The summer before your freshman year of college holds a lot of changes. You start making a list of the things you’ll need for your new room, you’re going to your friends’ grad parties, and of course you’re holding your own.

 

It’s at your grad party that you run into the question; “What are you majoring in?” It hits you: you have no clue where to go from here. You thought that when you selected Undecided in your college application that you would have things figured out before the summer ended. Now you’re here, settled into your dorm room, with your schedule filled with your general education credits. You’re scared that you’re not going to figure out what you want to do by the time you have to schedule for Spring semester. You could also be terrified that you may never find the major you want. You’re in the right place, my friend.

 

I was in your shoes just last fall, worried sick about what I was going to do.  I eventually figured out what my major was going to be by the time Winter Break hit. So rather than keep all my tricks up my sleeve, I’m going to give you some advice to help ease the concern all Division of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) students have.

 

When I first got to Behrend, my roommate knew what she wanted to major in and was already taking classes she needed for said major. This threw me a loop, ‘how was I going to fit in all of the classes I needed for my major if I didn’t have one’?

Here’s where my first piece of advice comes in. If you haven’t been pushed to the Academic and Career Planning Center in Reed yet, find them, and talk to your advisor! Your advisor is there for this exact reason! You don’t have to go through scheduling woes alone, and they can help you figure out what classes you can take that can help you; even if you end up in Turf Grass Management. You can find their name by going into LionPath and clicking on the ‘Academics’ tab. You can then locate your advisor under ‘My Advisors’ and either email them using your Penn State email or call the ACPC to make an appointment with them! (The ACPC is located at Reed 125, and their phone number is 814-898-6164.)

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Now, say you’ve done that, and you’re still stuck. You’ve decided that you want to figure out what you’d be interested in doing but aren’t entirely sure how to. Here’s tip number two: Use the Internet access PSU has given you to take some personality tests online. I’m not talking about the Buzzfeed ‘Which ‘Friends’ character are you most like?’ quizzes. I’m talking about Psych-professor grade stuff here. The Myer-Briggs Type Indicator can be your best friend. The test asks you a range of questions to help you identify which of 16 types of personalities you fit. Of course, this test isn’t your end all be all, but it can give you a lot of insight to the kind of person you are, and what your greatest attributes are. This knowledge, and the knowledge of your personal interests can help you figure things out, or at least make the big picture a little less blurry.

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Now, this is the advice that helped me ground my decision: take a class that is close to or directly related to the major you’re thinking about. If you’re interested in Biology, take Biology 110. It can be used as a general science credit and shows you what a bit of the Bio major looks like. If you think you might want to do a History major, take a history class. Does nursing sound like your thing? Take a general anatomy class that can be used as a health and fitness credit. For me, I took Marketing 301 this semester, and that solidified things for me. You see what you might be dealing with and if you grasp the concepts well, or if you absolutely hate everything about biomes and cells like I did.

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I hope that this information eases you into your path to your major, and that you do well this fall semester. Don’t forget that amidst the chaos in your classes, it’s important to make friends and join curricular clubs. These are the things that are going to lead you to lifelong friendships and job opportunities in the future. Good luck and remember: “not knowing what to do with your life is a great thing to do with your life.” - Unknown