From the time we are young, we are bombarded with the questions, "What do you want to be when you grow up," and "What are you going to do with your life?" For some of us, we know from the time we are in third grade exactly what we want to do with our lives.
But for the rest of us, we think we know what to do for the rest of our lives until suddenly, it is our senior year and the final push to choose a college and a major exhausts us, and we realize that we aren't quite sure what we are supposed to do with our lives.
Selecting a college can be difficult, but deciding upon a career pathway that suits all of the defining characteristics of you, such as your personality type, lifestyle, family desires, and maximum stress levels is sometimes excruciating.
Deciding what major to declare is a confusing, conflicting and sometimes even frustrating period of time. I personally believe there are several different careers one can indulge in throughout his/her life, and this does not make the choices any easier to decipher between.
Currently, I am struggling to decide what major I should continue with. My junior high years, I was dead-set on becoming a doctor. Senior year of high school struck and I was determined to be an elementary education major. My second semester at HLGU campus, I switched to a biology major in order to become a general practitioner, and at present, I am debating whether to major in Psychology to become a psychiatrist, to double-major in English and Business, to become a teacher of some sort, or to switch to nursing. These are only a few examples of the dilemma in which I am currently caked!
To be honest, I have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what I am supposed to do with my life. More than anything, I want to glorify God in all that I do, but second to that, as far as a career goes, I haven't the slightest idea.
And that... is okay!
We are hounded in junior-high and high school to make a decision on what to do with our lives, and unfortunately, a lot of us are pushed into college. Our brains are not fully developed until we are twenty-one, and yet, we are expected to go ahead and decide what career path to take: (warning: this next phrase is not sugar-coated!) all in the name of money. I can fully understand the enticement of going ahead and graduating so you can have an income; however, it is never a good idea to forsake a career you will enjoy in the long run for a quick degree in something you don't really care for just so that you can have a little bit more of the green stuff.
The words of my sociology professor last semester, Professor Schoonover, resound through my mind whenever I contemplate what I should do regarding my college experience. He said, "Students don't go to college to learn; they go to college to make money."
Professor Schoonover is absolutely right. Most of the time, we attend college to make money, and we don't attend with the intent in mind to actually learn. Maybe, to an extent, we do learn what we are taught each semester, but to actually take classes just to receive what you can out of it is much more fulfilling in the long-haul.
Personally, I'm not ready to decide what to do with my life, and until I know for sure what I'm supposed to do with it, I will go to college solely to take advantage of this opportunity and learn.
My advice to the unknown major is this:
1) Attend college with the thought process in mind to actually learn, not to just go ahead and graduate so you can make money.
2) Enjoy your time at your university, and take classes that catch your eye. Chances are, the classes that interest you might pique your interest in a major (eventually)!
3) Don't worry about how your friends, family, or anyone else feels about your indecisiveness.
For now, just take this period of time in your life while you have it to embrace learning, so that you may truly begin to love it once more, and remember! A graduation diploma is never too far out of sight; everyone just takes a different route to arrive at that destination.
