When the semester begins to wind down and talk of advising sessions, new schedules, and plans for the summer arise, I can’t help but notice the spark. The spark when someone tells me they just found out that they can finally take the class in their major they’ve been waiting so many years for, the spark as they exclaim that they landed their dream summer job and/or internship. They’re happy, and they should be. Yet too often, the spark fades as pressure from family members, peers, and advisors dull out the shine. “You’re never going to make any money doing that.” “You need stability.” “You’re in school for a reason.” “You need a higher GPA if you want any chance of acceptance into the major.” Sound familiar? It shouldn’t.
I’ve witnessed too many people I care about give up on their dreams to settle for “the safety net” or a “stable future” rather than pursue what they love. The pressure of having to choose a major in an effort to not get too off-track in the academic map forces collegiettes to think quick, think in the moment, and think without truly thinking at all. Journalism lovers turn into business majors, psychology lovers turn into biology majors, and fashion lovers turn into business majors once again because you can “never go wrong with a business degree.”
Yet here’s the thing they can go wrong in: happiness. Most collegiettes forget that never again after these four years will we have the access to the amount of resources we do for our range of interests, no matter how far-fetched they may be. When will you be able to take that visual design class again? Or how about that forensics class you’ve been dying to take because you could never get enough of watching CSI all those years? These classes aren’t going anywhere, but you are. You’re listening to your friends’ ignorant comments telling you that you’ll always have to depend on your parents if you major in this, or there’s no jobs if you major in that, or if you’re an English major, “All you do is read, right?”
If you take the time to think about what you love and why you love it, the rest is simple. It’s understandable that interests change, and yes, maybe you did do a complete 360 and decide that what you’ve loved isn’t what you love anymore and would rather stick with something new. But for those of you collegiettes that are hiding underneath a standard major to please your parents or shush your friends from nagging you all the time about your original plans, it’s time to take a stand because in the end, the only person you’re hurting is yourself. Think ahead 10 years… will you be happy? Will you have regrets?
Your interests are your own for a reason and you don’t need to qualify them, even if they’ve changed slightly over the years. There’s nothing more beautiful than a passionate person who follows their dreams, and it all begins here at Florida State. If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough and if you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Showing others you can happily do whatever you want in life is more rewarding than any salary I can think of.