Exploring Majors for Free!
I remember when I came to college the one thing that made me have a panic attack was trying to pick a major! I thought everyone just came in and already had figured that out, and that I was the odd one out. Thankfully I quickly learned that I was NOT the only one! Even now that I’m a senior I still get anxiety when I get asked “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Never fear, fellow students, for there are ways for you to explore majors while in college. And I don’t mean by taking a bunch of different classes, because who needs to spend thousands of dollars to find out they hate Psychology? 😉 Here are some (much cheaper) alternatives to figuring out what you like and don’t like:
Join Academic Clubs: On campus there seems to be a club for just about every major there is! The great thing is that you don’t have to be a certain major or even be taking any classes in that subject to join the academic club surrounding that subject. (So, you don’thave to be a History major to be in the History club.) Join whichever ones you’re curious about, and make sure to be more than “just a member.” Attend a few meetings, go to some events, and then you’ll learn more about what the classes are like and what professionals in that field do. There’s a list of all the academic clubs on the Student Life website.
- Talk to Professors: Maybe you happen to be taking a class outside of your major in order to fulfill a general education credit, and you start thinking that the stuff you’re going over in class is actually pretty interesting. Talk to the professor! Find out their office hours or shoot them an e-mail; they study that subject because they LOVE it, so they would be more than happy to discuss it with you. In fact, most professors get excited when students come visit them to talk about class stuff. Even if you aren’t in a class, you can still go to that academic department and talk with faculty there about what that major is like.
- Attend Career Fairs: When you’re an underclassman, you usually don’t attend career fairs because you’re not yet looking for a career. (Actually, if you’re like me you go to them to collect all the free pens and goodies! But that’s just another benefit…) Attending them as freshmen or sophomores can help you actually see what students in certain majors end up doing with their lives. Sometimes it’s hard to think what some majors do for careers. Some, like Pre-Med students, have obvious paths while others like History or Environmental Science or Anthropology might not be as clear-cut. At career fairs you can see actual professionals in some of those other fields, and this is your chance to talk with them and see what students in that field can do with their degrees. You can find information about upcoming career fairs at careerfairs.umflint.edu.
My favorite word is “free,” so I’m always trying to take advantage of all the freebies we get as college students. Make the most out of this time while you’re able to! This is the time to explore and try and narrow down your interests.
