Indecisiveness When Choosing A Major

Ever since you were a little toddler, people asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up.  As you got older and became a high school senior this question morphed into “what are you planning on studying in college,” and now as a current student everyone wants to know “what are you majoring in?”  If you are undeclared (or even have a declared major but questioning changing it) you have to give that “oh, well I’m not sure yet” response that does little to appease family members and loose acquaintances.  

Many people take one’s major to be a representation of that person’s character.  One gets a view of the English major sitting hunched over reading and writing, the Math major working on complex integrals, the Bio major wandering around outside identifying trees.  It says a lot about a person, and is a very, VERY hard choice for many people.

For me, choosing a major going into college was easy.  I am a Math major.  It made sense: I am good at math, analytical, logical, and this career would give me many opportunities for lucrative career paths.  But my whole plan shattered when I took a class in Sociology my freshman fall and fell in love with it, and it broke down further when I took my first college Psychology class.  Of course it would be impossible to triple major and quite difficult to double major and minor, so here I am with this debacle.  

If there’s anything that I have learned/am learning from this experience of going through questioning my major,  it is that no decision should be rushed into.  I know people who have officially declared and changed their major several times, quite a hassle for that person, his/her advisor, and all the people whose signatures are need.  That being said, if you are 100% sure with the course of study you want to pursue, go ahead and declare it!  No need to wait if you know what you really want.

But I think the most important thing I’ve gotten out of this is that it’s okay to explore new things!  College opens up a plethora of  opportunities to take a variety of classes in subjects you might not have previously been exposed to.  It’s the reason I was exposed to Sociology and Psychology, disciplines I would never have thought that I would find so fascinating and be highly interested in pursuing.

So if you are indecisive about your college major, don’t worry!  Take some deep breaths, relax, and give it time.  Take some classes in each subject, talk to advisors, and do some research about possible career paths.  This is something many people go through and it could open up some wonderful opportunities!

Photos sources:

Image 1: http://www.netanimations.net/Animated-gif-spinning-question-mark-picture…

Image 2: Pexels

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• minor
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