“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The question that haunts us at family events, through college applications, essays, etc.

Yet, how are we suppose to know what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing, when we’ve had no experience in the fields themselves. We dream of being the CEO of a company, but have never even stepped foot in an office building nor have we walked through the entire layout with fellow employees. Some of us aspire to want be a neurosurgeon, but have yet to experience blood and layers of skin other than the occasional paper cut or scraped knee.

So what do you do when you get the degree and still have the dreams of being that CEO or a neurosurgeon and you can’t handle it? You can’t run the entire company or pick up the scalpel and cut into someone’s scalp with never doing it before. We should be able to experience these major life choices prior to what we are forced into choosing to pursue in college.

I went into college thinking I wanted to be a physical therapist, and soon after being in a hands on internship, I came to realize it wasn’t for me. But what if I didn’t get that experience, What if I had graduated with a science degree in the concentration of physical therapy, and couldn’t use it? I would be trapped.

We all have friends that have changed their major three, four, five times since they’ve been in school and they’re only SOPHOMORES. They’re over a year behind on their degree plans and are going to have to pay more tuition and stay here even longer. But if they, if we, had just known earlier perhaps through going out into the fields before coming to college, we would be graduating on time, heck, earlier even.

I’m not writing this in terms to change the world and how college works, but more in the form of advice. If you’re reading this as a sophomore in high school, or a freshman in college, or even a graduating senior, my best advice to you is to experience.

Because how do you know you like it, if you’ve never tried it?

Explore. Experience. Earn.