Why do we have to decide what we want to do for the rest of our lives at age 18? According to a UK article called Concrete, it states that Allaboutcareers.com, which is a career exploration site, states that 44% of undergraduates don’t know what they want to study. I am in that 44%. My college journey began in 2016 when freshman me wanted to study sports medicine, more specifically Athletic Training. I was sure that this is what I wanted to do. Why was I so sure you asked? Well my school offered a course on it with the Athletic Trainer of my school and taking this course gave me an inside scoop on how my life would be with this career.
I took the class which also required hands on experience and I fell in love with it. I applied to one of the top schools for Athletic Training (AT) all the way in Pennsylvania and got accepted. However, I got accepted through the school, not the major but I was told that I can apply for the spring term as that is when the Athletic Training courses would start. No problem, I thought. I definitely thought wrong, it was not easy. I got into the program the spring semester of that next year. I was so excited when I got in but unfortunately was not able to pass a specific class with the minimum requirement which is a B or above.
I was completely distraught. My mind began to spiral as i didnt know what else to study or what I was going to do. I finally decided that it was time for me to come home and leave Pittsburgh. My new plan was that I was going to transfer to a school closer to home with the same major, AT, and retake the class I had failed to get into my new potential schools. I ended up passing my class over the spring semester, at a community college, as well as getting into the program of Athletic Training at the University of Tampa. The End.
Uhh not really. My adventure in the program started out really great. I was finally getting the greats I wanted. However, I was having a little trouble with this one class and through my clinicals I also started to wonder if this is what I really wanted to do. I started speaking to my teacher about how I felt and how I was troubling with the course. She told me to give it some time cause sometimes we doubt ourselves just because one thing did not go our way. In my case it was the recent test I took from her. So I did. I gave it some more time and she was right. However, finals came along and I wasn’t able to move along into the program again because I wasn’t showing much interest in clinicals according to the evaluation done by the other Athletic Training professionals. I was again distraught as here I was again back to square one not knowing what to do and what I should study.
Over the course of winter break I decided to go through a career advisor through my school to find out what my interests are. I also spoke to family members and friends as well to see where they would think I would be good at. Surprisingly, everyone said communication. What’s even more crazy was that they didn’t even know that other people had told me the same thing. so I did digging in the field and decided to go for it. I was very nervous as this was a complete switch from what I was studying before and there so much I could do career wise.
So my advice to you is pay attention to life signs. Mine was that everyone told me to go for a communication major without even knowing others had referred it to me already. As well as don’t get mad when life does not let you do what you want, I know it’s easier said than done but it’s probably for the better. So be happy when things go “south”.