Your freshman year was absolutely amazing: great friends, great classes and great parties. You were so excited to finally be a college student and turn dreams into a reality. Now it’s sophomore year, and the shininess of college has long faded away into an oblivion. You might feel like you should know what you want to do by now: your major figured out, all of your future classes listed or even have summer internships lined up. You might even be thinking whether you made the right choice coming to this school, or maybe even college at all. You’re caught in between being confused about your future, but feeling like you shouldn’t be.
Truth is, these feelings of confusion and frustration are completely normal and understandable, so normal in fact that there’s a term for it: the sophomore slump. The good news is, you WILL persevere. You will be okay. As cliche as it sounds, it will work out in the end. Remind yourself why you came to school in the first place; whether it be to pursue a lifelong dream or to figure out what the dream is. Take a semester or year off if you have to, in order to regroup your thoughts. Study abroad and explore new things! Be flexible, and open your mind. Maybe all your life you thought you wanted to be a surgeon, only to find out you actually love dance a lot more. It’s okay to change your mind and try new things (the good part about being a sophomore: you still have time to change stuff around!).
It’s also important that you seek support if you need it. Talk to your friends, your professors, your advisers and even your parents. While ultimately, your decisions are yours alone, the opinions and thoughts of others may be insightful for you and open some new doors. Remember, everyone wants the best for you.
So don’t hastily drop out of college. Don’t get lazy. Talk to people. Try new things. Do things you used to like, and see if you still like them. You got this. You will get through this. And it will all work out in the end. What’s meant to happen will happen.