You should not be allowed to enter college with your major undeclared. This might come off as harsh or as an unnecessary pressure on new students, but simply put, you’re only delaying finding your dream career.
We often procrastinate deciding what to do with our lives. It’s something that requires a lot of thought, and as young adults, we’re inundated with anecdotes of adults who express discontent with the career path they’ve chosen.
But despite what you might tell yourself, I’m here to say you don’t need time to think. Until you actually experience working 40 hours in a certain job, you only have social media’s glamored version of it to form your opinion.
Me at high school graduation with looming decisions about my major and career.
Take it from my experience. I’m still not certain about a career, but I chose computer science as a major, and this summer I started a computer science internship. My experience working 40+ hours a week as a software engineer building an app, for numerous reasons, has informed me that I would not be fulfilled in a career like that.
Now, if I had waited to declare, a year later I would still be operating on the same information, and probably would make the same decision to declare computer science. The only difference? It would take a year longer to find out it’s not the career for me!
Don’t be afraid to pick the wrong career. Because the earlier you mess up (and you most likely will), the faster you’ll find what you love.