Choosing a major is a difficult job

Choices, for me, have always been hard to make, and I don’t mean choices between right and wrong, but simple choices like what kind of food to eat or which kind of products to use.

It seems like I am just given too many choices in life, and now that I am growing older the amount of choices seem to be increasing. They also are becoming more life-changing than merely what type of food I should eat for lunch or which shirt I should wear in public. Instead, I am faced with decisions like which major to pursue and which career to endeavor in.

For some, these decisions are simple and come naturally. But for me, they are harder to make than a trip into a convenient store. I guess it should be, though, right? Not only is choosing a career more life-changing than deciding which delicious snack to purchase, but there are also more careers to pick from, and the availability of some of those careers is limited.

Furthermore, there is no way to determine the availability of those careers until I am almost done with my major. Besides not knowing the availability, it is hard to determine the true nature of a career until I begin working at it. What may seem appealing at first, can turn out to be an unpleasant and unfitting profession.

Deciding one’s major and, in turn their career, is perhaps one of the hardest judgments that a person can make in their lifetime, because this choice directs all events thereafter. It changes the course of the individual’s life and determines the fate of their future. No wonder so many students continue switching their majors. Either they simply cannot find jobs for the major that they selected or they become unhappy with their choice. For many, it seems like money is the main objective for a career, but when the job becomes too stressful or unbearable, they abandon their major.

When choosing a major, it is vital that the choice is made with adequate knowledge of the field and for the right reasons. Although this will not guarantee security in your choice of major, it will eliminate wasted time and money.

On the brighter side, it is okay if you switch majors and it is OK if you do not know what you want to do with your future. These sort of life-altering decisions require time. I am one among hundreds, probably even thousands, of confused college students and I am fine with that. I know as long as I have a committed college education, employers will be more willing to hire me. Given time, the right career path will unfold in front of me, and before long I will find myself employed exactly where I should be.

Cairo native Ashley Humphries is a junior at Bainbridge College majoring in science.