Oh, you’re in college? What school do you go to? Oh, Binghamton University, nice! What’s your major?
If you’re undecided like me, your stomach squirms every time someone asks you that question, and it’s not for the shame of not having a major. Rather, it’s for having to explain my plans for my degree at BU once again.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to tell my relatives, parents’ friends, even cab drivers that I’m in Harpur College, and though I used to want to major in English, I’m looking to transfer into the School of Management for marketing. (And now all of you know, so I’ll never have to answer that question for you.)
Obviously, part of being in college is explaining that most basic fact behind why you’re here: what you study. However, being undecided, I’m sick of the pressure that accompanies this question.
When I was a freshman, the question made me feel as though I should know exactly what I wanted to study the second I entered college. Now, as a sophomore, it makes me feel like I’m in a race to find the major that will define what I do for the rest of my life.
I know that during your freshman and sophomore years, not having a major may be overwhelming. It seems like everyone around you knows exactly what they want to do and are taking upper level courses, while you’re still sitting in those Lecture Hall 1 intro classes waiting for a major to suddenly pop into your head.
Even though I know my plan for my bachelor’s degree, it doesn’t mean I know exactly what I want to do in the marketing field right this second. I find different aspects of business, marketing and advertising that interest me every day. How am I supposed to make the decision about the exact thing I want to study right now? I can barely decide what flavor cream cheese I want at Einstein’s! Not having to make that decision so soon is a blessing, and being undecided shouldn’t be a burden or a scary thing.
These four years of college are the last transition period between childhood and adulthood, especially those final two years. Everything as a junior and senior seems to revolve around preparing for life after college: With starting to study for the LSATs or MCATs, applying to graduate schools and scoring that internship that will be the perfect segue into your dream job, the amount of life-changing decisions to be made is overwhelming when you think about it all at once.
So why rush to make more big choices in your freshman or early in your sophomore year? Save the stress about life after college for your upperclassman days, and simply worry about exploring your interests to find your passion as an underclassman. You’ll have the rest of your life to worry about working; why should you start at 18 or 19 years old?
I think the biggest obstacle in this search for what we want to do with our lives — starting with the simple task of declaring our major — is impatience. We’re in such a rush to feel secure about our futures that we have to know exactly what our degree will be and right this second. We forget to embrace this time as an opportunity to explore what we’re interested in, and sometimes settle for what will lead us to the most secure job.
So if you’ve decided on your major early on, kudos to you. But to the freshmen, sophomores and maybe even juniors out there who are still undecided, don’t be afraid of what the future will hold. And don’t rush to declare a major you’re not in love with.
Think of this as the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to determine what passion of yours will define your life. Who would want to rush that?