On the first day at FSU as an exploratory major, I had no idea what I wanted to study. Two weeks in, I thought I would be a sociology major. Then, I wanted to do cyber criminology. I think I even tossed around the idea of studying physics, which my current English-major self is mildly disgusted by.
As an exploratory major, I took a one-credit-hour introduction course that basically told me to follow my heart. It seems that they want you to declare your major by the end of this course, but you have until the end of your first year to do so. Past that point, the advisors become much more hands-on with helping you find your major.
Something that I noticed among exploratory majors is that there were two major types of people in the department: people who wanted to study something specific but had been discouraged from doing so, and people who truly didn’t know which major to pick.
I fell into the first group. Before I even applied to FSU, I knew I wanted to study English. Still, there were so many people hounding me about what in the world I was going to do with that degree. I kept getting posts on my TikTok feed about English being among the most useless areas of study.
Take the Risk
Obviously, this is incredibly discouraging. It delayed me from comfortably declaring English as my major for three semesters. What finally snapped me out of finding the elusive “perfect major” was something that the advisors kept mentioning in the exploratory introduction course: you must study something that you care about.
This sounds really obvious. Looking back on my semester-long escapade as a communications major, I feel a little silly for not taking such simple advice to heart sooner. How much time did I waste bouncing between departments?
The answer is none. If I time-traveled and told my 18-year-old self to apply to FSU as an English major, I still don’t think it would’ve happened. This was one of those situations where the only solution was time.
Go with your Gut
Making yourself miserable to appease some greater idea of STEM superiority is how to actually waste time in college. The growing idea that the arts and humanities aren’t important to study is exactly why they should be. This doesn’t mean people can’t love studying chemistry or biology, but it does mean that anthropology and clarinet performance are just as viable majors.
Letting myself get a little lost between the cracks of different majors strengthened my understanding of what I want to do with my life. For example, I now know that I shouldn’t be allowed within 20 feet of a professional situation involving science. There’s no use for me to pretend otherwise.
My time as an exploratory major was probably the most valuable of my FSU experience so far. I learned that I’ve got more time to figure things out than I thought. Most people come into college feeling a little lost. It feels beyond cheesy to say this, but it’s more than okay to feel that way.
FSU has so many majors, and you don’t even have to pick just one. If you really can’t decide, then double major. If you hate both of them by the middle of your sophomore year, change them. If you graduate without breaking the bank, you’ve made the most of it.
If I really could time travel, that’s what I’d say to my department-surfing, 18-year-old self.
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