Bogged down by the typical never-ending questionnaire tailored specifically for your last year of high school? “Where are you going to school? What are you going to select as your major? What are you going to do with that? What career have you chosen? How much money does that make? Do you think you can get a job with that?”
“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I can hear your brain plummeting into overdrive caused by extreme questioning like mine was my senior year in high school. The honest truth is that most students don’t know what their end-goal career is going to be. The students that do know—rather think they know—really have no idea how things will turn out.
In 2012, Penn State reported that “An estimated 20 to 50 percent of students enter college as ‘undecided’ (Gordon, 1995) and an estimated 75 percent of students change their major at least once before graduation (Gordon, 1995).” The title of the article reads The Developmental Disconnect in Choosing a Major: Why Institutions Should Prohibit Choice until Second Year.
The fact that so many students change their majors before they graduate from college is such an epidemic that colleges and universities are considering changing their policies to allow college students to declare their majors after their first year of college.
Why is shift this happening, you may ask. Well, it begins with high schools and those pesky questioners we encounter. High schools demand that students choose a career track, and/or commit a whole semester to an overrated as well as stressful Capstone Project.
These poor decisions to push students into their perspective career field leave students unprepared for college, feeling forced to choose a career before they even know themselves enough to choose one and causing students to feel like failures if they don’t know what they want to do for the rest of their lives.
Colleges and universities are beginning to realize that Freshmen year is just too early to put so much pressure on students to have their lives fully planned. Hopefully, career-focused school districts will come to the realization that it’s too soon for high school seniors too.
Indiana—Purdue University Fort Wayne noted that even adults, post-college, change their career fields. Whether it is due to a change in interest, a layoff, relocation, marriage or having children, there is no guarantee that because you did your Capstone Project on being a Cosmetologist, you’re going to in fact become a cosmetologist.
So here’s the bottom line: stop stressing because you’re not sure what major to select or what career you want to declare over your life. You have time to make those big life decisions. The choice will become easier as you grow and develop. Take time to get to know yourself while taking your General Education classes. Those are the classes that first-year students have to take anyway. If your school allows you to, you can select ‘Undecided/Undeclared’ as your major.
If not, the link below will explain why Psychology, Business and English are the best majors for “Undecided” students. It’s okay if you change your major once you decide on what you really want to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that you should spend four years soul-searching while spending all of your money on school while you do it. What I encourage you to do is, take your freshmen year as a trial run to discover what it is that you want to do. After your Freshmen year life makes more sense anyway. Once you decide, change your major. You may actually be surprised that your major could lead to your career path without having to change it.
So take a deep breath, and remember that it’s okay if you don’t have all of the answers just yet. When people begin to give you an impromptu interview about your career and college major selection, just simply answer “I don’t have all of the answers yet, but I’ll let you know when I do.”
Helpful Links:
IPFW’s reasons for why Psychology, Business and English are the best majors for “Undecided” students:http://info.ipfw.edu/blog/undecided-3-best-majors-for-deciding-students
IPFW’s article on why it’s okay to not know your career path:http://info.ipfw.edu/hubfs/PDFs/Majors_and_Careers_101.pdf?t=1471611351318
Penn State’s Article on choosing a major:https://dus.psu.edu/mentor/2013/06/disconnect-choosing-major/
Works Cited:
IPFW Admissions Team. “Undecided? 3 Best Majors for Deciding Students- IPFW.” Indiana UniversityPurdue University Fort Wayne – IPFW. IPFW, 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.
Office of Admissions-IPFW. Majors and Careers 101: A Guide for Deciding Students Applying to Colleges. Office of Admissions IPFW, n.d. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.
Freedman, Liz. “The Pennsylvania State University Division of Undergraduate Studies.” The Mentor. Penn State:Division of Undergraduate Studies, 06 June 2013. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.
