Major Changes

And while there are academic advisers for specific majors and concentrations, there are also advisers who can counsel students who aren’t yet sure what their passions are. They can also give aptitude tests based off of personality traits and likes versus dislikes which are wonderful resources for finding potential career and life interests. Image result for college advising

Growing up is all about making decisions. Each year that we grow, we are faced with more serious decisions and maybe a little less guidance as those we love give us more leeway to develop our own thoughts and reasoning. College provides even more difficult decisions to be made. Where to go and what to major in. Maybe you aren't even sure of what to major in. And if so, that is okay my friend. It is actually very common! That is the supreme question of college right; what are you going to do with your life? And sometimes we just don’t know yet. Perhaps it sounds really neat to be a professor but it also sounds amazing to be an astronaut, a police officer, a cardiologist, and an actor who sings on Broadway during free-time.

Whatever we decide to do, we want to be passionate, right? There are so many options.... And so little time. (Okay so four years time, but it is ideal to choose early!) Going to university opens many doors to do whatever we set our hearts and our minds to; but what if we just aren’t sure what our hearts and our minds are called to do?

It can be extremely overwhelming, exciting, and lots of crazy all at once. And that my friend, is the beauty of it! We are so lucky to be able to choose what we want to be and do with our lives! There are many parts of the world where people cannot yet do this. But even so, it CAN be quite overwhelming.

That is why I want to stress the importance of becoming familiar with your academic advisers early; whose jobs it is to help students realize their passions and potential and who also love doing so! Whether becoming familiar with an adviser in high school or meeting with one in college; it can be extremely helpful and motivating to have someone advocating for your future.

A few other great recommendations are taking a gap year. This is actually very popular in Europe and becoming more popular each year here in the US! Did you know that the First Daughter Malia Obama is currently taking a gap year? It's a great way to work in different fields or save up money to go travel the world for a few months. A lot of grown-ups may say that taking a gap year contributes negatively towards going back to university but data actually shows that students who have taken a gap year tend to graduate with higher GPA averages and also that 90% of students who took a gap year returned to college within a year. For more information, I would recommend checking out this link: http://americangap.org/data-benefits.php.

Another possible idea is to job shadow. Perhaps try going to local businesses and asking to shadow to see what a day in the life of different careers is really like! Job shadowing is popular for health science majors but can be done in all sorts of different career fields. Even if a career field completely disinterests you; at least you know what you wouldn't want to end up doing/majoring in. And sometimes that is more important than knowing what you do want to do!