This week, I went around campus asking people two questions:
1. If they knew what they wanted to do with their lives and, if not,
2. Why it’s okay
People laughed, people shrugged, people sometimes even responded with ‘I don’t even know if it is”, but the general consensus was the same: Because it is.
Here are some of my favorite responses:
1. How the heck am I supposed to? I’m 20 years old; I have my whole life to figure that out. I want to enjoy college now. Get a degree in something I’m passionate it, and figure the rest out later. Junior
2. I think it’s better not to know. I’m taking the most random assortment of classes to gage what suits me the best. I don’t want to commit to something and then be stuck. Freshman
3. We’re in college- we’re SO lucky. Just because you don’t have a set direction and others do, doesn’t mean your not as smart or orientated or worse off, it just means you don’t know. I don’t see why that’s bad. Sophomore
4. Coming from a small hometown, I was so overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff that I could be offered, so it’s taking me a little while to experiment with different options that I could do. Sophomore
5. Why it’s okay? Because I’m not alone. And just knowing that makes me feel more comforted. Junior
So sure, when you’re a junior or senior in college, you need to have a major and working toward obtaining some degree. But what if you don’t know what you want to do with that degree.
Pitt’s Career Service’s Center is perfect for answering that question; they can set you up with an advisor to discuss what you can do post-graduation, whether that be go right into a career, into graduate school, or professional school.
If you’re a freshman and sophomore and aren’t even sure what you want your major to be, the CSC can also give you a career aptitude test that measure what you’re best abilities are and gives you possibilities to take into account.
However, I think that the most important thing that someone who is unsure of what their future holds in terms of a major or a career is you are not alone. And knowing that can sometimes be the best solace.
Photo: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2011/02/highly_stressed_studen…