You always hear the phrase: “Enjoy your time in college because before you know it it’ll be gone.”
Well, I know people usually say that because they want you to enjoy your time in college. Even so, when I think of that saying right now, it’s more real than ever. No, not because I will miss my social life, though, I’ll miss that, too, but because I still have no idea what I want to do after I graduate.
I thought Freshmen year was the year to make mistakes, change your major five times and finally figure out what you want. I am now halfway through junior year, and I have decided a major, but I’m still unsure if that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I mean think about that… the rest of your life. Is that not intimidating?
I decided on my major because I love helping people; however, when I was looking at internships in that field, I realized that I don’t enjoy doing half of the things it entailed. Do I really want to be stuck doing the same repetitive thing every day if I don’t enjoy it?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not changing my major now. I mean, I am three semesters away from graduating, and a degree is a degree.
I always see people who graduated going back to school for a totally different degree, and until now, I never understood why they did that. We spend 4-5 years getting a degree that we don’t even know that we want yet. Yes, internships are supposed to help you decide, but most majors don’t require them. You are pressured freshmen year to decide early on what you want to do or you will be that person who stays in college forever.
People need to quit putting pressure on freshmen to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Four years does not compare to the many years after. Yes, college is important, but having a career you know you’ll love forever trumps all of that.
Photo by Becca Tapert on Unsplash