You’re a semester into your degree and you realize, “wow, this major really sucks!” It’s nowhere near as interesting as you thought it would be, so now you’re sitting in front of your advisor to change it. But what do you change it to?
Choosing a major is like being in a candy store. Tons of choices are laid out before you and it’s difficult to pick just one. You know what candies you like and which ones you don’t like, but you really don’t know which one will send your taste buds soaring off into the magical land of sugary wonders. Not unless you took a bite out of each one, that is, but you’ll likely just end up with nothing more than a stomach ache and a bad taste in your mouth.
This is the story of many college students out there, and may even describe yours as well. A good few students go into college with very little idea as to what they’re interested in. Their only reason for being there is just to get a degree because they’d been told all throughout grade school that the only way they would get anywhere in life is if they were to go to college. There are a couple problems with this approach though. For one, college costs money. A lot of money. For many students, college will most likely be the first investment decision one will make…unless if you’ve had a girlfriend before then, of course.
Your success in that specific career field can depend on whether or not you love it enough to take on the debt and push forward. If it’s something you truly enjoy, you won’t have any problems taking on the debt to finish your degree and making a success out of your career. But if you end up changing your major over and over again, you’ll find that that four year degree will soon become a six year, and you’ll end up spending more money that you would have if you had made that final choice your first. When you finally do find the one you like, your financial burden would be much greater than if you had just waited until that degree came along on its own without all the trial-and-error.
This leads to the next problem, which actually brings us back to the beginning: finding that degree. Isn’t it difficult to think when you’re in a room full of noise? That’s what it’s like when you’re in college and you’re trying to figure out what you sincerely enjoy doing. So much potential is wasted when a student seeks out a degree that doesn’t suit the talents of that individual. When you’re in college, you have so many opinions flying your way that you’ll inevitably end up with someone else’s degree preference rather than your own. Everyone has an environment that helps them think, and finding that environment sometimes means traveling down the least trodden path– where you could care less about everyone’s opinion. If you’re going to college to find your degree, you’ve gone to the wrong place.
Oftentimes, the college journey can be a lot like searching for a significant other and hopefully marry that person in an attempt to stave off loneliness. You may go through a dozen degrees or so over the years, but you must keep trying, because the world tells you that you won’t amount to anything otherwise. What many end up doing is going for something that looks interesting enough, like Psychology or English, but don’t realize that those degrees are like that girl or guy you know that gets so much attention that they simply don’t have time for you. Any attempt to date them would be just a waste of time.
The best advice anyone could give you is to just wait. Now there’s nothing wrong with finding appreciation in a degree like Psychology or English, but unless if you’re determined enough (or someone really special), you’re going to feel cheated in the end when you pursue it and find out later that you can’t go anywhere with it. You’ll find that it’s much easier to discover what you truly aspire to do when you take a step back from academics and focus on what it is that you really love.
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