“So what are you going to study in college?” This question is one I have been asked ever since I stepped foot into to high school. Honestly, any family gathering I can expect about 10,000 questions about what I want to do with my life. News flash everyone, I have no clue.
Let me clarify, I have an idea of what I would like to do with my life, but I am in no way ready to declare a path. I am going into college with an exploratory major, so I’m basically undecided. I get the opportunity to explore all different paths throughout my freshman year so that hopefully when I do declare a major I’ll really know what I want the rest of my life to be.
If you’re going into college and you have no idea what you want to do, that’s OK. You do not have to have it all figured out. Don’t declare a major just because, the best thing you can do if you’re not sure is going in as undecided.
Think about it, as freshman the transition is the biggest thing we know thus far. We’re moving from the bed we’ve slept in for so long to one that isn’t even ours, it’s one we’re paying for. Most of us are moving from seeing our family every day to only seeing them every couple of weeks or months.
Life will still go on, but in such a different way. We’re on our own. We are doing this thing called adulting. It’s intimidating; every day we’re moving closer to being the grown up that we talked about when we were six. Soon it will no longer be “what do you want to be when you grow up?” it will be “So what do you do?”
With all that being said, it just goes to show that it’s really difficult to be completely decided on our path at this age. I’m 18 years old and there’s no way I can tell you what job I want to be waking up for when I'm 40.
There is no shame in not knowing what you want to do, that’s the beauty of college. You will change a lot and discover more about yourself: your passions, the people you love, the things you don’t like, what it means to be a friend, and so much more. There are four years ahead that are designed to let you grow, make mistakes, and learn from them.
Now I’m not saying that if you do know what you want to do then you’re wrong. No, I’m just saying that you will change and with that may come new passions that you want to pursue. If you know what you want to do, I tip my hat to you because you are one step closer to the rest of your life.
But to those who don’t know: don’t be ashamed that you don’t have it figured out, most people don’t. Being undecided lets you take your core classes and explore your passions instead of being declared and taking classes that you might not actually need. Take pride in exploring freshman year, it’s going to be amazing. I have 46 days until I begin my journey in college, and for once I am relieved to not know what I want to do.
