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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Students choose career paths, majors

Business. Architecture. Biology. Psychology. Communications. Scandinavian. Geology.

These are only few of the thousands of majors offered to high school students in their college application process.

“In finding a major, every person has their own way. Some students know what they want to do by senior year, others not until junior year of college, and sometimes not until graduate school or when the person has worked for a while to really figure it out,” said Director of the College and Career Center Sandra Brod.

Brod said there are many resources available for students to explore different majors. She said there are great books on careers of the 21st century in the College and Career Center (CCC), a featured career in the CCC bulletin every two months, and a “strong Interest inventory” test that can be taken in the CCC by juniors and seniors. Career day is also a time for students to learn about different paths they can take.

“Students should follow strong interest and passion, and do what they really love and are good at,” Brod said. “Talking to professionals in a field of interest also helps. Most students go in undeclared and figure it out as they go along. But doing is the key: finding out by really exploring and working.”

In fact, Brod said, most colleges expect students to change their major except for nursing, engineering, architecture, pre med, and a few more. For the most part, it is very easy to change, but if a student waits until after their junior year in college, they may have to add another year to meet the requirements of the major..

Some colleges, however, will want majors declared early with a mission to get students in and out in four years with a solid major, Brod said.

“Students can transfer out of a major if it does not fit them. They can try and know that they are not stuck,” Brod said. “If students know they can change, they relax a bit and take the challenge to see if it works.”

Senior James Ormond, who will attend Carnegie Mellon University next year, said that initially, he was only interested in applying to colleges that had business schools, especially those that offered financial or entrepreneurial majors. Up until earlier this school year, he had no idea what career path to take, and therefore applied undeclared to 7/8 schools.

“I decided my major of Information Systems after I made a visit to CMU this past September, and the Director of Admissions presented it to me,” Ormond said. “I was immediately drawn in because of its combination of business, math, and computers, all of which I love.”

Ormond said at CMU, you apply to individual schools within the university, so if he does not like his major, he would have to reapply to CMU.

“Personally, I had been worried for the last year that since I hadn’t decided what I wanted to major in while my friends had, that I was going to choose a major just to say I have one, and ultimately not enjoy it,” Ormond said. “I think that applying undeclared is perfectly legitimate.”

Senior Elise Lasky said she would advise students to do what is best for themselves, and to not let anyone else tell them what they need to major in.

“I think that applying undeclared is a very good decision,” Lasky said. “Not many 17 and 18 year olds have their entire life planned out. No student should ever feel discouraged by the fact that they do not know what their academic interest is.”

However, Lasky did not apply undeclared anywhere. In tenth grade, she attended a summer program at Brown University called “So You Think You Want to be a Doctor?” and fell in love with the idea of pursuing a medical career, which then translated into her finding an opportunity to volunteer in a pediatricians office last summer. She applied to the Biology major at most schools, but at one she applied to the Health Science Major, and at another she applied to the Cognitive Science major.

“I have always had an interest in science and I hope to apply to medical school after college, so I tried to apply to majors that would lend to achieving a pre medicine track,” Lasky said.

Lasky said she has fears about jumping into a major next year, and that everyone has the fear that they will arrive at college and realize the major they had thought so strongly was perfect for them is the completely wrong major for them.

“It is very nerve wracking to look at a list of majors on the Common App and click on undeclared instead of the many other. Will colleges think you are not as dedicated of a student? Do they want kids who know what they want to do? I think the best way to deal with this pressure is to realize that clicking undeclared will allow a student to realize their true passion through exploration,” Lasky said.

Senior Madison Pribyl applied to nursing majors at almost every school on her college list, with undeclared as her second choice for colleges that wanted more than one choice.

“I have always known that I want to help people and do something different every day and nursing is all those things,” Pribyl said.

Pribyl has prepared for her major this year by taking two science classes and studying hard to do well in them to make sure she has a good foundation for her prerequisites in college like Organic Chemistry. She attended a summer medical program at Samuel Merritt University and has shadowed nurses to get an inside look at what one day she hopes to be able to do herself.

“I am not scared one bit,” Pribyl said. “I am excited to jump right in an learn a profession that is exciting and different and that I am passionate about.”

“The most important thing is to make sure you really want your major because schools are so competitive these days and you are going to have to fight like hell and work really hard to get there,” Pribyl said. “Also have fun because life moves fast.”

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