Author: Alanna Fichtel
Last week as I observed the multitude of students going to Career Fair, many thoughts ran through my mind. In addition to questioning how people were wearing suits and blazers in 90 degree weather, I wondered if I should attend Career Fair. But then I saw the reality of the situation — how can I start planning my career when I haven’t decided what to study?
Coming into Arts and Sciences without declaring a major, I knew I would have a lot of freedom to choose classes in the hopes of finding my main interest sooner rather than later. Ideally this freedom sounded great, but I soon realized it could hurt me rather than help me.
Making a schedule for first semester freshman year was difficult because I could essentially take whatever I wanted. With hundreds of classes to choose from, I barely knew where to begin. After taking psychology in high school, I thought I wanted to pursue it, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to major in it. So I started by fulfilling some Arts and Sciences requirements like language and science and trying something I didn’t study in high school like economics. I took a politics-based writing seminar, as I had experience in this subject through clubs in high school.
I spent all of last year trying to narrow my interests, hoping I would have a better idea for sophomore year – but I had no such luck. Other than realizing computer science wasn’t for me, taking a variety of classes only left me with more choices for potential majors. This year, I still felt like I needed to take psych, government, and economic classes to be sure of what I want to major in.
In addition, I’m recently finding that my problem of not having a major goes further than just making a schedule. As many of my friends and peers are already thriving in academic clubs or joining some now, I feel again as though I am falling behind. And when people start talking about summer internships – I’m definitely not the person to talk to.
Granted, I have never been good at making decisions so my struggle could be my own fault. I could decide at this point what to major in, but I am held back by the fear of not liking my decision and being too late to make a new one. I would find it hard to believe that others don’t have this fear in the back of their minds when they choose a major, so maybe the way to overcoming it is what I’m missing.
But the right approach to declaring a major is exactly what I wasn’t told at college information sessions. At the many I attended, hearing that students don’t have to declare a major before sophomore year sounded like an endless amount of time. Unfortunately, that time is approaching and I don’t feel at all secure like I hoped. I know in the end the decision has to be mine, but I haven’t really been able to find the guidance I need.
Although advisors, professionals, and other adults stress that being undecided is okay- and sometimes even suggested – I feel as though I’ve been misled. Yes, being able to study in many different academic areas has been nice. However, what no one tells you is how being undecided will affect more than just the classes you take. I’m not discouraging future students from being undeclared, or completely regretting it myself, but I am emphasizing how many people don’t anticipate or fully understand how difficult the undecided life can be.
