With the end of first semester rolling around, lots of first-years, sophomores and maybe even some juniors (guilty… that was me!) are thinking critically about what major feels right for them. This can be stressful – to the extreme point of panic attacks, mental breakdowns, “quarter-life crises” and many tears shed. If that’s you, I know exactly how you feel – I changed my major 5 times. Well Oles, gather `round, because I’ve got news for you! Your major does not define your future. That is so important to keep in mind that I’m going to say it again: Your major does not define your future.
The buzz around campus and even off campus with other college friends and around your family tends to be all about your major – have you declared? Do you have a concentration? Have you thought about double majoring? What will you do with your major? How will you make any money if you major in that? These questions are all the rage. We’ve all thought about them and probably let them creep under our skin at one point or another. The anxiety is all too real, but the reality of the professional world is quite unlike what we’ve constructed by constantly asking those pesky questions.
Of course, certain majors pertain to certain careers. That’s a given. However, undergraduate students in our generation are more often taking time between their undergrad career and graduate school to work, travel or volunteer – a way of allowing themselves to explore the professional world, gain experience in other cultures and boost their grad school application. This shift takes the pressure off of their college coursework to speak for their experiences when applying to a graduate program and enables them to apply real-world skills to their higher education degree.
We are privileged to live in a country where a Philosophy major can start a business or a Social Work major can write a book. But we are so entrenched into the thinking that our majors define us as students and as professionals post-graduation. Ask any alumni and they will tell you they rarely spoke of their undergraduate major again after leaving campus. I like to think about my major (Women’s and Gender Studies) as a lens to view the world, a way of navigating societies and a tool to better any situation I find myself in in the future rather than a linear vocational path. Especially at a liberal arts college, we are taught transferable skills that allow us to succeed in most careers in the “real world.” So if you’re feeling ultra-stressed about choosing a major, remember that you are more than what will be printed on your Bachelor’s Degree come May of senior year. You are a whole person who is capable of loads more than what’s encompassed by this, that, or the other major. Keep calm and declare the major that is most fulfilling for you!