majorless freshman -- Virtually Advising Q+A

The Q: Does it matter that, as a freshman, I have no idea what I want to major in? There's nothing that really jumps out to me as really interesting. How the heck do I decide what to take during my first few semesters? What if I make the wrong decisions and take a bunch of useless classes?

The A: Trust me: There are no such things as useless classes. Take the university requirements if there are any, and if not, explore. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that you get a bad grade, find out you don't like a particular subject, and/or discover you don't like a particular instructor or style of instruction. But hey, that's learning. It's what college is supposed to be about.

All too often, students and parents think of college as job training. Now admittedly, all of us here in academia want to see you employed at the end of this process, but that shouldn't be your sole focus. This is exactly the time for you to be exploring areas and making mistakes. So banish the idea of wrong decisions from your mind.

I tell you this as someone who changed majors five times. Maybe more; I don't even remember. I've always loved science and come from a heavily science-oriented family, so at first I studied biochemistry and marine chemistry. But I found I was better suited for contemplating things that were less exact and determinate. That led me to study music composition, until I figured out that I needed more interpersonal interaction. So I studied journalism -- until I realized that, instead of describing or evaluating culture, I'd rather learn more about its nuanced social and political consequences. So I ended up as a media studies major, and went off to graduate school to study how a film's music affects the way we identify with it. (That's been the topic of my research for the past 15 years.) I still read 'Scientific American,' 'Chemical and Engineering News' and all kinds of techie mags. I am still deeply involved in music and I still write all the time. But it took me several false starts before I really understood what made sense for me.

In the process, my mom hung up on me once or twice, and my boyfriend got mad when I didn't have the money to go see him because I was transferring schools -- again. But I kept at it until I found the right thing for me. My mom is now quite happy with me, as is my boyfriend -- who is now my husband. And 15+ years of career satisfaction have me feeling that I ultimately made the right choice.

All of that is by way of saying that starting college majorless is more than fine. It probably means you'll stay open to the wide range of possibilities before you. And changing majors is fine, too. If you're thoughtful about what you're doing and try to figure out what you do and don't like at each juncture, you'll find your way to something you truly love to do.

—Anahid Kassabian, Chief Advisor