understandable. Even if it seems like everyone else around you has their lives together and have a long-winded answer for what they plan to do and hope to accomplish in the future, that doesn’t mean you have to have an answer like that too. In a lot of cases, even the people who think they know don’t actually know what the future holds for them. Almost nothing goes exactly according to plan.

I am currently a sophomore in college studying toward a specific degree that I believe will get me where I want to go. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t have my nightly break downs with my mom in high school when I had no earthly idea what I wanted to do! An intense crying session when I decided to switch colleges (after only a week, and in a different state, I might add) was the first step. After bawling my eyes out to my mom on the phone when I decided to change my major, not once but twice, in the span of a semester and a half at my second college, I still question if the major I have currently settled on is what I want. Clearly, I’m a bit indecisive, as I went from an art student to an engineering student, only to switch back to something else, but you get the point. Not everyone knows what they want to do when they go to college. Not everyone knows what they want to do while they’re actually in college and even after they graduate either.

If you want me to be completely honest, being “undecided” was and probably will remain one of the most influential times in my long journey of self-discovery. I think I learned more about myself in the past 2 years than I did in the past years of my life. I dared myself to do things I would have never dreamed of, like attending several club meetings I would have never gone to or forcing my introverted self to go through sorority recruitment for the experience of making new friends. You go to classes for the sake of exploring multiples majors and discover what you like and don’t like and you also make friends of all different majors!

But even then, you’re not even close to alone! There are a lot of people that not only go into college with their major undeclared, but an incredibly high number of students will change their major at least once before graduating. Luckily, most schools won’t even make you declare your major until sophomore or junior year, so go out and explore! Even if you’re scared the major won’t land you a job in the future or maybe you’re afraid you won’t be good at it, try a class or two for it anyway! Who knows, it might be your calling! When I first heard about the major “Emerging Media and Communications” I gave the person a confused face and went on trying to be an engineer, but guess what major I am now?

My biggest advice for you is to take chances. As I said, I’m incredibly shy and introverted, but I went through recruitment and was accepted by a sorority where I have found my best friends. Just go and try classes. Examine your strengths and weaknesses. Look at what you love to do or think you would be good at. Join clubs or get involved with a sport or go through recruitment. Take the crying sessions with stride, re-evaluate, and try again. All you can do is keep trying to be the best you can be and enjoy it at the same time. Take your time, don’t sweat the small stuff, and find that major that’s going to make you happy for the rest of your life, one step at a time!

- Kaity

I always thought I was a hopeless case because I didn’t know what I wanted to do in high school even though all of my friends seemed to have it all planned out. I felt even worse when I got to college and still didn’t know, taking on a major I barely knew anything about with the slight hope I would like it. After a school and three major changes I can safely tell you that although I’m still a bit unsure about where I’m going, I’m a heck of a lot more confident in who I am as a person and more comfortable with taking my life one step at a time! You don’t have to have everything planned out or be completely sure where your life is heading, because not everything will go according to your plans. Just take everything as it comes, and figure it out from there. Just remember, you’re not alone!