The term "undecided" has unnecessarily negative connotations. Typically, being undecided is seen as being overanxious, unmotivated, and unreliable. However, when it comes to deciding what you want to spend the majority of the next four years of your life studying, being undecided might not be such a bad thing.

When you meet new people in college, one of the first things that you'll be asked to share (after your name) is your major. At Ithaca College, students who are undecided are allowed to take on an "exploratory" major. This major has the same implications that being "undecided" does, except with some added benefits.

Exploratory students are encouraged to enroll in a course designed specifically for them, titled "Exploring The Options," during their first semester of their freshman year. This class gives exploratory students the tools they need to determine their core values and interests, in order to narrow down their choices. Exploratory students also get priority registration. IC Students can hold onto the exploratory title until the second semester of their sophomore year, although most students end up declaring a major much earlier.

Even with the encouragement of the campus for student exploration, other students can't seem to shake the stigma around being undecided. I have been asked questions like "Are you still an exploratory major?" countless times. Other students think of it like something that you need to escape from.

The pressure to choose a major in college can begin as early as your junior year of high school. This is when we are told that we need to start thinking about applying to colleges, and when we discover that not all schools even offer an undecided program.

This pressure to "choose now and think later" leads to many students feeling unhappy with their decisions. Sometimes it even makes them drop out of college entirely. Statistically, most students change their major at least once before they graduate. Being undecided allows you to explore possible alternate majors and can even spark ideas for future minors.

Sometimes, parents can pressure undecided students even more than their fellow students. Some families have legacies of going to a certain school, with a certain major, and starting a certain career. Students from these families often feel obligated to continue that legacy, and don't even take a moment to consider taking a different path.

Blindly following in your parents' and grandparents' footsteps isn't necessarily guaranteed to make you successful. Unfortunately, our generation has more college students than ever before, and this means that a college degree won't make you stand out from the crowd anymore. Rather than focusing on our future careers, it would be more beneficial for us to focus on building the skills that emerge from our interests.

There are hundreds of possible career opportunities out there, regardless of which major you choose. There are even new careers being created as technology advances and our society continues to develop and change.

If students focus on discovering themselves, they will be more confident in their unique abilities, which will help them to stand out in future job interviews. It isn't all about four years of dedication, it's about four years of discovery. And it is more than okay to take the path less travelled on.