If there’s one positive thing I could say about myself, it would be that I am a person with many interests. I love learning about environmental science, music, psychology, memes–the list goes on, and on, and on. This becomes a problem when I have to choose one of my many interests to pursue for four years (or more), otherwise known as selecting my major. I have been a pre-major (the nicer term Seattle University uses for people who are undeclared) from the start of my freshmen year until now. As a second year, I’m nearing my deadline to declare my major. This decision has been haunting me for two years now, and I’m a little sick of feeling dread when thinking of my future.
Before starting college, I knew I made the right decision not declaring straight into college (No offense those who have, in fact, I’m a little jealous). I had faith that after taking a few classes in college, I would figure out what I liked and what I didn’t, and I would whittle down my long (long) list of possible majors I created with my advisor. By the end of the year, I would happily have chosen my major and have already created my life path up until retirement!
Surprise, surprise, it didn’t work out that way.
I ended up finding more majors I was interested in. Sure, a couple got scrapped along the way (I do not have the patience for computer science), but for the most part, I felt even more trapped than I did before. Along with outside pressures of finding a “profitable” career and having job security, I felt like I hit a dead end every direction I turned. Then, I stopped taking it so seriously. Seriously, I stopped caring so much. And it helped me immensely.
Here’s the thing about college majors. Yes, you’re spending four years of tuition to obtain a degree to take into the workforce, but your degree doesn’t dictate what your job will be. Sure, a college degree means that you’ve been equipped with a specific set of skills, but those skills could be applied to your work in so many different ways. My favorite example of this is a doctor named Frank Netter, who received a medical degree and then went on to paint famous anatomical models that have been used in countless medical textbooks and handbooks. That’s because he wasn’t just a doctor, he was a man who was studying medicine and who loved to make art. Another example from my personal life involves a guy I knew in high school. Many people (including himself) made fun of his choice to go into philosophy at a prestigious college in California. And yet, many agree that philosophy is an important part of legal education and justice in the United States. It’s time we stop viewing ourselves as our career/major and instead as well-rounded, multi-faceted humans who have several skill sets to bring to the table.
So, at the end of the year, I’ll most likely declare Psychology as my major. Maybe I’ll research how climate change affects people’s psyche, maybe I’ll be a lawyer, or maybe I’ll paint beautiful pictures of what I’ve experienced at my internships. Maybe I’ll completely switch my major and in a couple articles I’ll be telling you I’m going to work in public affairs (possible, but not likely). Regardless of what I do at my job, I’ll still be Alexandra, I’ll still love dogs and play guitar and watch way too many vine compilations. My career path will not change every aspect of my life.
Even after declaring, I’m sure I’ll still have moments where I panic and think, “Did I choose the right major? Am I stuck on a path of life for the rest of my life?” But I think those moments are unavoidable. I need only to remind myself that my life is not written in stone, but rather a series of chapters in an unfinished book. And in the words of the iconic Natasha Bedingfield, “The rest is still unwritten”.