RISING second years are looking toward the upcoming school year with one ugly word on their minds: major. Yes, second years have to declare their majors by the end of spring semester, a nice nerve-wracking experience to round out the first half of their college careers. Some second years of course are already smugly decided in their life plan, having known from the age of three that they want to be aerospace engineers, have 1.3 children and a Jack Russell terrier and move to Bangor, Maine by 2007.
For those of you still dwelling in Undecided Land, however, the big, potentially life-altering decisions still have to be made. I, too, was woefully undecided until just recently when I had a sudden flash of clarity. If it hasn't happened to you yet, don't despair. Here are some words of advice to help guide the way.
Don't feel ashamed. Say it with me, loud and proud: "I, Joe Undecided, have no idea what I want to do with my life!" You're definitely not alone. It may look that way sometimes when everyone around you seems so confident about being pre-med or American studies. Actually, they might not be so sure. There are a lot of people who are closet-case undecideds and only claim to know what they're doing. Perhaps they snapped after the hundredth well-meaning person asked them what their life plan was. It can be tiring to admit cluelessness, so there are probably many people who end up crafting a story about aerospace engineering and Bangor, Maine just so that they can say anything but "undecided." But admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, so you're well on your way if you just admit it already.
Second, be sure to explore. College is the best chance you have to do whatever you want to do, after you've fulfilled your area requirements, of course. Try not to stay in a rut. If you were big on biology in high school, try something new - whatever piques your interest.
Taking a variety of classes does more than make you well-educated in the end. It can help you either find what you're looking for or reaffirm that what you were leaning toward is the right way to go.
Also remember to talk to your elders. Ask your upperclassmen friends how they figured out what they wanted to do. Sometimes it is a specific class or experience that sets off the flashing neon lights of realization. If you share some of your friends' interests, take some of the classes they have taken and see what they do for you. If they don't set your lights a-blinking, at least you'll have ruled something out.
Get professional help. There are professors at the University who specialize in helping clueless underclassmen. Your advisors and the folks at the Career Center are all happy to help you. Advisors may have ideas about areas that might interest you, provocative classes, or simply how to juggle getting your requirements out of the way while still having time to find out what makes you tick.
The Career Center has tools like personality tests and ways of assessing your interests to suggest future career paths that can give you some direction. Visit them at Bryant Hall in Scott Stadium or give them a ring at 924-8900.
Don't sell out. If you hate number crunching but decide to study accounting just because you're guaranteed a lucrative job, realize that you're not doing yourself any favors in the end. Say you've got the soul of an English major but you're fighting it because you think there isn't a huge market for people who can analyze John Donne poems.
In fact, according to the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University, liberal arts graduates can expect to be more sought after in the coming years and to be offered better salaries. This is in part because baby boomers are retiring, freeing up jobs for younger people. There is a future in the liberal arts, albeit not as high-paying a future as you might expect in the Comm school.
Just think of it this way: Would you rather be a happy English major or a miserable accounting major? How do you want to spend your years in college, not to mention your life? If you do what makes you happy, you never can go wrong.
Finally, remember that your major is not permanent. It's not like the gods of academia are going to strike you down if you decide to change your major. When my advisor was in college, he changed majors four times before he found what he really loved. Sometimes it takes that long, and that's perfectly OK.
(Laura Sahramaa is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at lsahramaa@cavalierdaily.com.)
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