By Christine Mears
My first semester of college was a struggle. I was adapting to living away from home, and I was not enjoying any of my classes. As a result, my GPA was poor. As I talked to friends about it, I felt like I was alone. Most of them were talking about how much fun their majors were and how much they were enjoying their classes. I just felt lost. It was a strange because I’d been focused on a certain direction since high school. I had been told that it was important for colleges to know that I already had a goal in mind, so I setter on business. I believed there would be a lot of career opportunities for business graduates.
After slogging through four semesters, in the fall semester of my junior year it became too much. I was super stressed juggling my class schedule, a part time job (about 10 hours a week), and extra curricular activities. Another major stressor was that I needed to get an A in a specific class to meet the criteria to declare my major in Marketing. It was a class I absolutely HATED. I realized that I probably wasn’t doing well in school because I didn’t actually like my major. After talking to a friend who was a major in Communications and Digital Studies, I decided to switch. I still remember meeting with Gary Richards (the Department Chair of English, Linguistics, and Communication at the University of Mary Washington). He was very welcoming, and understood my reasons for wanting to switch so late in my college career. We sat down for about forty-five minutes discussing my future semester schedules, and what I needed to do in order to graduate on time. He gave me some recommendations for elective courses, and we discussed the major an in depth. That meeting made me feel much more comfortable and excited about my late switch. Ever since, I’ve never looked back. I am not the only person who has had a change of heart in what they want to study and do with their life. According to insiderhighered.com (an online publication that focuses news, resources, events, and jobs on college and university topics), “most students – as many as 80 percent in some surveys – will switch majors at one point during their time in college.” And yet so many high schools, parents, and others tell us to figure out what we want to do before even applying to university. I started to wonder why is there so much pressure to figure out what we want to study at such a young age? And is the advice wrong?
Do I Need to Know What my Major is Before Attending College?
There are several pros and cons when applying to college undeclared. According to usnews.com, it is best to apply undeclared if you have a competitive field in mind and can use the first year of college to build a strong GPA, if you truly are undecided, or just are not sure if you would like to major in a certain field (like what I experienced) because you may change your mind. However, if you apply declared you can receive possible financial support and get admitted into major courses immediately. Overall, if you are not entirely sure on what to major in, it is best to be undeclared to allow time to decide on a major once you arrive at college.
According toThe Princeton Review, it is okay not knowing what you want to study; They suggest that the best time to declare a major is typically sophomore or junior year of college. The articles did not put stress on having to know what you want to major in, or even knowing your eventual career track. The Princeton Reviewsaid in a TK date story “The major you choose will neither predict nor guarantee your future. Many graduates find jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied in college.” Freelance writer, Julia Quinn-Szcesuil, states in collegeexpress.comthat not knowing your major coming in to college can lead to success. She begins the article by stating that she came into college with some ideas of what she wanted to do, but nothing made her want to declare in a certain field. She became a double major and states, “I ended up taking a lot of subjects I wasn’t exposed to in high school”, and was able to explore these courses more in depth in college. This proves that one does not need to go into college with a set path, as it can easily be changed due to lack of being unfamiliar with certain fields of education.
Insidehighered.com states that according to a report, students who made a final decision on their major as late as their fifth term did not delay their time to graduation. The EAB (Education Advisory Board) came to find that even one-quarter of the students who decided on a final major during their senior year still graduated in four years. One can still change major late in college and still finish on time. They just have to be dedicated and work hard.
Explore Your Options
Although certain people may say that no businesses really cares about what your major is anymore, as long as you have at least your bachelor’s degree and the necessary skills it does not matter. But it matters to you. If you are going to study at a university or college for four years, you should be able to enjoy your major (as you will likely be doing something very similar to it for the rest of your life). Explore your options, and take classes that interest you, as that may help you make your decision. Although it is good to seek advice from your advisors, parents, and friends, you do not need to make your final decisions based on their opinion (unless it truly matches with what you want).
High school students already have a lot of pressure and stress to maintain good grades, be involved in after school activities, as well as find the right university; figuring out their major should not be a priority on top of that. Students have plenty of time when they get to college to figure out what they would like to do (and as insiderhighered.commentioned this can and often does change in college.) and still graduate on time.