Among the various anxieties college freshman or transfer students may feel upon entering school, uncertainty over one’s chosen major is perhaps the most common.

This is often the result of an increasing emphasis on college as merely the avenue to achieve a high paying job after graduation. Over the last few decades, skyrocketing college costs have caused high schools and students to view higher education as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Thus, students feel pressure to choose a major solely based on potential earning power in their job after undergrad or, if necessary, to score the perfect job in that field graduate school. But that should not be the one and only factor in choosing one’s area of study.

Declaring a major should be the easiest part of entering college and no cause for worry or insecurity. This is the four-plus years of their lives where college students are in an environment with access to seemingly infinite resources to learn about whatever topic they are interested in or passionate about. Why spend hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars studying something you dislike just to earn a higher salary in a lifelong career you will also dislike? 

A student’s college years should be spent surrounding oneself with similarly interested and ambitious people to learn about the world around them and the things they care about.

Of course, no one would dispute that incoming students should use potential earning power as one factor in choosing a major.  Every student should enter school with at least a rough idea of career possibilities in their chosen field of study. There is no getting around the fact that debts will need to be paid back along with all the other expenses and duties of adulthood.  In 2017 a degree is a de facto requirement for a successful career—like it or not.    

The great thing about college is that the vast number of resources, if used properly, can guide each individual to their passion. Then the rest will take care of itself. At Oswego State, Career Services does just that by allowing students to take an assessment to figure out not only what they are good at, but what generally interests them.

Using this information can be important to ultimately figuring out what to declare for a major. Not to mention most high school seniors getting ready to head off to college do not know what they will major in. According to Dr. Fritz Grupe, founder of mymajors.com, a 2002 survey found that 80 percent of college-bound students had not yet chosen a major.

Be it philosophy, biology, accounting or art, students should study whatever quenches their intellectual thirst. If students choose to follow and study what truly fulfills their curiosity, they will invariably find a career that satisfies them. 

College should be viewed as an opportunity for students to discover what makes them tick, not a necessary evil in order to              land a stuffy nine-to-five in a cubicle. This outlook will surely make college a worthy endeavor despite the outrageous costs. 

If students are unsure of their major upon entering school, they will either uncover their interest through a broad study or narrow their interests into a long-term education and career plan.