“What’s your major?”

It’s a question that every student has heard and will undoubtedly continue to hear throughout their college career. 

For most people, it’s a simple question with a simple answer. For the undecided student, sometimes you’ll feel uncomfortable, awkward, or like you’re a step behind everyone else. But, as a current exploratory student, I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to feel that way. 

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While you will never be able to avoid the question, you can be sure that you don’t feel behind every time you have to tell someone “I’m undecided” by being confident in your decision. Let me give you some more reasons to be.

While it may feel like you’re a step behind, acknowledging that you are unsure is actually one of the most mature things to do. 

Being an undecided student allows you more freedom when choosing your classes, as you don’t feel locked on the track for one major. You get to pick random classes to see how you like them, and explore the different majors instead of jumping into one, hence the term ‘exploratory.’

Taking the first year or two to explore different classes and majors will allow you to feel more confident when you finally do declare, instead of later wondering if something different would have been better.

Being exploratory will also save money. A majority of students come into college with an idea of what they want to do, but those that are declared run the risk of changing their major. Granted, this isn’t a poor choice to make at all, but there are so many career paths that you don’t even know about coming into your freshman year. 

Many students realize this once they have already started their major and have already begun taking classes. These classes can become useless due to their change of major, and therefore become a waste of money. 

To help declare a major, I would highly recommend taking advantage of the resources available to the exploratory department on campus. Your advisor, the Career Resource Development Center or Career Services offer helpful counseling, placement tests and opportunities to help you narrow down your options and eventually, declare. 

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While these resources are crucial, there are plenty of things that an undecided student can do on their own. Joining RSOs, attending job fairs and talking with faculty members can make a significant impact on your decisions. 

Remember that any club you join could be a building block to narrowing down your search, and every job you see could be a potential major.

All in all, don’t be afraid if you don’t know what you want to do with your life yet, you still have time. Use your time and resources wisely, and remember that you have two years of exploring to get under your belt. 

Don’t be ashamed to be undecided; in fact, I’m proud to welcome you to the club.

Staff reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at [email protected].

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