How are we supposed to make the decision of what to do with the rest of our lives at the age of 18? We may have had a part time job (or two) where we were overworked and underpaid. Those minimum wage jobs may have given you some ideas of what you’re looking for in a career, or more likely, what you’re not looking for in a career.
I should say, I enjoyed the part time jobs I had in high school and early in my college career. I gained enough experience to start doing jobs and internships that involved specialized skills to try to get industry experience, or once again, learn what I like and don’t like.
Even now, at 23, I still debate on what I want to do with my life and what I want to use my degree for. I have a better idea than I did at 18, but I have some regrets and second guess myself.
I have changed my major and minors more times than I can confidently say. As a note, not all of these changes were officially done through MSU, but I did have to go through them for some of these changes.
I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to be a nurse anesthetist, I wanted to go into business, I wanted to go into general nursing, I wanted to be a professional writer/editor. I wanted to study Spanish, then I wanted to study the Japanese language, then I wanted to study the Korean language. Then, my senior year, I wanted to add on economics. Advanced economics lasted a single semester before I hated it. There are so many majors, minors, and career paths I was interested in, and it seemed to change every semester.
Nine semesters later, I have settled on a marketing major and a creative writing minor and I’m extremely passionate about both of them. At this point, it isn’t really an area of study anymore because I am doing both of these things through jobs and my student organizations. I’m also using everything I’ve learned from them in my daily life.
The Good:
I have taken so many different classes and I really have enjoyed most of them. I’ve also been able to get internships in relation to both marketing and writing. I’ve also met more people and broadened my connections when it comes to peers and faculty.
The Bad:
I wasn’t able to add on an extra major or minor because when I would add one in, I would change my mind or it would’ve pushed me back too far. There is also the matter of more tuition. MSU charges the same for 12-18 credits to give students the flexibility that they need, but if your school doesn’t block tuition or if you push back your graduation, you’re going to spend even more on school.
The In Between:
I had to push back my graduation date. You can change around your areas of study to an extent without having to push back graduation, but in my experience, it is what was best for me. I wouldn’t call this a bad thing, though, because I lost so much time due to COVID-19 and I’ve accomplished so much this year. However, I did watch my friends move on and I had to come to terms with myself by realizing that it was okay and normal.
Ultimately, it’s okay. The “normal” doesn’t work for everyone. You also need to realize that it is unreasonable to be expected to make such big decisions at such a young age, especially since you usually can’t test out jobs in the different fields until you’ve had enough education or gained enough experience to do so. Make the most out of it when you can. College is such a unique experience and it’ll be over before you know it.