One of the many stressful tasks that a college student is faced with is choosing a major and planning for the future. For some, this is a simple task, but for those like me who came to college not knowing what they truly wanted to do, choosing a major was very difficult.
Picking out a major in college is one of the bigger life choices that young adults make, because it puts them on a certain path that they have to follow the rest of their life. This was an extremely difficult choice for me, because one day l’d want to be an accountant, and the next day I’d want to be a professional writer. I didn’t have a clue.
I started out college going into accounting because everyone told me that I would be making a lot of money if I did. This idea of making money was so engrained in my mind that it was the only basis for choosing my major. It took me three years to figure out that choosing a major based off of future earnings is not the best idea.
By the time senior year rolled around, the reality of graduation slapped me in the face. I had three years of education in a field that I did not enjoy, and the doubts about my future were piling up quickly.
As an athlete on the Hamline University baseball team, one of the things our team preaches is reflecting daily. After the first three weeks of senior year, I took a night to reflect on my time at Hamline for at least an hour. The same question kept coming up, what do I really want to do after college?
Instead of trying to make a decision based off of financial means, I finally took into account other aspects. After reflecting deeply about my life, I realized that my passion is writing, and that’s the direction I want my life to go.
I changed my major to professional writing very late in college, almost too late. I was very lucky to be able to switch fields, and still be projected to graduate on time. I think it’s important to make large decisions like these after reflecting, and not with a tainted mind.
It wasn’t until I found the right major, that I was truly comfortable with school and my future.
