Hello everyone!
When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to study in college and furthermore what career field I wanted to be in. It was really stressful for me to think about majoring in one thing and focusing on that one subject for the rest of my life. I couldn’t help but be scared about making the wrong choice and ending up not liking my major or career path. Looking back now as a college student in my final year of undergrad, I don’t feel burdened about my choice of major and I feel a lot more secure about whatever pathway I continue on.
In high school, I had a multitude of interests. I really liked math and science because of how formulaic and analytical it was. I loved English and the humanities because of our indepth discussions about social and current events. Theater and the arts were some of my favorite subjects because of the great ways we were able to visualize feelings and stories. It was only when I started looking into colleges that I feel a lot of pressure to choose one of the many passions I had and carry that with me through college and beyond while leaving the rest behind. My two older sisters, who helped me through the college process, saw my stress and reassured me by mentioning the option of liberal arts schools. Unlike universities, Liberal Arts colleges emphasize taking courses in many different areas of study so that their students can get a well-rounded education. It was exactly what I needed since I wasn’t ready to give up any of the subjects that I was passionate about. Scripps was not only liberal arts but placed a large emphasis on interdisciplinary learning especially with their Core Program. It was their values of intertwining subjects together and having different departments collaborate with one another that drove me to enroll at Scripps.
When I first came to Scripps, I was leaning more towards STEM because I liked problem-solving a bit more than writing but I was still really passionate about taking all sorts of classes so that I could really find my one, true major. I took the intro chemistry classes and biology classes as well as psychology, african american literature, and digital art within my first and second year. It was really eye opening because I found myself being able to tie pieces of my lessons in all of my classes together. I was surprised to discover the more technical and computer science aspects of digital art and the statistical facets of psych! It made me really overwhelmed at first because I still couldn’t picture myself choosing one so I went to my academic advisior for advice. She was able to help me calm down and tell me the story of how she didn’t end up choosing a career path that matched her major and gave me other examples of professors and faculty members that have had wildly different college experiences. She assured me that although I might not major or minor in a field, I’m still learning tangible things by taking those classes such as photoshopping and analytical writing skills. This really helped me to not feel trapped in one single subject.
I ended up declaring my Biology major near the end of my second year after realizing how interesting the subject can be at a macro and microscale as well as how easily intertwined it can be with other subjects. Even though I was a bit nervous about making that leap, what I had learned from my advisors and professors throughout my first and second year was that your major doesn’t define you as a person. Just because I’m majoring in biology doesn’t mean I’m any less passionate about art and humanaities and it doesn’t mean I can’t implement those fields in my career in the future. They have really helped me to see my major as not an ending point but the beginning of a long and fruitful journey!
Thanks for reading and if you want more advice on choosing a major feel free to email me at [email protected]