The lag time between college and high school is about three summer months. That’s it. Barely three months before you’re off and on your own. Your house becomes your parent’s home, and all of a sudden, you have to start taking initiative to advocate for yourself, without the help of your mom. The hardest part about all of this is, that in the short period of time leading up to this huge transition, you are expected to know who you are. You are expected to know what you want to do with your life and who you want to be. What’s funny to me about these expectations is how completely impractical they are. How can we know what we want if we haven’t even had the opportunity to come into our own?

I know that every single one of us college kids has been asked the question, “So, what’s your major?” Followed by the all too familiar, “What are you going to do with that degree?” As a public relations major on the broad spectrum of communications, I get asked that question on a regular basis. For a while, since I didn’t always have a fixed answer to it, I started to wonder if I was even in the right place. I’d always just say that I wanted to do something involving a corporate company, a safe and relatively general response. I never knew why I was drawn to my major, or more specifically, what the heck I was going to do with it. That is, until a few months ago.

I was sitting in a rhetorical foundations course for my major the first day of class, winter quarter. My professor began talking about what it means to be a communications major, and he said something that struck a chord within me. He told us that communication majors have a purpose. Their purpose is to influence. And if you don’t want to influence, or change the world, then you’re in the wrong place. It was amazing to me that, after what felt like so long, I finally understood the connection I had with what I wanted to do. I want to have an impact on people, I always have. Never did I think that goal would be something I could apply to what career path I wanted to take.

Let me remind you that I am only a sophomore in college, and finding that driving force of understanding for my passion was entirely due to luck. I have many friends who have no idea what they want to do. And you know what? That’s okay. I went into college thinking that it would all be black and white. I thought I would have no reservations about who I was or what I wanted. Being completely honest, I’m still unsure about what I will be doing in the future. But I have the tools to develop a foundation to getting there.

To all the people in college out there, you are more than what is assumed about your major. For my biology/chemistry major friends who get tired of explaining that residency will be nothing like "Grey’s Anatomy," I admire you. These are the people who dedicate their lives to a greater good. They are compassionate, selfless, and some of the best people I know. They stay up all night studying for exams that will determine their future; a lot of people don’t get that the pressure is on them to perform, every single day.

My friends who are art history, music and creative writing majors are burdened with negative reactions toward their choice of career. Some of the most amazing things come from people who dedicate their lives to art and understanding. I have so much respect for those people.

For my friends who are business, marketing and economics majors, thinking that they want to be a CEO of some company is a common thread amongst them. All in all, they have these awe-inspiring ideas. They are leaders, risk takers, and have an incredible ability to adapt to even the greatest of challenges.

To my engineering friends, you guys are the dream workers. I know that you have this insane knack for math, and being someone whose brain doesn’t think in terms of equations, I have to say that it’s pretty cool. You are distinguished by ingenuity and have the power of turning something in your head into something real. That’s pretty magical, if you ask me.

I guess what I’m really trying to say is that nothing is set in stone. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re doing, and it’s OK to switch majors, change your mind and follow your heart (as cliché as that is). What no one tells us is that college is really just this big extension of high school. There is no such thing as having it all figured out by your twenties. It’s not a race; it’s not a competition of who can get to the invisible finish line the fastest. This is your life! Take the scenic route, and do as much as you can to get experience. You can’t rush anything that is destined to be great. No matter how much your annual income is estimated to be, how powerful the position you will hold is, or what anyone says or thinks, you will always be more than your degree.

To the incoming college freshman, who are narrowing the choices of where you will be for the next four years and preparing to graduate high school -- enjoy the time you spend not knowing. Don’t feel pressure to decide anything, or to explain anything you decide. Most importantly, don’t let what people assume about what you want to do discourage you. We are young and we have our whole lives ahead of us. We have different reasons for choosing the majors we do. If you already know why you want to be a nurse, a product designer or a lawyer, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s what getting internships and going to classes geared toward your major are for. I know for a fact that your first job out of college will not be your first job, forever.

The occupations we grow up wanting to have, say a lot about who we are. I think that, when you establish your purpose, it turns everything you dream of being into something you can actually be. We are on a continuum of growth and change, and when embraced, we find out some really beautiful things about ourselves.