Swoop Scoop

Written By: Karina Chowdhury

Many people know what they want to do with their life from the second they are born. They know exactly which path to take, who to talk to, what activities they need or want to do in order to pursue this certain path. They enter college and start on their major right away, not wasting any time on pointless electives. They graduate, go into the profession of their choice and being to live the rest of their life doing exactly what they wanted to do.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of those people.

When I was five years old, I wanted to be a teacher. When I was 7 years old, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer. When I was 10, I wanted to be a marine biologist. When I was 12, I wanted to be an interior designer. Then I entered high school and had no idea what I wanted to be anymore. There wasn’t anything that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I dreaded the day that I had to declare a major because I simply did not know of anything that would make me happy.

I was even more nervous after graduating high school. I knew I had to pick a major soon, and at the time, nothing scared me more. I told myself that I would decide on a major before I entered college in the Fall, giving myself all Summer to think about it. Well, Summer quickly went by and I had yet to decide on something.

Once I started college, I decided I would take some classes that sounded like they would be interesting. But, in the end I signed up for extremely boring classes and I did not learn much. Winter break came around and once again, I told myself I would decide on a major before the Spring semester. I kept doing this. The Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters of 2010 all passed by quickly. I felt like I was running out of time. I was getting more and more frustrated with every passing day. I thought to myself, “Why do I need to pick a major anyways? Can’t I just take all the classes I want to and just graduate college?”

I took many aptitude tests to help me decide on a major. I talked to friends, family, relatives, and guidance counselors to see what they had to say. I ended up more confused and frustrated than I was before. But then, one day, I talked with an old roommate and I had figured it out.

She told me that she had recently changed her major from nutrition to public relations. I listened to her talk about the reasons on why she switched and I instantly knew what I wanted to major in. Public relations would be the perfect major for me. I like meeting new people, I’m good at forming relationships, I enjoy working for large companies, and I don’t mind all the writing. It was perfect.

Keep in mind, I was almost done with my Sophomore year when I figured this out. I had basically gone through almost two years of college before I figured out what I wanted to major in. However, I finally knew what I wanted to do and that was the most important thing. Better late than never, right?

Moral of the story is: if you don’t know exactly what you want to do with your life, don’t sweat it. If I can figure out what I want to do, I can guarantee that you will too. It’ll come to you when you least expect it. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true.