Everyone knows that the summer before you leave for your freshman year of college you get asked “What’s your major?” about 300 times. As someone who decided to go into college undecided it became an annoying task to have to explain my reasoning every time I told an extended family member I didn’t have a major.
Believe it or not, a lot of people go into college without a major. It’s not the most universally accepted choice, which is probably why you didn’t know that a lot of people go without into college without a major. I was one of those “deciding students” at BG.
Emphasis on “was”. Everyone clap, I have declared a major! But it was a journey. Even going in undecided, I still kind of had an idea of what I thought I wanted to do. I sat through the Life Design class and went to the coaching and kinda thought that, “Well, I have a good idea of what I want to do so I’m not going to try too hard”.
BGSU 1910, which is the life design class for those who don’t know, made me and everyone in that class do a LOT of rethinking. We had to actually apply our plans to real life. Which – you’re not going to believe this – made me rethink what I thought I wanted to do. And I actually ended up going in a completely different path.
I went into my freshman year pretty convinced that I wanted to major in Criminal Justice and become a criminologist. One of my Life Design assignments was to go to a criminal justice class and talk to a professor. I did that and realized… I felt no spark for it. So, I sprinted to my life design coach’s office and told them that. I wanted to redo the whole Life Design process and actively search for something that I felt a spark for. That’s where I found HDFS and Librarianship.
Going into college undecided actually ended up being for the best for me, and I understand that’s not the case for everyone! But for me, if I had gone in with a major of what I thought I wanted to do, I just would’ve ended up switching it anyways. And even those students who go into college with a major and take a Life Design class sometimes or more likely end up switching their major.
So just like I tell all of my high school friends, if you’re not certain, then go in blind! Don’t go in with a major if you aren’t in love with it. Go in undecided and do some self-reflection – it helps! It’s important to realize that it’s not a race, you will find the right thing when you’re ready.