When I graduated high school, a whole year ago (even though it feels like it just happened), I put into the little registration box that I wanted to major in History and Creative Writing. One thing about me–I’m very much a nerd who actively enjoys learning. Learning is just one of those “spice of life” things for me that I can’t get enough of (as long as it’s about something interesting to me). So a double major seemed perfect; I loved reading, studying, and analyzing history from all different parts of the world, specifically East Asia and Africa since I knew so little about them. As for writing, I’ve always been a writer so that was always the plan. Double major, easy peasy. I’ll take those two, put them on my resume, and all the jobs I apply to will see how hard I worked and how well I did in college academically.
Well, that was the entirely wrong way to go about thinking about majors. I fell into the trap many other perfectionists or high-achieving students tend to fall into–overachieving and underselling. And by that, I mean we think we have to do way more than we should to be qualified and pick what we think we’re good at rather than what makes us happy. Sure, I love history and there are many things about it that I could see myself truly enjoying doing, but there are other things I find so much more exciting. Journalism, for one. I’ve finally been able to try out more Journalism this semester with Her Campus and some personal projects, plus Denison’s even got an opinion-writing course next semester I really wanted to take, if it didn’t completely fill up.
College is a time for learning and growing, for exploring different fields and discovering who we are and what we want to do. I mean, at a liberal arts school, it’s baked into the curriculum to try at least a minimum of diverse classes across a broad variety of fields. Coming into my first year with a closed-off mindset thinking I knew exactly what I wanted to do in undergrad was honestly just setting myself up for this kind of young-adult existential crisis.
To give any piece of advice to my younger self or any other incoming first-years: be spontaneous. Be flexible. Try to let life take you at some points. It’s something I still have a hard time with, as I’m a very anxious and plan-oriented person. Some of the best advice I got this year when stressing about classes, plans, and my general future was that even if you don’t have the “title” of a major, you still took the classes and got the skills. You may find a new direction you want to explore or discover you really didn’t like something as much as you thought you did, so don’t box yourself in, and have fun!
