Last weekend, I went to get my eyebrows waxed. I had scheduled my appointment a few days before, and desperately needed to get them done. I scooted into the parking lot of the salon, hopped inside, and waited for my appointment to begin. I consider myself a pretty amiable person, someone who likes to chat and catch up, but to be honest, getting my eyebrows waxed is one situation in which I’m a little more on the silent side. I finally was ready for my wax when the aesthetician began to talk. I chatted back, not wanting to be rude, but I could feel it in the air—that looming feeling when a conversation is going to turn to college.Â
It’s unavoidable when you’re a high school junior or senior – sometimes even a sophomore – and by the end of senior year it’s one of the most unbearable conversations you will have: the college interrogation. Family, neighbors, even salon aestheticians all seem to want to know where you’re applying, what your top school is, and what you want to major in. These questions might be easy for some: you might have a top school choice, you might know exactly what you want to major in, and you might have even already been accepted. But for the rest of us, these questions are annoying and taxing. As the woman ripped the wax from under my brow, she popped the question. “What’s your top choice?” After years of being asked this question, I have developed a habit of answering differently each time someone asks. After I was rejected from my early decision school, I honestly didn’t have a top choice. I was sick of trying to pick a school or explain to people that I had no idea where I wanted to go. I yelped out a nearby school from my application list, but it was simply the first name off my tongue, not my first choice. It seemed to placate her, and she went back to ripping hairs off my brow line. I breathed a sigh of relief.
The “major” question is even worse, in my opinion. I have absolutely no idea what I want to major in. A few months ago, I was set on minoring in voice. But recently, I decided that I would hate to minor in voice, and might want to go into the film industry. I decided long ago that I probably want to major in English, but this response always seems to receive unfortunately predictable reactions: either a laugh, a joke about income, or the response, “No, what do you really want to do with your life?” My current answer is that I want to major in the humanities field, which seems to dodge the unwanted reactions and leaves people only to shrug and say, “You still have time to decide.”
While these questions are rather grating and cumbersome, those who ask them mean well. Whether you choose to answer truthfully or you choose to fudge the truth just a little bit, know that you’re not alone. (Really, how many of us have our entire futures set in stone?) Good luck answering those tricky questions, and remember that you really do still have time to decide.
Photo source: http://www.barbaraleung.com/2010/07/chooseday-free-pm/