For those of us who know what we are planning to major in here at college, we usually get one of two responses. We either get supportive feedback from peers and friends saying that that is a great degree choice, or we get this: "What are you going to do with a degree in that?"
As someone who is currently planning on concentrating in English, Creative Writing and French, I always get the latter of the two. I've had people who I'm close to asking me what I'm planning to use my degree for, but I've also had plenty of people who I've just met asking me what I'm going to do with that degree. I've even had people going so far as to tell me that I'm never going to find a job or that my degree is worthless.
But here's a pro tip:
I don't care what your opinion is.
Sure, I may not know what I'm going to be doing after college or getting my Master's or my Ph.D. I don't know what I will do for a job when I graduate. I don't have a predictable major, and I'm sick of hearing people say what a wonderful high school teacher I will be. Because I don't plan on being a high school teacher, or a teacher at all. I don't know what I plan on doing after my education is over, but I know one thing:
I love what I'm studying.
I know plenty of students who are studying majors that are designed to get them a specific job when they graduate, and those students are miserable. I'm studying what I love with no idea what I'm going to do with it in the future. But that's not the point. Education should be about learning what you love because you love it. It shouldn't be about studying for a specific career or getting a degree that could guarantee you lots of money in the future. For me, I love what I'm learning. I love learning new verb conjugations for my French courses or learning what metaphors are hiding in my English texts. I go to my classes not because I have to go for my major, but because they interest me and because I want to go. If you want to talk to me about my major, ask me about my classes and what I'm taking next semester. Don't ask me what my plans are because...I don't know. And that's okay. You don't have to know.
Education shouldn't be a means to an end. Education should be an exploration. It should be something that brings you joy. If you're in this just to get a job, maybe you should take a second to see if you really like what you're studying.
