In a world that is changing ever so rapidly, millennials have to be ready to walk into any job or circumstance, whether it's now or 10 years from now. We are preparing for jobs that aren't even known yet –they haven't even been invented yet.
We are the tide-turning generation that is making older generations realize that there can be more to your college education than just your major degree. People who have once worked in the same job for 30 plus years are now realizing that there are opportunities now to pursue more than one career in your lifetime.
College degrees aren't just something that makes life easier anymore –they are the forces that drive our lives. One opportunity may lead to another, just like when one door closes, another one opens. The future, especially for millennials, is very uncertain, which means we must be flexible and ready to switch jobs at the drop of a hat.
So, when people ask me what my major is and I reply with "I'm undecided," they get this frown of disappointment. The "you're so bright, how could you do that to yourself?" look they give me makes me sick to my stomach, like they are doubting my judgement. They probably think that I'm wasting my time at a four year college by being undecided.
Honestly, being undecided has been the best decision I've made in a while. By not limiting myself, I have forced to try a little bit of everything. The only way you ever truly know anything is by experiencing it yourself, so it makes sense to be undecided and take classes in an array of subjects.
Even though some of the classes I've taken made me realize that I certainly did not want to major in that subject, it has also made me realize hobbies I didn't have. For instance, speaking German is no longer a class to me, but a hobby to keep up with to accomplish my goal of returning to (and possibly living in) Germany. Not every class has to go directly towards your major. Years after I graduate, I could use this skill in a different setting without a degree because of the years of experience I gained through college.
The best part of being undecided comes down to one simple fact: having more than one field of interest is IN your best interest.
By having multiple fields of interest, you can feel confident and excited to make that jump from one job to another when the time comes. It's certainly not easy, but if we're going to have anywhere between two to 12 different jobs in our lifetime, we might as well make sure we're interested enough in it.
Unsurprisingly, companies are looking to colleges to educate their students on subjects outside of their major. It's just as important to be extremely well informed within your degree as outside of it. This versatility and well-roundedness is what makes us millennials different from previous generations.
So please, encourage those who are unsure of their "true calling" in life to be proud that they don't know. By not knowing, they are making themselves more versatile, and therefore more profitable for the future. Stop glaring at us with beady eyes as if we have zero idea of what we want to do with our lives. The problem with being undecided isn't that we're uninterested in everything, rather that we're interested in EVERYTHING. Why not take the plunge and be educated on more than the subjects within your degree?
There is more to life than having the same 9-to-5 job. There is more to a college degree than just leaving with one. Versatility, strategy, and change are the future. The world is changing, along with the jobs on it, and we must change with it.
