With the start of the new school year, I feel like I’ve just turned a blank page in my book of life. As these past few weeks are finally starting to feel like normal again, I can’t help but look back on last year as a whole. I was a freshman last year, feeling like I was just thrown into a school of fish who already had their friend group set, major declared, and life planned out. Going into this semester with some of that knowledge, but definitely not all, I wanted to share with you all some reminders I keep telling myself and that I hope you can apply for yourself.
1. You are allowed to change friend groups, or not even have one at all! Social media definitely plays a huge role in this one. As you scroll through Instagram, it’s become extremely common to see pictures of people with the same group of friends every time. As I walk through campus every day, when I see someone, I immediately picture their friend group in my head, or even physically see them walking together. This year, this is not the type of person I want to be known as. While of course it’s important to have a group of people you consider your closest friends, that you’re able to hang out with often, and that you can count on to have your back, you don’t have to exclusively stick to those same people all the time. This year, I am focusing on making many new connections that don’t have to be fixed to the same people. I’ve been grabbing lunch with friends from my classes instead of my usual “friend group,” grabbing dinner with friends from some of the clubs I’m involved in, and just hanging out with people that are meaningful to me, instead of being bound to a friend group.
2. You don’t have to be set on a major just yet, and if you are, you can still change it! This is mainly geared towards the freshmen and sophomores here at Holy Cross. Personally, I came into Holy Cross with a Psychology major in mind. Towards the beginning of second semester freshman year, I completely switched directions and I’m now an Economics major, with a double minor in Dance and Ethics, Society, and the Institution of Business. I encourage you not to feel as if you have to know your path from the very first day of freshman year. Even if you have been working towards a major, like I was, if you don’t enjoy it or can’t picture yourself doing it for four years, it is totally okay to change.
3. You also don’t need to have your life planned out.
So many people that I know or have talked with come into college knowing they are majoring in Political Science to become a lawyer, or they’re majoring Biology on a pre-med track to become a doctor. I really want to emphasize the fact that you don’t need to know what you want to do in the future, and you don’t have to choose a major based on what you think you want to do. Recently, I have discovered that there truly are so many job opportunities out there. Regardless of your major or what you want to do after college, there are countless numbers of jobs that reach far beyond your most common doctor, lawyer, or teacher tracks. There is something out there for you, I promise.