Society has made us believe that we need to have our whole lives planned out by the time we step out in front of the crowd and grab your diploma at graduation. How can someone really have their career, college and future plans all made out at 18 years old when they haven’t even had a real taste of what the world has to offer?
Students who go into college undecided are looked down upon, but they might be the real masterminds of the whole college experience. Coming from a guy who changed his major six (yes, six) times, I have finally come to terms with the fact that your major is definitely not something you need to be worrying about.
1. Your Major Doesn’t Decide Your Future
Part of the reason why I switched my major so many times was because I felt like I needed to decide what career I wanted for the rest of my life. With so many different options in the world, how could I possibly decide on just one? “Just one” is the detail that people, including myself, focus on too much.
People change their career paths all the time, and it has become a modern decision that has led to praise. Although it takes a lot of courage to make a college major (or career) change, it’s not impossible to do. If you’re not feeling satisfied or accomplished with the path you chose in college, there is nothing stopping you from going down a different path but yourself.
2. Employers Aren’t Focused On Your Major
When creating or modifying your resume, how much space does your college major take up compared to all of the experience you would like to include? For the most part, employers couldn’t care less about what you majored in. What they really care about, however, is the experience you have relevant to the position they’re hoping you can fill.
3. College Has Enough Stress, So Forget About Your Major
With horrors like midterms and finals, loans, maintaining grades with a social life and being on your own, why subject yourself to worrying about something that in the end doesn’t really matter?
Like I mentioned before, your major doesn’t decide your future, so worry about the things that do. Details like grades, extracurriculars and who just died on this week’s episode of American Horror Story should be top priority, rather than worrying about how your major is controlling your life.
4. College Changes You
For me, college was an entirely different ballpark than high school. It was the place where I really grew to be the person I am today, and that person is so far from who I was back as a freshman.
College is nothing but new experiences and access to information you’ve never seen before, and it has a way of molding you into a successful member of society. That being said, your goals and aspirations are also very likely to change throughout the whole college experience. Starting my college career as a zoology major and finishing off as a journalism major, I can proudly say I’m not the person I was when I sent in my first college application.
5. It’s All About The Skills
A college major is basically just a namesake. Each department has a focus on skills that individuals need to succeed in that area. For example, English majors will have strong writing skills that extend to excellent grammar, attention to detail and a more qualitative look at life. Engineering majors, on the other hand, usually have a more analytical mind. These skills can be used in other fields besides the department in which you learned them from.
Being a journalism major, I have come to be able to gather information skillfully while also being able to properly hold an interview. This has extended me into getting working in radio, independent business and even some event planning. None of those have anything to do with journalism, but because I hold on to the skills I’ve learned from it, I have experience in fields behind the walls of my major.
Your college experience should be spent focusing on more important things than your major. Many have let an educational title define who they were, despite how much they grew and changed over the course of finishing their degree. Your major can be a great ball and chain in your future job endeavors, but only if you let it be.
