The Minor Problem with Picking a Major

So here’s the deal. You graduate high school and go to college for 4 years, studying so that you can get the degree of your choice, so that you can get a job with that degree, so that you can provide for yourself and the family you’ll eventually have and so that one day you can send your kids to college. It’s the circle of life, how beautiful. Not. Not for me at least. You see I unfortunately wasn’t blessed with knowing exactly what I want to do with my life. There are some people, actually many people who come into college fully aware of what path they want to take in. This benefits them in many ways, the biggest being that they are able to plan. Plan what classes to take, what grad schools to look into, what internships to apply for.

Having a plan is something I envy. Being around friends who talk about their academic goals give me anxiety when I realize there are so many things I haven’t done yet. My resume is a word document that hasn’t been opened in months and my involvement in school is virtually non-existent. The worst part was that time kept passing and nothing was clicking for me. None of my classes inspired me enough to be like “Hey that’s something I really could see myself being happy doing for a living.” I felt stuck and lost and the only things I really knew that I wanted for my future was that I wanted to rich and I wanted to be happy.

Now everybody wants to be rich I know but I would never pick a career for myself based on the salary, although having a good one would be beneficial. I want to do something where I can enjoy walking into work everyday. Something I am passionate about. For a lot of people, especially the people I know, they pick a career path based on the fantasy of being rich. They aren’t passionate about accounting or computer science but they are passionate about their pay checks. Now I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all, it’s just not my thing. As the semesters passed, I was becoming more and more nervous, especially with the pressure of everyone around me having their lives figured out.

I felt like the only one still undecided, and that notion of being behind in school freaked me out. I spent hours desperate looking at different careers online hoping that something clicked but nothing stood out to me. The more time that passed by the more lost I felt. Then one day something hit me and woke me up. That something came in the form of my academic advisor, Rachel Moody. We had a meeting to determine what classes I should take for the upcoming semester. Now her genuine nature,and warm personality encouraged me to be honest with her. I shared my fears with her and told her I felt so far behind because I didn’t have a direction like everyone I knew. I was going into my second semester of sophomore year and I didn’t know what to do. Rachel listened to every word I said and then once I was finished she looked at me and calmly said “It’s okay”. It’s okay not to know what you want to do in life, you are only 19 years old. It’s okay because you’re not the only one who doesn’t know and you are not behind. As she told me this it hit me that everything was going to be okay, everything would work out in the end. She encouraged me to look at myself and look at the things I enjoy to do and find an area of study that fits my qualities. I am now a Communications and Spanish major because I like to talk and I want to travel the world, two things that are a really big part of me. I may still not know what path I am going to follow but I do know that whatever I decide, I will do it for the reasons I want. I will always stay true to myself. Picking a major should not be a major problem.  

Melissa F.
Class of 2018
Majors: Spanish & Communication
Blog Theme: Fierce & Freaked

Please Note: The views of our student bloggers do not necessarily reflect the views of the UAlbany Advisement Services Center. These are their stories and their voices.