“What time do you go to bed?” “10:30ish sometimes 4.” It’s 3 AM. You finished your Statistics homework, got through Italian, managed to get through the two assigned chapters of Psychology, studied for your Sociology test in the morning (five hours and 20 minutes away.) Now you’re lingering upon your Biology notes, resting your exhausted eyes on your English paper (that’s half written) and completely avoiding International Law altogether. It seems impossible to get rid of the dryness and heaviness in your eyes despite the amount of times you blink. The stress builds in your stomach and works it's way into your throat, you sit there in silence with your heart beating in your ears. You switched from every social media app on your phone, wrote a few sentences, read a few lines, stumbled upon a few fellow exhausted peers tweets (We’re in this together) and then maybe grabbed a red bull, or a cup of black coffee, and the half eaten bag of Doritos in your desk drawer.
Recently I read an article for my Atlas class. A class that is geared towards helping students declare a major, and to learn more about themselves (also fulfills my technology competency.) But the purpose of this class is to help guide freshman and sophomore students. In the article “The Liberal Arts, Your College Major, and Your Future Career(s): Myths & Realities” written by Joe Cuseo, he beings, “discovering yourself and knowing your options should take place before declaring your major and choosing your career.” He continues, “One of the primary advantages of taking the wide range of courses that make up the liberal arts curriculum is that they enable you to become more aware of different aspects of yourself, while at the same time, become more aware of the variety of academic disciplines and subject areas that are available to you as possible majors.” A few sentences down he continues that we should not build a life around our major but build a major around our life and that this is how we’ll become happy. Of course, as college students we want to choose a major in a growing and prosperous field, one that will allow us to excel and pursue opportunities. Can we have this, and be happy? If we all based it off of the sole purpose of being rich, we’d all be surgeons and crappy ones at that. We need to choose a major that we are interested in, one where our morals lie, and where our abilities allow us to excel.
Maybe you went into college knowing exactly what you wanted to do. You chose a school where you would be able to get a nursing degree, banged out all your science courses, and are starting your clinicals. Or you had your heart set on a performing arts school, business school, whatever took you there, whether your head or your heart, you chose a school that you felt would allow you to succeed and follow your dreams. Being a liberal arts student, or being “undecided” is just as complicated, and challenging as being a business student, or nursing student. But more importantly, as Cuseo points out in his article, it does not mean that you have failed, “while everyone else has it all figured out.” We have not failed. Being undecided again, as Cuseo had mentioned, can mean a bunch of things. Whether we have a wide variety of interests and want to explore, or because we want to make sure what we decide is our final and most carefully thought out decision.
I like not having it figured out. As I mentioned in my previous article, College Students Should Be Reminded Of These 6 Things Daily, it would be so much easier if everything worked out the way we planned it to if everything was simple. But how do we grow if everything was easy, and everything was handed to us? I think a liberal arts education is useful. In your undergrad you are required to take a variety of classes: science, humanities, history, English, etc. These expand our knowledge of different subjects and help guide us.
Apart from not knowing what you want to do, and taking the time to figure it out. We will. But say you are one of those people that have figured it out. Finally, a proud and confident answer at family holidays, “I’m majoring in….and my minor is…” opposed to the usual uncertain response, of “I haven’t decided yet.” Now that you have your major, you're excited and anxious to start a new journey. However, because you have it figured out does not allow you to belittle other people’s majors. Of course, in a friend you want someone who supports your decisions, understands the importance of your choices, are emotionally responsive, helpful, and never try to overshadow your accomplishments.
Attending a liberal arts school, my group of 13 close friends, all with completely different majors... It’s interesting because if you think about where each of us will be in 10 years, 15 years, we’ll all be following different dreams and careers. Despite this difference, we all understand the stress of each other’s majors and passions. We may be a diverse group of friends, but it's the beauty of liberal arts. I wouldn't imagine completing my undergrad anywhere else.
