Why I Wish I Had Chosen "Undeclared" for my College Major

Looking back on my college years, I don't have too many regrets about my education. I have had class with some outstanding professors, been surrounded by some very smart people (and others who were so out of touch it was entertaining), and got some pretty decent grades. In the process, I also learned a lot and was open to areas outside of my major.

If I regret anything about my education, it's definitely not going in as undeclared. At first I didn't think I should. I pretty much knew I wanted to be a journalist, so why would I put down anything but a communications major? Now with three years of college behind me, I wonder if I should've started college without a major. I think that would've been the best option and here's why:

I wish I had been undecided because I feel I missed out. Although I was required to take courses outside my major, I severely limited myself when selecting the mass communications with a journalism option. I believed I already knew what I wanted to do and I was going to accomplish this in college. While completing my general education, I treated those classes as uninteresting and something I shouldn't work as hard in. If only I had known better...

I wanted to change my major, but by that time, it was too late. My sophomore and even last year (my junior year) was when I realized there were career opportunities outside of being a journalist. Unfortunately, by then, I was already about halfway through my major requirements. Changing this late in the game would mean an extra semester or more, which means more tuition money. My mom made it clear that she couldn't afford to keep me in school more than four years. Now I am stuck wondering what could have been.

My school has been holding a majors fair for the past three years now. No matter what your year or major, you can go in and meet with students and faculty from various majors. They are always very friendly and ready to sell you on their program. They give you advisement sheets and other promotional materials. When I visited the political science table for example, they gave me a booklet on careers in political science. I was consumed by the booklet and saw a couple appealing options.

Being at the majors fair was a good experience rather than superficial. I found myself genuinely interested in some of the other programs and asking questions of the representatives. I wished then that I had taken more time during my college search to explore other programs aside from what I thought my career aspirations were.

With all this said, I feel like anyone who has second thoughts about their major and career should enter college undeclared. Even if you think you know what you want to do, you could always change your mind when you feel engaged in a class outside your major. Don't be afraid to look through the college course catalog or talk to faculty members in other departments. You have to work for the rest of your life, so you may as well figure out what's not right for you during these four years.