Starting college is kind of like stepping into a forest of fig trees.
If you’ve read “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, you’ll know where I’m going with this — life is a fig tree and each fig is a potential future. Spend too much time weighing your options, and the figs die, leaving you with nothing.
Entering your freshman year births an entire mental forest. It’s probably been drilled into your head that college is an era of crucial decisions. There’s a tree for the major that will shape your career, one for the clubs that will earn you connections and opportunities, and one for the people who will support you over the next four years. Faced with that much choice, it seems easy to take a step back and debate the best way forward.
Despite this perceived security, spending eternity mapping out potential futures is the worst thing you could be doing. Take a path even if you’re unsure! In most cases, picking the wrong option is infinitely better than inaction. If the major or club you choose turns out not to be a perfect fit, it won’t derail your life. Worst case scenario, you’re just one step closer to figuring out the best path forward.
A similar sentiment goes for those of you who ignore your fig tree because you’re so locked into the five-year plan you’ve had since high school. Yes, you’ve picked a fig, but that doesn’t change the fact that the others are still there for the taking. Maybe you genuinely love your field of study. If you know it’s not in your heart, however, there’s no need to worry. You’re so early on in life that all of the other avenues are still open!
Oftentimes, a nonlinear path is the best way to find your calling. The average student will change their major three times in their college career. I’ve made a change to my path of study in each of my four semesters of college and I don’t regret a single one. Even the things that didn’t stick were worthwhile, because trying them confirmed that I was better off not pursuing them professionally. I never lay awake at night wondering what would have happened if I’d pursued a business degree, because I tried it and I was miserable. That misery paid off, because it motivated me to work harder once I began the things I was truly passionate about.
Even if you’re in love with your major, it’s important to take classes outside of it. Taking advantage of general education courses is the most convenient way to do this, because they’ll count towards your degree anyway. To all the five-year-planners: No, that fun gen-ed will not set you back. Spend some time stalking the course catalogue for niche classes like Intro to World Puppetry. Leaving the echo chamber of your major and expanding your skills is always a good idea. On future job applications, who’s going to seem more interesting: the Journalism major who took the same classes as everyone else with their degree or the Journalism major who knows how to date fossils and operate light boards?
If you have no clue what you want to do, now is the time to try everything. Clubs and student organizations are a particularly low-stakes way to explore hobbies and surround yourself with new people. The best piece of advice I can give you is to explore the involvement fair and make a list of everything that sounds remotely interesting. Over the next few weeks, attend at least one meeting for each. As an incoming junior, I’m still planning on going to the involvement fair — not just because I’m tabling and want to bum free candy off my friends at their tables. It’s never too late to figure out you love something! Even incoming seniors have an entire year left to explore new hobbies.
Even things you think you’ll hate are worth exploring. Last fall, I stumbled into orientation for The Daily Campus because I got bored and wanted to visit a friend. Now, I can’t imagine spending Sunday nights anywhere but the little building behind Moe’s. So, if your roommate asks you to accompany them to a musical theatre audition or the Moon Appreciation Club, just go!
You don’t have to spend your freshman year staring up at your fig tree and wondering if the fruit in your hand is good enough to sustain you for the next four years. Get up, climb that tree, and fill a basket.