When you find yourself at school freshmen year, it seems that one of the most common questions your fellow peers ask you is "what is your major?" And nine times out of 10, the kids can give each other an answer. They think that they know. They think that they have known what they want to do since they were in the fifth grade during career day. And it can be overly intimidating when you find yourself in a classroom full of kids who think they know what they want to do with their life and their careers, and you are the only one who doesn't have a clue.
Well, this isn't true.
As it turns out, those kids who came in to school the first day knowing that they are going to major in economics and run their own business some day probably will end up changing their mind. Coming to school undecided (and as a sophomore still being undecided) no longer scares me. It is all a part of the process: taking classes you think you have no interest in, finding out you still have no interest in them, realizing that you find something you never even heard of fascinating and pursuing it a little further to find out more about it. People might tell you your entire life that you should "know by now" what you are going to do with your career, five, ten, fifteen years down the road. This isn't how life works anymore, and DePauw certainly doesn't encourage this kind of thinking either. I have an advisor at DePauw that has pushed me to try out classes in fields I didn't think I would have any interest in. I found them intriguing, and they have helped to steer me in a direction that will ultimately help me figure out what I am going to declare - someday.
There is no rush to figuring this out because you can take a few classes at a time and boil it down, one by one. This is also one of the huge benefits of going to a smaller liberal arts college - you have time and room to decide these things. There isn't pressure to join a particular field or get into a certain part of the school in order to pursue your major. And for me, this has been really helpful in trying to decide what I want to do. I thought it was science, then after struggling a bit in that field, I tried out anthropology, then English. I have finally found my comfort in writing, and finally might have the guts to declare something. But nonetheless, I am undecided, and I have been reassured many times by school professors and faculty that this is perfectly okay.
For those of you (especially freshmen) who are scrambling trying to find an answer to the daunting "what is your major" question: settle down. Only time will help you figure this out. In the mean time, don't be afraid to take a organic chemistry course, or that political science class that you have been thinking about. It can only help you in the long run, and the long run is what really matters.
- Brinker is a sophomore from Stevensville, Minn., with an undecided major.
