In the buzz and excitement of being thrown into new social settings in college, the most common icebreaker is “What’s your major?” Depending on who you are, this question prompts either a direct answer or a completely uncertain one, with neither being very confident.
The ability to construct a respectable future that is compatible with our interests is at the epicenter of the college mind. We make decisions everyday about what classrooms we learn in, and the people we come into contact with. These people we come in contact with could be potential romances, friends or even future employers. We do our best to make the decisions in the best light of a desired future.
It is in this confusion that higher education requires us to staple down a path in life within the first few years. While this can be very beneficial to some, it can be overwhelming for others to say the least. According to a New York Times article, 355 new academic programs, or majors, were added to the Department of Education over the last 10 years for a total of 1,500. With such a large amount of majors, now there could be a major that more closely fits one’s interests, but yet he or she had never heard of it previously. Even worse, there could be a major that would match your desired lifestyle perfectly, but has not been made as a major yet. Therefore, an effort to expand major opportunities turned into an even more confusing mess.
To combat this, some have turned to getting two majors instead of one. Recently, the Education Department reported that bachelor’s degrees attained with two majors increased by 70 percent between 2001 and 2011. In this problem of basic probability, we try to improve our chances by piling on the workload and graduating with the possibility to take two different routes. With this, we may get some comfort that even if one of the options were not doing well in the job market or lost attractiveness, there would always be a failsafe.
Now to take this one step further, you make these decisions about your future in the midst of a group of people pretty much the same as you. In an undergraduate class of 29,302 students, many will be competing for the same path at similar or different proficiency levels. This competition is the same in every university across America. One’s decision to choose a future that sounds unique and rewarding suddenly gets lost among the stream of millions of other individuals. While some of us may go on to do great things for humanity or ourself, most of us will simply contribute our share to society, if not simply pay back our student loans.
This may sound pretty pessimistic, but I think it’s not. By recognizing how insignificant we are, we gain a little liberation for the weight of our decisions in life. If we’re just a fart in the existence in the universe, ultimately we’re left with no standard to meet and are free to choose futures that make us the happiest, whatever that may be. Even if you were to choose a major that turned out to be incompatible after graduating, you’d have plenty life left to take some time off and try school again, if at all.
So in the absence of a standard of success, don’t be afraid to try different things and fail at them. Our actions and decisions are so incredibly trivial that no one action can really define our life. Picking a major doesn’t need to have all the stress associated with it, because its essence is to choose what you believe will give you the best and happiest life. There’s no need to worry about choosing the right future because if you want one, you have your lifetime to get it.
Alex Mohney ([email protected]
